So far, West likes change of direction

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Nexus

All-American
LINCOLN — Anthony West put in his time at cornerback and knew the position pretty well by the end of his junior season at Nebraska.
Safety?

It’s not only new to West, but comes with a bigger user’s manual.

“The main thing is getting everything down, because it’s so much more than corner,” West said. “There’s so much more you’ve got to know at safety.”

West has forfeited some comfort to give safety a try. The experiment started in seven-on-sevens during winter conditioning, with the idea being to maybe help the Huskers at a thin position and perhaps give himself a better chance to play.

“I knew we were losing Larry (Asante) and Matt (O’Hanlon),” West said. “It was something I just figured I might as well give a try.”

Any self-analysis would be incomplete since Nebraska has gone through just seven spring practices, but West so far seems OK with it.

West played some safety in high school so there is a little background. All that he’s learning, he said, also should give him a better overall understanding of what everybody else on the NU defense is doing.

Husker defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said last week that West is having “a heck of a spring” working at safety, where NU also has P.J. Smith, Austin Cassidy, Rickey Thenarse, DeJon Gomes and Courtney Osborne.

“There’s a learning curve, but it’s coming around for him,” Pelini said.

The San Diego native started 11 games at cornerback as a sophomore and the first four of his junior year. The emergence of Alfonzo Dennard last fall then led to a significant decrease in playing time.

Both Dennard and Prince Amukamara return, and NU is well-stocked with underclassmen at cornerback — so West is giving something else a try.

His time at cornerback has helped with things such as footwork. He has picked the brains of returning safeties and NU secondary coach Marvin Sanders to help with his transition.

Is it permanent?

“I’m going to still make sure I know everything at corner, in case, but I’m pretty much sticking at safety,” West said. “It’s been good. I mean, I like it.”

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Folks have been talking about West playing safety for a long time, hope it works out for him. Gomes was basically a starter against spread-teams as the dimeback. I think he still is considered the starting dimeback. Will be interesting to see what happens with him in terms of safety.

 
The impression I get from that article is that West actually isn't too wild about his change of direction, but understands it might be his only hope of seeing playing time.

 
West and a position that requires him to "know so much more" doesnt exactly leave me jumping for joy. More knowledge + more decisions = more hestitancy, from a guy that has had problems with that it the past? All in all, sounds like what West should really be working on his footwork getting to the bench.

 
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I think they've got so much talent at DB right now that he's dropped in the depth chart. He knows it too... some of these Freshmen and sophomores (Green, Middleton, Washington, the new ones coming in, and some of the walk ons) have most likely been beating him out. West used to be one of our best, but my guess is that the talent has increased so much he's now not likely to receive playing time.

 
I wish they would write something about Gomes' development at safety. I really hope he gets the job, he's too good not to play.

 
West and Thenarse, both former starters. Both might not see the field much this year. That says a lot about how much our DBs have improved in the last 2-3 years.

 
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