Secondary and beyond

When Don Brown talked about his expectations for Kenny Tate this season, the Terrapin football team’s defensive coordinator cryptically said “double digits” wouldn’t surprise him.

Tate is a second-year safety with rare athletic ability yet limited game experience, so there are very few statistics for which that prediction would make sense.

Was Brown talking about interceptions? Passes defended? Tackles?

“Sacks,” Brown said matter-of-factly. “Why, would that surprise you?”

Tate has emerged as one of the best players on the field during the first week and a half of the Terps’ preseason camp, and his freakish combination of size, speed and athleticism have his coaches dreaming about the possibilities for the upcoming season.

“He’s all over the place,” coach Ralph Friedgen said. “Every time you look up, he’s making a play.”

A converted wide receiver now playing at one of the Terps’ most talent-laden positions on the defense, Tate is aiming to be a defensive difference-maker this season in as many ways as he can.

Tate is currently listed as the second-team strong safety on the Terps’ depth chart behind Jamari McCollough, but that sells short his overall ability, versatility and the impact he could make.

“You could see me anywhere,” Tate said. “With our coverages, you never know. You never know what I’m going to be doing.”

And Brown was not embellishing when he made his prediction.

The gruff first-year assistant, who joined the Terps after last season following a successful tenure as head coach at the University of Massachusetts, doesn’t seem like the type to exaggerate.

Brown’s defense is known for attacking the quarterback, and he envisions Tate fitting perfectly into his system.

He expects Tate to be among the Terps’ defensive leaders in several statistical categories, but seemed most confident about the sacks.

“He’s found a home,” Brown said. “He’s playing at a tremendous level.”

Brown has four very talented safeties in Tate, McCollough, Terrell Skinner and Antwine Perez, but he expects each guy to play a lot this season and to be productive in his own way.

Skinner and Perez are the big hitters, and McCollough has the speed and coverage skills.

But Tate can do it all.

At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, he has the size to play near the line of scrimmage, but he also has the speed to drop back into coverage.

“He can play anywhere. We’re just trying to find as much flexibility for him as possible,” Brown said. “He’s a safety body type, but he’s also a linebacker’s body type, and I’m not sure he couldn’t put his hand on the ground [and play defensive line]. So we’re trying to take advantage of his versatility.”

And what is making the high expectations possible, and perhaps even more incredible, is how quickly Tate is picking up the intricacies of the complicated defensive scheme. He is only a little more than a year removed from leaving high school as a highly-touted wide receiver.

“The thing about it is how smart he is,” safeties coach Kevin Lempa said. “I’ve never had a kid like that who can do all those things.”

Tate played both wide receiver and safety at storied DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, but he came to the Terps as a wideout, only switching to defense full-time once he was here.

Friedgen suggested the move last season because the Terps had, and still have, a deep corps of wide receivers, and Tate liked the idea.

After he became more comfortable as a defensive player last year, he decided to stay on that side of the ball this season.

“I’m in the right mindset to play defense,” Tate said. “Last year I had all the physical capabilities to play safety but I wasn’t really there mentally yet. Not mentally like I didn’t know the defense, just things like the mindset of being on defense and backpedaling and having the vision and seeing things. I was still offensive-minded.”

So with the physical ability, the mental capacity and the trust of his coaches to succeed, there is very little standing in the way between Tate and a monster season.

“I’m just trying to play to my capabilities,” Tate said.

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