Mark Zachary IV

Best players in the world. They struggle to get their head around. The rules don’t favor DB’s. It’s a near impossible position to play. Which is why many teams opt to play zone coverage.

When the NFL tightened up the rules for contact on receivers, college followed suit. There are not a whole lot of DBs that can play man coverage an elite level. One remedy is a good pass rush.

Mark Zackery is more of feast or famine kind of guy, and still cutting his teeth. The abilities and talent are there.

He'll have an off-season to put things together, and I think he'll be much better next year.

I see a lot of similar traits as I did with Mike Richardson. Granted, he was just some no-name 2 star wide receiver who got shifted to CB right away, and got burnt badly on a regular basis in 2004 as a part time starter.

In the off-season, he worked hard, busted his butt, studying film, listening to the coaches, and in 2005 became a solid starting CB for us, continuing that in 2006.

A lot of epiphanies happen between the sophomore and junior years, and I'd give him a chance before writing him off.

In this day and age, we want our players to be ready to play as soon as they arrive on campus, and in all fairness, we're getting more of those guys who are ready to go.

We simply have to remember to not discount the long game.

Not every cornerback we get is going to be ready right away, and in all fairness, we have been spoiled by the arrival of Ben Morrison and Leonard Moore.