“We knew we would like to play him at the mike (middle) linebacker, but the problem was he had been a safety, and we didn’t want to stick him there right away and beat him up and lose him and ruin an excellent prospect,” defensive coordinator Greg Blache said. “We started him off at the sam (strong-side) linebacker position, where everything is coming at you from one direction in the traffic, and we played him at the mike in the nickel situation, where 95 percent of it was passing. So he was getting a feel for it but he wasn’t getting in the heavy traffic with the guards coming on him and combination blocks … because it’s a whole different beast when you’re playing 12 to 15 yards deep as a safety and you move up to 5 yards from the line of scrimmage with the 300-pounders.