Texas Tech football assistant Marcel Yates facing rebuild in secondary

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Texas Tech football secondary coach Marcel Yates has spent nearly his entire 23-year career overseeing college defensive backs, so he’s worked with experienced groups and inexperienced groups.

This coming season, the Texas Tech secondary tilts to the latter. Gone are safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, cornerbacks Malik Dunlap and Rayshad Williams — all multi-year starters — and safety Tyler Owens, who moved into the starting lineup last year.

Now it’s back to teaching the kids.

“As a defensive backs coach, it’s challenging no matter who you have,” Yates said Monday, “so just get used to it, right? For me, it’s all about guys understanding what they’re doing and then playing hard and fast.”

As Tech starts the second week of spring football, Yates has a two-deep taking shape. Four corners are leading their group: Seniors Bralyn Lux and Devynn Cromwell and sophomores Maurion Horn and Jalon Peoples.

They have a point of emphasis.

“Looking at the last two seasons, you want your corners to be more physical than what we were,” Yates said. “Whether that’s getting off blocks, whether that’s (defending) the run game, whatever it may be. I feel like this group, we have some physical corners.”

Texas Tech secondary coach Marcel Yates began spring practice last week having to replace four starters.

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Lux made eight starts last year. Cromwell just arrived from the University of Guelph, about an hour west of Toronto. Horn was the highest-rated signee in Tech’s 2022 class. Peoples signed the same year, and Tech coach Joey McGuire says Peoples was the most pleasant surprise of any player in winter conditioning workouts.

“They’re going hard. They’re smart players. They’re…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/texas-tech-football-assistant-marcel-220612089.html

Author : Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Publish date : 2024-03-25 22:06:12

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