{"id":15280,"date":"2023-08-31T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=15280"},"modified":"2023-08-31T17:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T22:30:00","slug":"penn-state-assistant-anthony-poindexter-talks-lions-plan-at-safety-king-mack-being-green-lit-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/penn-state-assistant-anthony-poindexter-talks-lions-plan-at-safety-king-mack-being-green-lit-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn State assistant Anthony Poindexter talks Lions\u2019 plan at safety, King Mack being green lit, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Poindexter<\/a><\/strong> enters his third season as the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach<\/a> at Penn State. In front of him is his biggest challenge yet: Retooling a position group that does not, at least on the surface, have a ready-made high-level impact player and likely future Day 2 NFL Draft pick before the season even begins.<\/p>\n

Poindexter made clear during a conference call with reporters on Thursday that he is not expecting any of his charges to make plays in the same way Jaquan Brisker<\/a><\/strong> and Ji\u2019Ayir Brown<\/a><\/strong> did. Instead, he wants the group to play to their own strengths as they fight for both starting roles and playing time before and during the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told our group, anytime you lose a Ji\u2019Ayir Brown, a Jaquan Brisker, you have to reshape yourself,\u201d Poindexter said. \u201cThere is a lot of production that left out of that room. Will there be another Tig in the room? Who knows. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Tig and Brisker are one of a kind. As a group, we have to figure out how to get the same kind of production, whether it\u2019s all four of them or one of them emerges. They need to be themselves and play the game that they play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penn State is still organizing its depth chart at safety<\/h2>\n

Poindexter declined to say which two safeties will take the first-team snaps on Saturday when West Virginia<\/a><\/strong> comes to Beaver Stadium (7:30, NBC). Four players \u2014 Senior Keaton Ellis<\/a><\/strong>, junior Jaylen Reed<\/a><\/strong>, redshirt Zakee Wheatley<\/a><\/strong>, and sophomore Kevin Winston Jr.<\/a><\/strong>, \u2014 are in the running for the two jobs. All four are likely to play starter-like reps regardless of who takes the field first. And a fifth Nittany Lion, freshman King Mack<\/a><\/strong>, could see time on defense, as well. Their position coach\u2019s message to them is a simple one: Be yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lose Ji\u2019Ayir, but Keaton and Jaylen Reed have played a lot of football the last two years, Zakee did last year, so it\u2019s not like we have all babies walking onto the field for the first time,\u201d Poindexter said. \u201cTo put the pressure on those guys to say you have to be Ji\u2019Ayir Brown is unfair. These guys, in their own way, can become their own greatness, and that\u2019s what I preach to them. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be you and be comfortable in your skin and what your playmaking abilities can make. I\u2019m not saying you have to be Ji\u2019Ayir. They know I\u2019m not saying you have to make this play like Ji\u2019Ayir did. That\u2019s unfair to them. They just know that I trust their skillset, play to your strengths, and everything will work out just fine for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

More from Anthony Poindexter<\/h2>\n

Here are some additional quotes from Poindexter\u2019s news conference: <\/p>\n

On why Penn State freshman King Mack is green-lit to burn his redshirt in 2023<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think when he got here, the stage wasn\u2019t too big for him. The kid is just a natural football player. He has some physical traits that you can\u2019t teach, obviously one of them being speed. He\u2019s a much better tackler than I thought he would be for his frame and size. He picked it up pretty good. If he\u2019s ready to go, we\u2019re going to play him.\u201d<\/p>\n

On who will start and how many safeties could play starter-like reps:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t really settled on it yet, but I think at least four to five. I think we have good depth in the room. We\u2019ll see how the flow of the game is going based on whose hot or who is playing well, and we\u2019ll see how many reps they end up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the progress Keaton Ellis has made: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI just think seeing it from the angle he\u2019s seeing it from now, I think it all makes more sense to him now. Moving from cornerback to safety is a totally different way of looking at the game. You see a lot more at safety. He\u2019s really done a nice job. He worked in the offseason to make it like, \u2018I want to be a great safety,\u2019 and it\u2019s starting to show on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Poindexter\u2019s thoughts on a trio of younger Penn State safeties:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Redshirt freshman Mehki Flowers<\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cMehki has made a lot of strides both on and off the field. He\u2019s developing, and he\u2019s got a wealth of talent and a lot of skill. The trick for him is going to be learning how to play at this level, and the intensity and the work you have to put in to really be successful inside the stadium. He\u2019s learning each day. I\u2019m happy with where he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redshirt junior Tyrece Mills<\/a> <\/strong>and true freshman DaKaari Nelson<\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cThey\u2019ve been progressing good. Obviously Tyrece was coming off an injury from last year and he spent most of the [2022] season at linebacker. DaKaari is a young high school player that\u2019s come in, and this is big ball for him. But they\u2019re both progressing good, and I like the way they\u2019re attacking each day. We\u2019ll see how they keep progressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Penn State assistant Anthony Poindexter talks Lions\u2019 plan at safety, King Mack being green lit, and more<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Poindexter enters his third season as the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Penn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}