Notre Dame Preparing For Elite Alabama Cornerback Patrick Surtain II
Notre Dame has played some good cornerbacks this season, but none of them compare to Alabama cover man Patrick Surtain II. The Fighting Irish coaches and players are well aware of Surtain's shut down ability, and they know they must have a plan to handle him.
Surtain was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, CBS Sports and Pro Football Focus. You can expect the 6-2, 200-pound cornerback will continue to pile up first-team All-American honors, and his size allows him to matchup better against Notre Dame's corners than most of the players that unit has handled this season.
"Personnel-wise, for me, it starts with No. 2 [Surtain], probably as good a corner as I've seen in college football any year, to be honest with you," said offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. "We played them in '12, and they had a real good corner, Dee Milliner, but Surtain is special. He's probably the strength of their defense in terms of an individual."
Quarterback Ian Book also sang Surtain's praises, and he knows he must always be aware of where the Alabama cornerback is lined up.
"He's really good, no doubt about that," said Book. "Just means you've got to be on time. If you're late, he's going to take it, and he's a really good corner who is going to play a lot of football for a lot of years in the future.
"So you've got to be on time," continued the Irish quarterback. "You've got to be confident that you made the right read, the right choice. And then at the end of the day, you've got to trust your receivers to go out and help you out, and that's really what it's about. You can't really be lackadaisical, and you can't be late. You don't want to find that out the hard way.
"We know he's there, we know how he plays, we studied a lot of film on him," Book said. "So it's going to be really good. I'm not saying you can't throw the ball there ever, but he's just a really good corner ... It's about being on time. Especially from my perspective as a quarterback."
Notre Dame veteran receiver Ben Skowronek is impressed with more than just Surtain's length and intelligence.
"I think it starts with his feet; he has really good feet, able to mirror routes," Skowronek explained. "But when you combine that with his length and overall athleticism, that's going to make him a top cornerback prospect for the upcoming NFL draft. He has all the tangibles. I'm excited to go out there on Friday and compete against him."
Book is correct, you cannot simply avoid Surtain, but being aware of him is important, and having a solid game plan to get good matchups against him, to get him away from where you want to go with the ball and being smart when you do attack him are keys to success for the Fighting Irish offense.
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