A little Football 101 with Nick Saban | The Daily Bama Blog

In case you missed the Nick Saban video from yesterday here’s a transcript describing what make good “star” and “money” defensive backs. Star is your traditional nickel or slot corner, Money is your traditional dime back or sixth defensive back. Looks this year like Tavon Wilson could be the Pats Money back.

“You can be a really good star and not have the long-speed to be a good corner — long-speed being that if a guy runs a take off on you, you have to run and not get out run when the ball is in the air,” Saban said. “If you have really good quickness and cover ability, the slot guy has a hard time beating you in that position because he’s closer to the safeties, he’s closer to the middle of the field. So, a good tackler, a good blitzer, a good cover guy on a slot player, which is different than a good cover guy on an outside player.

“The money guy has got to have some linebacker characteristics, in terms of the run. It helps that the guy’s a little bit bigger and physical because sometimes he has to cover a tight end, which is a bigger guy. But he also, unless you change personnel, has to be good enough to do the same things that the star does.”