Settling things in the secondary is a priority for the Badgers, who need to find replacements for three of their four starters in the defensive backfield. While there's a new coach at the controls, getting up to speed hasn't been an issue for a group that quickly bought in to what NFL veteran Jim Leonhard brings to the meeting room and the practice field. |  From Varsity Magazine
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
Standing well behind the defense, 25 to 30 yards off the ball, Jim Leonhard's sight line during the 11-on-11 drill was different/deeper as a secondary coach than it was as an All-American safety.
The view was to his liking, too.
"Obviously, I'm kind of taking that big picture — pre-snap," said Wisconsin's first-year assistant. "I'm making sure we're aligned right. Then, you're just trying to see as much as you can.
"With me, I've got four or five guys (DBs) on the field all the time. When you're on the sidelines, you're kind of glued into half of the field and the angles are different and you don't see it all.
"Whereas when you get a little depth, you see so much more. I always tell our safeties, 'Depth is your friend.' It's definitely helped me as a coach.
"You're trying to see as much as you can so you can make some coaching points immediately."
The player-friendly Leonhard didn't hesitate to instruct and help others Tuesday. First, he was with Lubern Figaro, a safety-slash-corner; then with Keelon Brookins, a linebacker-turned-safety.
"You try to hit a lot of that stuff right after it happens," he said. "When it's fresh, they have a better feeling of what happened on the play and you can work through it.
"The other side of it is," Leonhard pointed out, "when it's time to compete, like the scrimmage (last Saturday), per se, or some of the live stuff during practice … Coach is done.
"I always tell them, 'That's when you have to take care of each other on the field. You have to communicate. You have to work through issues because the coaches can't help you during a game.'
"After a series, obviously, we'll make adjustments, we'll make changes. But when they're out there (on the field) and something happens, they can't look to the sidelines and get you to correct it.
"When Saturdays come, you're kind of on your own."
No one may feel that more than senior cornerback Sojourn Shelton, who has been on his own — in a sense — all spring as the only returning starter in the secondary. But he has relished the challenge.
"I don't have any other choice, but I truly do," he said, grinning. "Some of the other guys look to me for inspiration and the best thing for me is to be an example for them.
"I try to show them," said Shelton, who has started 37 of 40 career games, "I'm not doing anything different from what you guys are doing."
And he leaves them with this, "We can all play at a high level."
Derrick Tindal is one of the corners that Shelton has already impacted. They have a natural bond in that Tindal, a junior, and Shelton are both Floridians from the Fort Lauderdale area.
"I feel like I'm still learning a lot from him (Shelton) — I still go to him and ask question on how he feels about situations," said Tindal, who functioned, when healthy, as a nickel back last season.
"I try to show them," Shelton said, "I'm not doing anything different from what you guys are doing. We can all play at a high level."
"I know what Sojourn has been through and he has obviously played a lot here. Having him in the room, someone who was a freshman All-American, we all listen to him and respect him."
Tindal has a chance to start opposite Shelton. But he's being pushed. Everybody is.
"DT has come a long way," Shelton said. "He's definitely prepared to take on that role. But a lot of guys are prepared to play a lot more football than they're used to playing."
Natrell Jamerson, a junior from Ocala, Florida, is in that category. After making the conversion from wide receiver to cornerback last season, Jamerson got some valuable reps in the specialty packages.
"The competition is really good," Shelton said. "We're all out there making plays to be honest with you. It's a sight to see. And it all starts from the confidence we're getting from Coach Leonhard."
Beyond Tindal and Jamerson, Shelton singled out "T-Book" — redshirt freshman Titus Booker. Tindal also mentioned Booker saying, "He's learning, he's very aggressive and always in the right spot."
Shelton, Tindal, Jamerson, Booker, Figaro and Serge Trezy, a converted tailback, have been taking corner reps. The graduation loss of Darius Hillary (41 career starts) has fueled the competition.
"They're just hungry to get better, which is fun to work with," Leonhard said of his defensive backs, corners and safeties included. "That makes it easier because they're going to go into every day and try to take every coaching point that you make. And, then, you see them trying to work it on the field.
"It's not perfect. There's a lot of growth that we're going to have. But it's a group that has the right mentality to have success and to keep getting better."
Addressing the corners, Leonhard said, "We've got a handful of guys who have gotten game reps. Now, it's about technique and you can tell it's coming, they're getting better and better.
"With the young guys, the spring is so important for them. Every rep is a new rep."
That has been the case with Tindal, who has endured some ups and downs the last two years.
"Last year, I was dealing with a lot of injuries and it was frustrating," Tindal said. "I was kind of letting it get to me at times. But I tried pushing through it.
"Right now, I'm a little more patient and smoother out of my breaks. Coach Leonhard has been helping me a lot as far as trusting my speed — knowing that someone is not going to run past me."
Leonhard has accented a number of things in his one-on-ones with Tindal.
