2021 UW Recruit Zakhari Spears: Studying to be Shutdown Corner
The Coronavirus-related shutdown of sports everywhere has high school athletes searching for new ways to work on their craft in preparation for the college game.
It would be easy not to do anything, to make excuses that the weight rooms were off-limits, that it was difficult to get a workout in.
“This will be a season of separation,” said Mike Martin, Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated's college football analyst. "Who gets noticed will come down to who finds ways to get better and who sits on the couch with a bag of chips.”
Zakhari Spears, a Washington cornerback commit from Loyola High School in Los Angeles, understands this, as does his father Bobby. Dad has invested in his son's football future and shared in the preparation.
“We bought a bench and a rack," Spears said. “My dad and I have been going to parks or any open space to get field work in.”
The 6-foot-2 Spears understands that a big part of becoming a shutdown corner and the complete package in the secondary is being physical at the point of attack during run-support in Washington's defense and not just locking down his area.
With social-distancing a reality across the country in this spring, Spears is using this time to get bigger, stronger and faster while refining his footwork. During safer times last fall, receivers had trouble keeping their distance from Spears.
“Spears is a real problem for receivers,” Martin said. “He’s sticky in coverage but uses his long levers to keep blockers from getting into his body.”
From a young age, Spears said he has never shied away from contact.
“I was a lineman and a tight end when I was younger,” said the corner, Washington’s second-known commit for 2021. “I got used to hitting and being hit.”
Spears uses his frame to his advantage in an ever-evolving sport where his body type is highly coveted. At 6-3, former Seahawks and current 49ers defensive back stalwart Richard Sherman helped break the mold for the modern cornerback position.
Spears said most high school corners of his stature model their style of play after the former Stanford product.
“I started playing defensive back in 10th grade," says the Loyola High School product. “I am still learning more every year.”
College football scouts often compare Spears to former Washington cornerback Kevin King. Long and lanky, yet able to smother receivers.
“The advantage of having corners that have long levers like Spears is that it changes the window that quarterbacks are used to fitting balls,” Martin says. “It also changes the trajectory of fades making for less of a margin for error for the quarterbacks.”
While Spears' 6-2 frame jumps off the page, he didn’t put up eye-popping numbers as a junior.
“Most of the time I got targeted once or twice a game, sometimes not at all,” Spears says. “So I ended up in run support a lot.”
The statistic referenced most for defensive backs is interceptions, yet in Jimmy Lakes' system, defensive backs are expected to set the edge and turn running backs inside to be swallowed up the guys in the trenches or a linebacker shooting gaps.
Spears said a lot of opposing teams turned one-dimensional against Loyola’s defensive backfield. It's a point of pride for him and his teammates.
“Everyone we play against is pretty run-heavy,” Spears said. “Especially with our secondary, it wouldn't make sense to try and pass a lot on us.”
As he prepares for his final season at Loyola, Zachari Spears knows he has much to learn about the intricacies of playing the cornerback position.
“I want to advance my football knowledge," Spears told the 4th and Inches Podcast. "I want to read an offensive set before the play starts and make more plays on the ball.”
With Spears’ work ethic, combined with his stature and quickness, Lake could have a potential star coming to Montlake.
