Gerald Alexander – May 25, 2021
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Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander
(I wanted to touch on something Head Coach Brian Flores mentioned when S Jevon Holland was drafted here about his communication and leadership skillset. I was wondering from your perspective, how could a rookie establish himself as a primary communicator or leader on the defense early on?) – “Really for any rookie, especially in Jevon’s case, he’s got to develop a great understanding of what we’re doing and what to say. He’s been doing a really good job of being attentive in meetings and gathering all of the information and the things that he’s going to be responsible for because as a free safety in our defense, we need him to right the wrong, and really know all of the other individual spots and know how the 11-piece puzzle on defense works. For him to be able to establish that, he’s got to know what to say in what situations and not just what to say, but also be loud and confident in his demeanor in order for him to take command that we need him to take as a free safety or any position on the field.”
(I just wanted to ask you on two guys what positions they are focusing on. With DB Jason McCourty obviously we know he can play corner. He’s done it for years. He’s done safety recently. Which of those two do you have him focusing on? I know with CB Noah Igbinoghene, you told us last year that you didn’t want to put too much on his plate. So you had him focus on the boundary and did not work him much in practice in the slot. Is that still the case? Is Igbinoghene still focusing primarily on the boundary?) – “For Jason, he’s got a lot of experience in this system. Ideally, we’d like him to be as versatile as he has been in his experience. Whether it be playing at the perimeter corner or in the slot or as a safety, he’s got the versatility to do a lot. So he’s going to get a lot of the information and really just try to be an X out there on the field where we can kind of put him wherever. In Noah’s case, he’s still going to develop as a perimeter corner but also have the versatility to be able to play inside. I think when we looked at his skillset, ideally when we got him drafted, we knew that he had the physical ability to do both. In order to focus on the communication part, yeah there is going to be a little bit more that he’s going to have to pay attention to this offseason, so he can be an effective communicator playing inside and knowing what to do. Especially when you think about the responsibilities in the run game, and how that vision changes than being a perimeter corner on the outside, you’ve got to look at a little bit more and know a little bit more in the box as a Star.”
(You mentioned S Jevon Holland earlier. What do you lose in a player like S Bobby McCain?) – “You just lose experience in relationship obviously to a rookie with Jevon. I’ve known Jevon for a long time, being on the West Coast and recruiting out there. Jevon was actually in Northern California when I was at Cal. With Jevon in the building, now you’ve kind of got to get him up to speed in regards to some of those things that Bobby was able to do as a communicator for us. Obviously we appreciate the things that he’s done. We know that with what we have now, it’s a challenge to get a young guy to be able to communicate at that extreme level in order to put our defense in great situations to be successful. So we look forward to obviously working with him, as we have, and I think we’re off to a great start just with his demeanor and his energy in meetings.”
(I have a DB Jason McCourty follow up too. Essentially you guys have four cornerbacks who could play on the outside and having a fourth one is also really important too just because you don’t know what happens with the first two. Is that what went into the thought of bringing McCourty along? Along with the versatility and experience, he could also be your fourth corner, if necessary?) – “I think when you look at the NFL, it’s a passing league, so you can’t have enough guys who can cover and who can be efficient on the back end and make plays. With the attacks we see, especially even within the division, the way that Buffalo spreads the ball around, you can never have enough guys that can be guys that you can rely on in the secondary. Getting Jason, getting his versatility, getting his experience, getting his veteran leadership, that’s going to be some of the things that really don’t show up on the stat sheet on how he could impact the group. That’s going to be beneficial for us and I think that was the idea going into it to get him a part of our squad.”
(Going back to CB Noah Igbinoghene, what’s a fair expectation in terms of the kind of development and jump he can make in his second year?) – “I don’t necessarily deal in expectations as far as potentials; but I think right now, Noah is giving himself a great chance in regards to how he’s being attentive in meetings and how he’s developing out there on the field and developing his body. The expectations are going to be the work that he puts in. That’s what I expect. Based on what he’s doing so far, I know he’s chomping at the bit to get into competitive situations to see how far he’s come along the way, and only going to get better as we continue to work. Who knows? I think he has the potential to do a lot of special things as we’ve always thought about him and his skillset. It’s just a matter of putting the work in and having it apply on the field and being consistent in the performance.”
(How far along would you say CB Noah Igbinoghene has come since the first time you’ve got your hands on him?) – “Noah was in a situation last year where he was able to really concentrate and develop. Again, this is a guy that hasn’t played the cornerback position for very long in his career, not just his pro career. He’s developed a lot just as far as his technique, his fundamental footwork, his transitioning and then not to mention developing in our defense and what we’re asking him to do. Now it’s time to take really the next step and also learning some stuff on the inside. Now getting a chance to know what the run game looks like and know what keys to look at and guard guys in the slot that are dealing with a little bit more space and having a little bit more presence in the middle of the field, or any help versus out there on the perimeter. We have a long way to go. I’m not going to sit here and sugarcoat it like we don’t have a long way to go; but I think for him to be as good as I know and we know that he can be, we hope to continue to make strides where he can become what we think he can.”
(You talked about having familiarity with S Jevon Holland’s game due to some of the West Coast connections. When you drill down on some of his college tape, what are some of the things that stood out as far as strengths that you hope one day could translate to the pro game?) – “There is a lot. I think Jevon, when you look at his college career, as a freshman – he’s a guy that opted out, so he really only played two years of college football. But as a freshman, he played as a deep safety. If you got a chance to study his freshman film, he played as a deep safety a lot in sub packages and situational packages because of some of the upperclassmen. But he did some really good things as a deep safety as a young guy being thrown into the fire, and his willingness to tackle in the middle of the field showed up as well. His second year, switching defensive philosophies, Andy Avalos was the coordinator and they really allowed him to play really more in the box, really more of an edge guy, nickel guy, big safety. So he was able to be physical in the run game, make tackles in the open field, be an underneath zone defender, play some man-to-man. So when you evaluated his college tape, along with his natural athletic gifts, you can see a very versatile player. So getting a guy like that who can be multiple – which as you guys know, we prioritize multiplicity in our defense – and understanding who the person was, me having a familiar background with his personality, you knew that he had that person that we wanted in our building. Our kind of guy in a sense. We knew that we could get a guy like this and work with him and we look forward to his development.”
(I just want to clarify on S Jevon Holland, you were trying to recruit him when you were at Cal? Is that where the connection first started?) – “Oh my god, yeah. I was trying to recruit him, of course. (laughter) I was trying to get him to do the stuff that I want him to do now at Cal. But he had other plans. It’s one of those things where it just worked itself out in the end. Better late than never.”
(I need to know how come you couldn’t close the deal.) – “(laughter) Listen man, do you see the nice shiny toys that Oregon has? They’ve got uniforms, they’ve got buildings. All I’m doing is selling academics, you know what I’m saying? He wasn’t really worried about that part. (laughter) He knew he was going to get into the league and he knew he was going to get a new building here in a little bit. I guess he knew what the plan was before I knew it. (laughter)”