"He told me I can make plays," Tindal recounted. "He told me I'm a good player. He said that he loves my athleticism. So it's just a matter of me trusting myself and knowing what I can do.
"He told me I can play off or on (a wide receiver) knowing you're as athletic as the receiver that you're facing. He told me to have fun. And I'm covering way better. It's definitely a confidence thing."
Not that he lacks any on the surface. "At cornerback," Tindal agreed, "you have to be the cockiest player on the field. Honestly. But you've got to back it up. You can't just talk."
Shelton has never shied away from calling it, "The toughest position on the field."
"You're going to make mistakes," he said. "But you have to be able to move on to the next play, understand what you did wrong and find a way to make the play the next time."
Shelton credited Leonhard with expanding his football IQ.
"I'm understanding the game of football more," Shelton said. "If you dissect things before the ball is snapped, you will put yourself in a lot of good positions."
Leonhard is a stickler for pre-snap awareness.
"It's knowing down-and-distance," Shelton said. "It's knowing splits and what kind of routes that they can run out of formations so I can eliminate a (certain) route. It's understanding the defense more.
"It's knowing when blitzes are coming and when the quarterback has to get it out right now. I've got to find a way to jam the receiver, not hold him at the line, but mess up his timing.
"I'm just learning more about the game from him (Leonhard). We all are. And he is doing a tremendous job of giving us confidence. He's believing in us and allowing us to make mistakes. But he's also giving us the blueprint for when we do make them."
Leonhard likes where Shelton has taken his game.
"He's competing," he said. "Every single day, he's going out there and competing. He's playing physical and doing a lot of things that maybe don't show up on tape all the time.
"It's fun to watch because it's really clicking for him. I was just telling him, 'You have to have a plan as a corner for every play.' And you can tell with his mindset that he's locked in right now.
"Every play is not perfect. But on every play, he has an idea of what he wants to get accomplished and more often than not, it's happening."
Leonhard's influence can't be understated. Neither can that of Antonio Fenelus, a second-year graduate assistant. In 2010 and 2011, Fenelus was a first-team All-Big Ten cornerback at Wisconsin.
"With Coach Leonhard," said Shelton, "we understand his background and track record. He played in the league (the NFL) 10 years. He has done it. Same thing with Coach Fenelus.
"He has done it here. We've seen him play — with him being more recent. We know what he's talking about and we just follow his lead. Those two guys have been tremendous for us as a group."
Leonhard has been grateful to have someone like Fenelus to split the workload.
"There are so many coaching points that I want to get across to each group, whether it's the safeties or the corners," said Leonhard, the 33-year-old native of Tony, Wisconsin. "Knowing there's a guy (Fenelus) who has been there and done it and understands the game, I feel totally confident saying, 'Hey, let me take the corners for this drill, you take the safeties,' or 'You work with the corners and I'll take the safeties.'
"That's really priceless as a coach."
"At cornerback," Tindal said, "you have to be the cockiest player on the field. Honestly. But you've got to back it up. You can't just talk."
Leonhard and Fenelus understand that their position group is the team's most inexperienced, especially at safety with the loss of a leader like Michael Caputo and a playmaker like Tanner McEvoy.
"It all starts with communication," Leonhard said of the safeties. "Get everybody lined up, have a little pre-snap awareness of what's going on and then go play fast.
"I like to keep it as simple as possible. That was always kind of my mentally (as a player). I've been trying to push that with the guys. Let's have a little thought early and then play, let it all go."
Junior D'Cota Dixon, who missed Tuesday's practice with an injury, is one of the frontrunners for playing time.
"You lose him and that tests your depth," Leonhard said. "That changes your communication. You've got different guys playing with each other which is great for the spring.
"You don't want that to happen in the fall. But it's great now because all of a sudden you're mixing and matching guys — seeing what the right fit is and what their strengths are."
As a true freshman last season, Arrington Farrar saw action in 12 games, mostly on special teams. Because of that taste, the 6-foot-2, 208-pound Farrar has a different perspective on things this spring.
"It's more so in the knowledge of the game, knowing what to do, knowing where to be and where to line up," said Farrar, who's from Atlanta. "I got valuable experience from watching Tanner (McEvoy), D-Hill (Hillary) and Mike (Caputo) and how they carried themselves through practices and meetings and on road trips.
"This is a very important spring because I'm getting a chance to contribute a lot more than I did last season. I'm stepping into a role that I want to be in. I'm getting better."
When asked if he's playing with the same confidence that he had in high school — when he was first-team all-state in Georgia — he said, "No. I've got to get to that point. It's a process."
He needs more work. They all do.
There are no guarantees, particularly in April, only that Dixon and Farrar are in the safety mix, along with senior Leo Musso, junior Joe Ferguson and the aforementioned juniors, Brookins and Figaro.
"I love where we're at as a group," Leonhard enthused at the halfway point of spring drills. "Like I said earlier, the guys all want to get better."
And he will have a large say in helping them get there.
