Geoff Collins must have felt like he walked into a gold mine when he took the job as co-defensive coordinator for the Florida football team.
That gold mine is filled with defensive back talent and potential that could be among the best in the nation.
Florida returns 16 defensive backs heading into the upcoming season, giving Collins a lot of options in how he will use the entire unit.
"It gives us a lot of flexibility in what we do," Collins said. "One of the best things about them is that group is highly competitive. They love playing football and they’re unselfish."
The best player in that group is Vernon Hargreaves. The Tampa native has been an impact player since he first stepped on the field two seasons ago. Hargreaves has started 22 games in his career and has six interceptions and 24 pass breakups.
The junior was a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik award, given to the best college defensive player, last season.
One player who has caught the attention of Collins in spring practice is redshirt freshman J.C. Jackson.
Jackson played in the season opener against Eastern Michigan, but was hurt in the game and took a medical redshirt afterward.
His athletic ability and versatility in the defensive backfield is something Collins loves.
"J.C. is probably one of the most athletic kids, possibly, that I’ve ever been around," Collins said. "He’s done a good job for us, playing corner, playing some nickel, very fast, very physical, very athletic. Technique, he gets better every day.
"Sometimes some of the technical things he might not be 100-percent on, he can make up for sheer athletic ability."
Collins is known for bringing his safeties down into the box and moving them around in his defensive scheme. At Florida, it’s going to be no different with the amount of physicality the group brings.
Keanu Neal will be one of the safeties Collins will be working with because of how physical the junior can be.
Neal played in 10 games last season and started eight at safety, recording 45 tackles and three interceptions, which was good enough for second on the team.
Marcus Maye was heavily involved last season and led all defensive backs in tackles with 62.
Collins has been working with the safeties a lot in spring practice, which is something coach Jim McElwain wanted to have when he first hired Collins.
The ability to rotate players in the secondary and to figure out who is the best at rushing the quarterback is key when Collins moves between the Sam and Nickel positions.
"They’ll be a new nickel, maybe he’s a linebacker, maybe he’s a safety, maybe he’s a corner," Collins said. "A new guy at the rush position that we’ll have either Alex (McCalister) or sometimes it’ll be Quincy (Wilson) or whoever it may be.
"Move those guys around to give them different shots to play different roles to see who does do it well in different personnel groupings."
One corner on the team who was adept at getting after the quarterback last season was Jalen Tabor.
As a freshman, Tabor led all defensive backs with two sacks and four tackles for loss. He also added eight pass breakups en route to a spot on the Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team.
With the amount of talent and the individual highlights of some in the secondary, Collins said the group doesn’t hesitate to heap praise on others who haven’t had the same success.
"Even though Vernon might be a great player, Marcus, Keke are great players, it doesn’t (turn) them down a little bit for somebody else to have success," Collins said. "They love seeing DP (Deiondre Porter) have success, J.C. have success, Quincy, those kind of guys. They pull for each other. It’s a fun group to be around."
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Redshirt freshman defensive back J.C. Jackson catches the ball during practice on March 16 at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
