Scouting Combine Cornerbacks: Louisiana’s Lethal Weapon

Part 4 of our four-part look at the 35 cornerbacks includes Notre Dame’s Tony Pride, Clemson’s A.J. Terrell and the best ballhawk in the draft.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Feb 24, 2020 10:51 PM EST

Part 4 of our four-part look at the 35 cornerbacks includes Notre Dame’s Tony Pride, Clemson’s A.J. Terrell and the best ballhawk in the draft. (Underclassmen are marked with an asterisk.)

Troy Pride, Notre Dame (5-11, 194): Hand had four interceptions in four seasons, including two picks and 10 additional breakups as a junior and one pick and six additional breakups as a senior.

Pride and his family survive a serious car accident in June after an RV clipped their car and sent it over a guardrail. “If you see the car, you will understand why I give God the glory,” Tony Pride Sr. told the Indy Star. “It’s a testimony and it’s a blessing. It could have been worse — a lot worse.” Pride was part of the track team in 2018; he competed in the 60- and 200-meter sprints at the ACC indoor championships. “It’s very difficult. Not very many people talk about it but I was waking up at 6 a.m. for workouts, going to class for three hours, and then going to track practice for three hours, and finishing by day at 8 or 9” Pride told the school newspaper. “I barely saw the sunlight sometimes. It was hard and it was a grind, but it definitely allowed me to be more mentally tough. Obviously, physically it made me better and I just pride myself in doing it because I know a lot of people couldn’t.” Pride was a football player running track and not a track guy playing football. “There’s an idea that track guys aren’t physical enough or they don’t have the lateral movement, but when it gets down to it, what are you doing to change that on the field,” Pride told GoUpState.com. “You can’t listen to everything people say. I’m a football player first that can run track when it comes time to.”

John Reid, Penn State (5-10, 181): Reid was an honorable mention on the all-Big Ten team following each of his final three seasons. As a senior, he had two interceptions and eight breakups for a total of 10 passes defensed.

He missed the entire 2017 season with a knee injury. “Any time you have an injury, of course you’re going to wonder ‘Am I going to come back as fast as I was, as strong as I was?’ You always question that,” John Reid Sr. told the Collegian. “In his mind, that was the first thing he worried about.” He is a data science major who interned at Dell. “It’s just like anything: You put the time into it, and then it all ends up working out if you work hard enough,” he said at Big Ten Media Days. “It’s kind of the approach I took. With football, I’m just used to putting in a ton of hours to do stuff. If I want to be good at something, I want to be good at it, period. I don’t expect anything less, so I kind of put the time in. I wouldn’t call it sacrifice. Usually when you think of sacrifice, it almost gets a bad vibe to it. I think it’s necessary. It’s something that I wanted to do. I’m going to make it a priority.” As linebacker Cam Brown told the Athletic: “He’s the biggest nerd you’re gonna find,”

Amik Robertson, Louisiana Tech* (5-9, 183): Robertson had a superlative career. In just three seasons, Robertson posted 14 interceptions and 34 additional breakups for a total of 48 passes defensed, plus four sacks and 23 tackles for losses. Robertson tied for the national lead with 16 passes breakups and was second with 21 passes defensed during his final season to be a second-team All-American.

“It’s a blessing and an honor to be in this position,” Robertson told the Daily Comet of his decision to enter the NFL. “I look forward to taking the next step and pursing my dreams to make it to the NFL. It was a hard decision, but I appreciate my family, coaches and teammates for being in my corner and helping me make the best decision.” Robertson emerged from the small but crime-riddled town of Thibodaux, La. “A lot of young athletes from where I’m at, they don’t usually make it from that area,” he told The News Star. “They kind of get the hype going, then they get big-headed and they fall on their face with either grades or getting caught up in the streets.” Said his father, Arthur Watts: “The first five years of Amik’s life, I was in prison. His mom didn’t let me know Amik was my son until later. That was rough, but I took the blame for that. I was in prison for making bad decisions. I taught Amik not to made bad decisions.” Robertson was a Freshman All-American to start a superb three-year career. “I feel like I have the mind of Patrick Peterson, because I try to be the most consistent cornerback in the game,” Robertson told the Houma Times. “But I also play with passion, energy and competitiveness like the Honey Badger, though. So, it’s kind of hard to compare me to anyone.”

Reggie Robinson II, Tulsa (6-1, 197): Robinson led the American Athletic Conference with 17 passes defensed (four interceptions, 13 breakups) to earn first-team all-conference accolades. Those were all of his career interceptions and almost exactly one-half of his passes defensed in four seasons.

