Wisconsin cornerbacks coach Paul Haynes spoke to the media during fall camp for the first time since the spring. He touched on plenty of topics, from the depth of his room to young standouts and much more.
Here's everything Haynes said at his availability:
*Authors note: Some questions and answers are rephrased for clarity.
Q: With (assistant DB coach) Jack Cooper working with you now, how does that help you?
"Jack brings a lot of experience. One thing about our defensive staff, we've got guys that've been head coaches, guys that've been coordinators, he's been a coordinator. He sees the big picture, not like just another position coach. So we knock a lot of ideas off each other. Plus he allows us to work with the nickels, or take the young guys a lot of times in this camp when we're working with the older guys. He can take the whole group of younger guys, and a lot of times you don't get to watch them in the meetings, because the meetings are a little shorter, he has time to watch every rep with them."
Q: When you look at your group as a whole, do you feel like you're deeper with guys that are ready to contribute this season?
"Yeah, definitely. You've got RJ (Delancy), you've got Amare (Snowden) in year two. Jace (Arnold) and Jonas (Duclona), who came early a year ago. All those guys are kinda rotating, if you notice, with the ones and two's, because I've really got like six guys I feel comfortable putting in there and playing. With that, I think guys can play less and play better, instead of playing 60, 70 snaps a game."
Q: You've obviously known Luke (Fickell); have you seen a little more urgency out of him this camp?
"Always, I think year one and year two are going to be different. I think the expectation is different, and I think you learn your team a little bit more as the head coach. You also evaluate what happened last year, and he's made it known that there were certain things he didn't see. So I think when you go to year two, you make sure those things don't happen again. So the urgency, the consistency, all those things are things that we thought we had coming out of camp that we didn't have when it hit the hey, a little bit. That's the things that he keeps harping with our coaches and harping with our players. The urgency and consistency, even when we go through our walk-throughs at night. It's a walk-through, but there's gotta be some urgency to it. And it's not just a walk-through, we've gotta get better in everything that we're doing."
Q: Xavier (Lucas) is a guy you went all out for last year, is he a guy that could potentially help you this year based on what you've seen so far?
"It's hard to tell right now as a freshman. One thing about him is he's built not like a freshman. I mean he's 190-something pounds, runs very fast, but he's also a smart kid. He picks up on it very very fast. We'll see how much he can learn, how much he can do. Body-wise, talent-wise, you would say yes. But he's still got a long way to go, just how to play the game and how physical the game is at this level."
Q: With the four new teams in the Big Ten, do you see the intensity ratcheting up?
"It's a great thing with those guys coming in. You would sit there and say Blue Blood programs coming into this conference. I don't know if the intensity amps up, every week is every week. I enjoy those games more than, sometimes you don't play a conference game or something like that. Get a little nervous on those games more, you know your guys will be hyped up for those games. If you wanna be the best, you've gotta play the best and beat the best."
Q: You mentioned the nickels, and we've seen Max (Lofy) and Austin (Brown) getting some reps in there. Who do you think is next in line?
"Owen Arnett has worked there too. And then JT (Justin Taylor) has worked there too as a young guy. There have been times throughout my career, that's a position where you may only have one guy. We have the ability to have two, luckily with Max sticking around and being here. And then you always try to work a young guy, just for the future and down the road. JT, Owen are the guys right now. I'm sure one of the guys in the next class will be in that nickel position too. If you have one, you're good. If you have two, you're definitely lucky."
Q: Is nickel one of the harder positions to coach? Not a lot of the guys you're recruiting at this level are going to be playing Nickel in high school.
"It's kinda like our outside linebacker position, like our Jack and Sam's. In high school those are ends, they think they're defensive linemen. And like you said, no one really plays that position in high school. In our first year, we went with somebody in my room (Jason Maitre) until we got to the bowl game when we went with somebody in the safety room (Austin Brown). I think we can do both. Max (Lofy) is kinda like a Swiss Army Knife, he can do both. AB is a bigger safety. But again, to me it's a skillset. I think it can come from either set of our room, we ask those guys to play man, we ask them to play zone. It helps us when its in the safety room with all of our adjustments because all those guys are in the same room. Last year, we had to make a lot of different adjustments that, you know, it wasn't the communication that we wanted because it was my room and their room and everything else."
Q: What kind trajectory do you see Amare Snowden on now that you've had him for a year?
"He's a big kid that's gotten a lot stronger and a lot faster. Coming out of high school, you always wondered how fast he was gonna get; he's running 20 miles-an-hour consistently, which is very good for how big he is. The biggest challenge I have with him that I tell him all the time is kinda like, how do I wanna put it, don't try to be a cover corner. You're a big kid. Don't try to sit out there and be a 5-9 guy. You've gotta get physical, you've gotta put that big body on somebody. You play a lot different than Rico (Hallman) plays. That's the big challenge I have with him, is be physical. Don't try to sit out there and be a cover corner."
Q: What stands out to you about RJ (Delancy) this camp as opposed to mayne what you saw in the spring?
"Again, RJ has played a lot of college football, brings a lot of experience. This doesn't phase him...he's been through camp, and although its different for him, he's been through it. He's played a lot of man-to-man coverage, which is what we like. He's physical, he's tough. Again, you look at where he's from, Miami Northwestern. Very outgoing type of dude, isn't afraid to communicate and things like that. That's where it helps us in that room with the leadership."
Q: What about Nyzier (Fourqurean)? How much further along is he compared to this time last year?
"Big time. He's put on 20 pounds. He's faster, he's bigger. That's the one thing I think you saw last year, he kinda wore down. And even he said it. Coach (Matt) Mitchell coached him, and Coach Mitchell even said, 'we were beating people a lot at Grand Valley; he only played half a game a lot of the time." The conditioning, the physicality at this level, it all played a factor with him last year. But this offseason he put on 20 pounds, he's a lot more confident understanding the defense and everything. I think he's gonna have a big year for us."
Q: Is Hallman back to where you kinda expect him to be after sitting out the spring?
"Yeah, I think he's actually a little better, because I was worried about his lungs more than anything. When you sit out that long, are you gonna be in shape for this type of practice, this type of deal. He's done a great job of getting himself in shape, even when he couldn't do stuff physically with us, he was getting his lungs ready, because that was the biggest thing. And then he got a hit, you hit it, see its okay. I always tell him, you got a bionic arm now. You should be killing people. He thinks he can go in there and knock people out, but I'm very impressed with him."
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