Some are fast. Some are long. Some are physical. Some are finesse types. How would you build the best defensive back possible?
Missouri has a long line of players who have excelled at their respective positions and have individual traits that help make them stand out. You know, like Drew Lock’s arm strength or the athletic ability and quick twitch of a guy like Sheldon Richardson.
Which is a good starting point for this question: How would you build your ideal player? This week, we evaluate defensive backs.
Defensive Backs
- Coverage
- Tackling
- Ball Skills
Coverage: EJ Gaines; 2010-2013
EJ Gaines has never quite gotten his due. I mean, he was the number one corner on the best Missouri roster of all time. He was the top dawg in that secondary for a reason. Gaines was the closest thing Missouri has had to a shutdown corner, since Roger Wherli.
Gaines was an average sized corner, but he always played bigger than his frame indicated. He was always willing to get physical too. He was extremely fluid in with quick hips that enabled him to bite down on routes and close the distance.
Gaines also has one of the single most dominant performances in Missouri history in my opinion. In 2013 with a trip to the SEC championship on the line, Gaines shadowed future NFL star Mike Evans. Evans, who torched everybody in 2013, including the Alabama defense for almost 300 yards receiving, was taken out of commision. He was held to his lowest yardage total of the season, just eight yards. That was his lowest output for his career.
That individual performance doesn’t get highlighted very often, but it’s just another reminder of how fun those defenses that featured Gaines were.
Tackling & Ball Skills: Will Moore, 2005-2008
The tag teammate to one of my picks last week in Sean Weatherspoon, Will Moore patrolled Missouri’s secondary for four impressive years. As a tackler, he finished with 280 career tackles which for a defensive back is really impressive. His 115 total tackles in 2007 is legitimately an amazing occurrence. He always shot out of a cannon, into the trenches without any second guess or extra thought. As a coach, you always want your safeties especially to be able to come down and play in the box and Moore was alway more than willing.
From a ball skills standpoint, Moore’s is my pick because of the consistency in how he would always seem to find the ball. He had at least one takeaway every season, and every season he managed to get a pick six as well. His four career pick sixes actually rank him second in the history of the Big 12.
The 2007 season he had, isn’t complete unless you talk about all of the interceptions he managed to find. A staggering 8 (!!!) in one season, is a crazy feat itself. He ranks second in Big 12 history for single season interceptions with that mark.
Honorable Mention: Roger Wherli; 1965-1968
So look.
Wherli was a great player in his time. He was excellent at Missouri leaving as an All-American, before going to the NFL and becoming a hall of fame player as a professional as well. It’s not very long, or particularly GOOD footage, but here’s some of Wherli returning kicks.
I wanted to show him some love, but at the same time, he wasn’t my choice as I think the other choices were simply better athletes.
Wherli is obviously accomplished and was special in his own right. He was one of the first true “shutdown corners” and that deserves to be mentioned.
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