Top 5 safeties in college football
As the 2020 college football season winds down, 2021 NFL Draft talk will heat up. Here are the top five safeties in college football, a group of future NFL Draft prospects.
Just missed the cut: Budda Bolden (Miami), James Wiggins (Cincinnati)
1. Trevon Moehrig (TCU)
In his first season as a full-time starter last year, Moehrig recorded 43 solo tackles, four interceptions, 11 PBUs and a couple of fumbles forced. He primarily has been the field-side safety in two-high looks for TCU, but also has plenty of experience rotating towards the deep middle of the field, because he absolutely has the range to do either.
I like how balanced he stays throughout plays and doesn’t allow run- or screen-fakes to pull him away from his responsibility, while also feeling like his reaction time has reduced.
Moehrig is great at anticipating and driving on routes over the deeper middle in quarters coverage, but because he caps over slot receivers and the Horned Frogs like to blitz their nickel, he is tasked with plenty of man responsibilities, where he is not afraid of getting beat deep, has excellent short-area burst to attack breaks, as well as the speed to trail guys across the field.
He just had a tremendous game against Oklahoma State last week, when he made a couple of key stops and had a huge interception in the end-zone, when the Cowboys were about to take the lead. With that being said, at time Moehrig just sits on routes and has to put hands on receivers as they get to his toes, if that guy doesn’t just blow by him with a running start (Devin Duvernay in 2019 for Texas), Plus he is certainly an ankle-tackler, who just dives at the legs of the ball-carrier occasionally.
2. Richard LeCounte III (Georgia)
Lecounte is one of my dudes. At 5’11”, 190 pounds he may not have an intimidating stature, but he is like a flying missile out there on the field and brings a ton of juice to the Bulldog defense.
He has only played in five games this season, because he reportedly had a motorcycle accident, but in his 33 games as a starter, he has recorded about 100 solo tackles, eight INTs, ten more PBUs, four fumbles forced and six recovered. The way he zooms up the alley and runs into blockers without any hesitation is so fun to watch.
Lecounte has been asked to execute a multitude of coverages – single high duty, quarters, matching #3’s in man vs. trips, while Georgia rotates their safeties down a whole bunch, especially this season. And he has that ball-magnet quality, where he allows his feel and preparation to lead him to the right spot.
With that being said, he can be a little too aggressive with angles and biting on the first key, plus he comes in too hot as a tackler and doesn’t break down appropriately.
As far as projecting him to the next level, I think there are some concerns about how he projects as a true free safety or if you want to trust him one-on-one against those really dynamic receivers in man-coverage.