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Free Safety U? Illinois has a trio of alums starting at the FS position in the NFL
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- Free Safety U? Illinois has a trio of alums starting at the FS position in the NFL
Lots of schools claim to be DBU, Defensive Back University, with LSU, Miami , Alabama, Notre Dame, Florida, USC and FSU among those who are most historically deserving of this title. Ohio State is number one, and by a wide margin, when it comes to all-time defensive backs getting drafted into the NFL.
However, in this moment, FSU, not Florida State , but Free Safety University, is Illinois .
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One of the best safeties in the game is Kerby Joseph , who mans the FS position for the Detroit Lions , is an Illini alum. As is Jartavius "Quan" Martin, who holds this same position with the Washington Commanders . Staying in the same division, Sydney Brown is a part time starter for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles .
So if you were to count him in this survey, you then have three former Illini starting at the free safety position in the 32 team NFL. Or one Illinois guy per every 10.67 teams. That's a pretty interesting statistic, especially when you consider how there are 265 teams in division I (FBS 136, FCS 129).
Miles Scott, the current Illini starting free safety, keeps up with all the Illini alumni DBs in the NFL.
"All the guys that are in the league, they always reach out to us and let us know, hey, keep it going," Scott said in an exclusive with R.org . "They let us know anything that we need to know, so it's pretty good."
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He was then asked to elaborate a bit: "It would be specific questions I might ask them. I might show them a play, and be like hey, what should I do here? Stuff like that."
The team's leading tackler this season, Scott is also the quintessential "quarterback of the defense," or "coach on the field" for Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry.
He's a heady player, who's good at picking out what plays opponents might run out of given formations. Like all good free safeties, he does a great job "playing center field" and acting as the literal last line of defense.
He currently projects as a late round prospect, but he knows what he must do to improve his stock, and vault up the boards- become a better tackler.
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"I would say just having the right angles, always getting better at covering, wherever I'm covering, tight ends or receivers," Scott added.
"If I'm in the deep post, just having great eyes, like these are the things I'm working on."
Starting nickel cornerback Xavier Scott (no relation to Miles ) is the team's top NFL Draft prospect in the secondary, but he's out injured for most of what remains of the season.
The list of top free safety prospects for the next draft is led by Ohio State's Caleb Downs . Some consider him the consensus #1 overall prospect , regardless of position, as he might just be a generational talent.
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USC's Kamari Ramsey and Oregon's Dillon Thieneman are potential first rounders as well.
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: There's a pipeline of free safeties from Champaign, IL to the league
