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Complete camp coverage: 2017 primer

Anthony Poindexter wants to put his two best players on the field at safety.

He just hasn't found them yet, five days into training camp.

Competing for the two starting spots are four players, and returning starting free safety Navon Mosley is the only one with any real game experience at Purdue. Mosley, who’s only a true sophomore, is in the mix still with the 1s in camp, but JUCO transfer T.J. Jallow, walk-on Jacob Thieneman — who started against IU in the finale last year — and redshirt freshman Simeon Smiley are getting rotated in, too.

But it’s not just two guys fighting for the strong safety spot and two guys for free.

All of the top four are getting reps at both spots as Poindexter tries to ID who does what the best.

“It’s like a melting pot,” Poindexter said Tuesday. “We’ve got to have some scrimmages. We’ve got to see who can perform. I’m mixing them all in. All four of them have run with the 1s at times, but I can’t say we’ve got a starting until right now.

“Right now, I think they’re all about the same doing a lot of things. So I’m just trying to see who’s going to emerge. Who’s the best cover guy? Who’s the best in-the-box guy? Who’s the best this, that and the other? Right now, you’ve got to give them opportunities. There are plenty of reps going around. In the next week or so, hopefully two of them emerge as starters.”

Jallow seems best-suited for strong safety as a physical player who can cover the tight end and line up in the box, but he said he’s going to be rotating in at free safety and even nickel back, a spot he’s played before, soon, too.

Thieneman has been working at free and strong, too, though he thinks he’s better-suited for strong.

Smiley got work in the spring at safety, nickel and corner, and though he’s strictly a safety this camp, he’s working at both of those spots.

Mosley, who started games at free safety and nickel last season, is probably most comfortable at free safety where he can use his range, but he’s also been learning strong safety, too.

"With the four guys we have right now, I feel like we can definitely move some guys around to fill certain voids we have," Jallow said. "Everybody brings a different aspect of football to the field when they’re on the field."

Perhaps the real reason for all the shifting is because no one has stood out at free safety, both co-defensive coordinators Nick Holt and Poindexter said, and arguably the two best players in camp have been Thieneman and Jallow, who both are more natural strong safeties.

So Poindexter truly is on a search.

It’s a work in progress, in part, because players still are learning a scheme that’s almost opposite of what they played last season — then, the team had more of a man coverage focus, while this new staff is employing most zone coverage schemes.

“It takes time. It takes reps to try to get experience of playing in the post (at free safety), but right now, that’s really what’s holding us back as far as the back end and making a lot of plays down in the middle,” Poindexter said. “We really don’t have an experienced post player.

“I think at least four of them can play in the post. It’s just, you’ve got to have a certain savvy, a certain sense and instincts to play in the post. It’s (about) reacting off what you see from the quarterback. I think right now we’re just looking at too many receivers in zone coverage — they played a lot of man last year. Jallow came from an all-man junior college. So they’re playing every coverage like it’s man, and we’re more of a zone team. We play man, but we play a lot of zone, too, so you’ve got to have different eyes when you play the two different coverages.”

So the more reps, the more knowledge.

The more knowledge, the greater likelihood of the ball not ending up being completed in areas it shouldn’t be against a Cover 3. Which has been an issue since the spring. In theory in that defense, the deep thirds would be covered. That means no passes completed down the sidelines, for one. And often in the spring and again early in camp, that was the case. Although, at least in the first three days of camp, there were defenders closer to knocking down those balls on the sidelines.

That’s just part of the progression — but it’s one Poindexter hopes comes quickly with the season opener less than one month away. He’d like to have the starting two players in place to get the majority of the reps once game planning starts for Louisville, he said.

“I think we’ve got four capable safeties who can play in this league. It’s just my job to get them ready to play,” he said. “I feel good where they’re at right now. In this next week, we need to see a bigger jump, though. I think the front 7 needs to a see a bigger jump (so) they’re confident that we can make plays on the back end and make plays that should be made. I think then our defense will take off.”

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