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Bear Essentials: Derron Brown

In moving forward with the Bear Essentials series, today we take a look at one of the spring standouts, safety Derron Brown.

Previous Bear Essentials: P. Mekari | Goode | Robertson | T. Mekari | QB Spot

Brown forced a fumble in last season's game against Hawaii
Brown forced a fumble in last season's game against Hawaii (Rick Rycroft - Associated Press)

Derron Brown has had a bit of a circuitous journey to get to the starting safety spot, where he's listed in the most recent release of the depth chart. He's gone from safety to linebacker to redshirting, then moving back to safety. It appears to be the perfect fit, as Brown starting making plays right away in the spring, most notably during a end of practice, one play offense vs. defense drill where he deflected a Chase Forrest pass and freed the defense from some conditioning work. This was not expected a year ago.

A year ago, Brown was miscast as a linebacker, partially due to need, and an injury sent him to the bench with a medical redshirt for the year. Now that he's in a safety role, in a similar position to former Bears Donnie McClesky and Thomas Decoud. Justin Wilcox's defenses have often used a rover-type at safety, someone who they feel comfortable with playing in the box, and Brown has the hitting ability to do that, as shown in the photo above.

There's a big reason why Brown should play a big role in Cal's defense this season.

Second level tackling:

As evidenced in a number of games a season ago, Cal had trouble stopping runs that got out to the second level, due to poor tackling and bad pursuit angles. The change in practice focus should help that for everyone, but the eye test puts Brown as one of the better tacklers on the defense, along with someone who's capable of playing downhill, making plays in the alley, and curtailing runners before they can breakaway. There's a need for consistency in preventing explosive running plays, and Brown's performance during the spring shows that he's capable of that. Preventing the longer plays in the run game is the first step in bringing the defense back from a notoriously bad season.

Brown's coverage skills at this point are decent, with a somewhat small sample size to look at during this juncture, but he should be helped by a cornerback group that's gotten much more aggressive at the line with DB coach Gerald Alexander's coaching. The intense focus on technique from Alexander, a former NFL safety, has been a contributor to Brown excelling so far.

There's still 30 practices left before the season starts, but Brown's going to be a contributor this year one way or another. The alleged model for the new Under Armour jerseys gives Wilcox and defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter a good problem to have, a number of safeties who could ostensibly start. When coupled with the safety woes of the past few years, that's a relief. It's a step up in responsibility for Brown, but all signs this year have pointed to him being able to handle it.

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