Joe Haden was missing two things when he started as a freshman for the Gators in 2007.
Playing on offense his whole life, Haden was lacking the confidence a cornerback needs to play against receivers in the Southeastern Conference.
He also was without another lock-down corner to play on the other side of the field.
A year of experience and the arrival of Janoris Jenkins started the turn-around after an awful season for Haden and the rest of the pass defense in 2007.
Haden and Jenkins quickly became one of the best cornerback tandems in the nation as the rest of the defense also improved, transforming into one of the nation's top units on the way to a BCS title.
For as good as the duo was last year, they have been even better in 2009. It is hard to tell sometimes because neither has put up the flashy interception numbers most look for in a corner. They are covering their men so well they just aren't being thrown on often enough to put up those type of numbers.
Haden attributed that to the high level of confidence the two are playing with, what he calls "corner swag."
"(I didn't get it until) toward the end of last season," Haden said. "This season, me and Janoris, we both got it together."
GETTING OVER 2007
When Haden started at corner for the Gators as a freshman, he was just learning to play the position.
He had natural ability, but Haden had not learned the tricks of guarding a receiver.
He was still playing as if the quarterback was throwing to him, which resulted in overrunning the ball and giving up big plays.
The Gators gave up a lot of big pass plays in 2007.
The pass defense allowed 38 passing plays of 20 yards or more to wide receivers alone.
After the 2007 season, then-cornerbacks coach Chuck Heater moved to safeties coach and Vance Bedford was brought in to fix the problem.
He immediately got to work, molding Haden from an athlete into a cornerback.
"Coach Bedford taught me a whole lot of things like my technique, reading splits and studying film," Haden said. "It's not really just about guarding the dude one-on-one. It's knowing what he is about to do before he does it, and if you know that, that is the main thing that will help you out as a corner."
With Haden improving, Bedford still needed another corner that would be able to cover any receiver one-on-one.
That player was Jenkins, who enrolled in classes in the spring of 2008 to get a head start on his freshman season.
Jenkins started the first game of the season at corner but didn't become the permanent starter until after the Ole Miss game, when Shay Hodge beat the defense for three catches and 133 yards including an 86-yard score to put the Rebels ahead by a touchdown.
"Janoris is a special talent," Bedford said. "He was very mature for his age a year ago. He understands the game, has great awareness. Not everybody has the type of awareness he has. That was one reason he was able to come in and play."
Unlike Haden, Jenkins came in knowing how to play corner and was able to help Haden with some techniques such as backpedaling and opening up to run with a receiver.
The two thrived immediately in their first season together, lowering the number of pass plays over 20 yards to 21. The Gators' pass defense went from 98th in the nation to 20th.
STOPPING THE RUN
It's easy to see what the two did for UF's pass defense, but their play also took pressure off the front seven.
In 2007, the Gators were often forced to play zone coverage because of the corners' inabilities to play receivers one-on-one.
Jenkins' emergence and Haden's improved cover skills allowed the Gators to go back to the man coverage they prefer, giving them the option to stack the box to stop the run.
It also gave defensive coordinator Charlie Strong more freedom in his blitz schemes.
"Now you can have eight guys in the box, you can put a safety in the box, you can blitz more because you feel really confident in the guys you got at corner to play man-to-man," Bedford said. "Anytime you can have quality corners out there, you are going to play more eight-man box; you're going to blitz a little more."
The defensive front seven was also a group that got better with experience, but a lot of their success came on blitzes.
Defensive linemen accounted for all but six of the Gators' 29 sacks in 2007, but those numbers changed to all but 24 of the Gators' 72 sacks one year later - an increase of more than 10 percent for the linebackers and secondary.
Having a counterpart to protect the pass, Haden, who likes to get involved in stopping the run, was able to increase his tackles from 63 to 87, good for second on the team behind Brandon Spikes.
RARELY TESTED
Neither corner is anywhere near the nation-leading seven-interception mark.
Haden and Jenkins' success caught many by surprise in 2008, but they were not creeping up on anybody this season.
This season, they only have two interceptions each and five pass breakups between the two of them.
Teams knew heading in that it would be tough to throw on the two of them, so it seems the new game plan is finding other ways of getting a passing game going.
"We feel like they aren't really throwing on us. They are throwing more to the tight end and the running backs," Haden said "That's good for us because it feels like they know we got our people covered."
Now a junior and a sophomore, Haden and Jenkins have been shutting down opposing receivers all season.
Eight games into the season, only three receivers have had at least 50 yards receiving against the Gators, dropping from nine last season and 21 the year before.
The only one of them to reach the century mark was Arkansas' Greg Childs, who burnt Jenkins twice for long plays, including a 75-yard touchdown.
Bedford always reminds the two that they can't be perfect every game.
"I tell them all the time, as a cornerback you are going to get beat, the great cornerbacks brush it off, don't think about it and come back and make a play," Bedford said.
Besides that one hiccup, the two have been as close to perfect as possible when they have been tested.
They have again reduced 20-plus pass plays by opposing receivers to just seven, and they are down to the No. 2 pass defense in the nation.
Even without the big interception numbers, the two are getting noticed.
Haden has been named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the nation's best defensive back, and he is also considered the top corner for next year's NFL draft, according to Scout Inc.
Jenkins isn't getting the same type of accolades quite yet, but he might have a greater effect on whether or not the Gators win their games.
Jenkins always plays on the wide side of the field, where he is less likely to be involved in a lot of play, but the plays to his side of the field are usually attempts to stretch the field vertically.
"I tell the guys this - and I learned it from Earle Bruce a long time ago - 'The field corner might be involved in five plays the entire ball game, and if he makes those five plays, you are going to win.'" Bedford said.
"Last year in just about every ball game, Janoris made his plays, and for the most part this year, he is making his plays."
Haden has also been making his plays, though, and it doesn't appear either is going to stop any time soon.
Teams will have to continue to find different ways to get the passing game going, leaving the duo unnoticed by many.
"They understand it's a thankless job," Bedford said.