He became the first Tulsa defensive back in almost 50 years to get a Senior Bowl invite. “It was crazy,” Robinson told the Cleburne Times Review. “I was just sitting here chilling and my agent called me and asked if I wanted to hear some good news and he said I got an invite to go to the Senior Bowl. I stood up and I was so happy. I was excited for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, but when I got the invite to the Senior Bowl, I was like, ‘Man, things are really clicking for me.’ I was excited to get the invite.” An injury limited him to eight games as a junior. “It really started last year when I got injured,” Robinson told the Tulsa World. “I knew that time is not always on my side, so I had to take that into account and came into this season with a mindset to try harder than I ever have, try new things and take more risks. I think that has paid off for me this season.”

Stanford Samuels III, Florida State* (6-2, 185): Samuels intercepted eight passes in his four seasons, including a career-high four as a sophomore. As a junior, he had two picks and seven breakups to give him nine total passes defensed to earn an honorable mention on the all-ACC team.

His father, Stanford Samuels Jr., played at FSU from 1999 through 2003 and for several seasons in the Canadian Football League. He joined the FSU staff in 2019 as a defensive analyst. Samuels III was a 4-year-old while his dad was a sixth-year senior. The receivers took to him for some reason, and they would take turns throwing to him,” his father told Bleacher Report. “He would imitate them with the way he would make catches, and they would be amazed at how he caught the ball. He was advanced back then. You could tell he was really into the game.”

Josiah Scott, Michigan State* (5-10, 171): Scott started 30 games in his three seasons. He finished his career tied for 12th in MSU history with 32 passes defensed (seven interceptions and 25 breakups). He added two forced fumbles. As a junior, he was second-team all-Big Ten with three interceptions and eight additional breakups for 11 passes defensed. He missed the first eight games of the 2018 season with a meniscus injury but still tied for the team lead with two picks.

Three brothers played for Division III powerhouse Mount Union. “There were plenty of times my wife (Danielle) had to go out there and was like, ‘Stop tackling him that hard. Stop hitting him that hard,’” their father, Oliver, told the Lansing State Journal. “The thing is, he would always get back up and he would never back down.” Those battles toughened the undersized Josiah. “There was a lot of bullying,” he said. “That’s all I ever did was lose. In basketball, I was always the smallest. Every single time I went up for a shot, it would get blocked. In video games, I’m losing all the time. It kind of grew my hate for losing.”

A.J. Terrell, Clemson* (6-1, 190): Johnson had six interceptions in his career, including a career-high three as a sophomore. As a senior, he had two picks and three additional breakups to earn first-team all-ACC honors.

Terrell finds motivation in his son, Aundell Terrell III, who was born in June. “It actually motivated me in all types of ways,” Terrell told The State. “I feel like I have a lot of responsibility now. Not saying that I didn’t before, but now it’s just given me an extra boost of energy to go out there and do what I do best.” One of his interceptions in 2018 was a pick-six in the national championship game vs. Alabama. “To be completely honest I like the play but don’t really much watch it,” he told GoUpState.com. “I don’t even like watching it as much as I used to when last season was over. I feel like it’s a new season and that was last year and I can’t be feeding off last year’s energy. We’re in the playoff again and this is all new so I’ve got to make a new play this year, that’s my mindset.” Athletics runs in the family, with two sisters competing in college track and field.

Stantley Thomas-Oliver III, Florida International (6-2, 184): In two seasons on defense, he had two interceptions and 18 breakups for a total of 20 passes defensed. As a senior, he added two sacks and four tackles for losses. He spent his first two seasons at receiver. As a freshman, he had a promising campaign with 35 receptions for 485 yards and one touchdown. However, due in part to a coaching change, he had just one catch as a sophomore. He considered quitting before, finally, approaching coach Butch Davis. During the run-up to the bowl game, he was moved to cornerback.

He added the “Oliver” to his last name to honor his stepfather, who helped raise him from age 8. “You don’t know the kind of impact you make on somebody,” Frank Oliver told the Miami Herald. “You just do the right thing, not for any accolades. I genuinely love my wife and my family. When he filed the paperwork, I gave him a hug and thanked him for being in my life.”

Kindle Vildor, Georgia Southern (5-11, 190): Vildor was first-team all-Sun Belt as a junior and senior. During his final season, he had two interceptions and six additional breakups. His best year came as a junior, when he had four interceptions and 12 additional breakups for 16 passes defensed. That set the stage for Vildor to be the Sun Belt’s preseason player of the year for 2019. All nine interceptions and 34 passes defensed came during his final three seasons.

"Growing up, I first started playing baseball in the neighborhood with me and my friend,” he told the Draft Network. “We were outside and a man came over there seeing a football on the ground and we started to play catch. It turns out that he was a local rec. league coach. He asked me if I wanted to play and I always wanted to, but I just never knew how the process went. After that I ran with it and that was when I was 9 years old.” He also was strong academically. “Without school you can’t play ball,” he told Crescent City Sports. “Growing up my mom always made sure I was on top of my school work because if I wasn’t, she wouldn’t let me go to practice. It all just carried over to college, that same mindset. I make sure that I take care of my academics.”