CAT Safety Seeks to Define Depth Chart

Coach Wright is negotiating a CAT safety depth chart.

Author:
Julia Mellett
Publish date:
Aug 23, 2022 8:08 PM EDT

Murray State transfer safety Marcis Floyd was put to work as soon as he stepped on campus.

Floyd has seen time with the Racers exclusively at cornerback. Now in Morgantown, his role has shifted. Safeties coach Dontae Wright has moved him back to CAT safety, a mesh of his strong-suits. The redshirt junior is at the front of a depth chart fueled by youth, and Wright is pleased with that kind of versatility in the backfield.

Avery Wilcox (34), Marcus Floyd (24) — Marcis Floyd instructing Avery Wilcox during Fall Camp
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Aubrey Burks seems to be next in line. Wright spent Fall Camp evaluating the sophomore, and is excited for the football acuity that Burks brings to the room.

"I've got a couple guys who can do it, you know,' Wright said of filling the CAT slot. "My first thought, if something happened to Marcis, I'd move Aubrey over. I gave Aubrey a test the other day. It was a 10-question test. I asked everybody in the room. I said, 'You've got 10 minutes to finish this. You put in your position and anything that you think needs to be talked about on that page.'

"Aubrey Burks went in there and he put in all seven back-end guys. Both corners. Both safeties. A SPEAR and MIKE, and a WILL, and got every single one of them right in six minutes. The young man is extremely intelligent. I would probably move him over there first."

Along with Burks' versatility, Wright also sees safeties like redshirt senior Malachi Ruffin and redshirt freshman Caleb Coleman filling in any immediate depth chart gaps with ease.

"Then we've got Malachi Ruffin. We've got Caleb Coleman," Wright said. "We've got some other guys. We could tinker with it and pull a corner in there if we had to, but those are probably the guys right now that would play over there behind him."