Etheridge's vision as recruiter and teacher

[aubiefifty 18,231]

'No puppies allowed': Inside Zac Etheridge's vision as recruiter and teacher

ByNathan King 3 hours ago

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Anyone who’s been coached by Zac Etheridge knows about “the twitch.”

At first, Damarion Williams, a Houston team captain last season, wasn’t sure what to make of Etheridge’s antics. Now looking back, all he does is laugh when talking about practices and games with his former position coach.

“He’s insane,” Williams told Auburn Undercover. “He had this crazy thing he did with his eyes, like a twitch. I’d always get on him like come on coach, what the hell is wrong with you? When he got excited and fired up, his eyes would twitch. He’d show us and tell us to look into his eyes and get fired up. We’d be like man, stop doing that crazy s***."

Williams chuckled before continuing: "He was always doing something to make us laugh, man.”

It certainly seems that’s Etheridge’s M.O.

In a handful of interviews with some of Etheridge’s former players and one of his closest friends, the two most common topics brought up were his humor and his recruiting. That looks to be the identity of Auburn’s new cornerbacks coach, a team captain from Auburn’s 2010 national championship team hired by Bryan Harsin at the beginning of January after successful stints at Houston and Louisiana.

A fellow standout on Auburn’s defense in 2010, Josh Bynes has known Etheridge since they were both teenagers. When asked whether Etheridge is as much of a firecracker as his former pupils describe him, Bynes lets out a deep, booming laugh that spreads through the phone speaker and infects the rest of the interview.

“Yep, yep,” Bynes said, still stifling laughter. “That’s Zac.”

Continued Bynes: “[Etheridge] just has so much passion for the game, and he played that way, too. Obviously it’s now showing in him as a coach now, and he’s able to pour that into his players. I’m just so proud of him, and I know his players really appreciate that.

“But man, he’s definitely crazy, he’s loud, he’s into it, and he gives it 100% every day for his players.”

 

Oregon was driving and looked close to drawing first blood in Scottsdale, Arizona. Just inside the red zone, Ducks quarterback Darron Thomas looked left for his receiver but threw the pass behind — right into the waiting arms of Etheridge, who came up from his safety position to make the play.

Right next to him, ready to celebrate, was Bynes, now in his 11th year in the NFL, currently with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Whenever Bynes thinks back to his time at Auburn — something he does often as a proud alum, he said — Etheridge is right there in most of the memories. The two are still close and talk every couple weeks.

(Photo: Auburn Athletics)

If anyone knows how much the coaching job at Auburn means for Etheridge, it’s Bynes.

“Of course it’s a dream job for him,” Bynes told Auburn Undercover. “I talked to him on FaceTime after he got the job and he was super, super, super happy. I was so happy for him. I’ve known Zac for a long, long time, and to see where came from, how he hustled and how he found his career in coaching. He got a big opportunity at Lafayette and then it transpired from there. He just needed that first opportunity to show he can do it and find his way, and he’s shown people now that he’s such a high-level coach.”

After a brief stab at the NFL, Etheridge joined the coaching world in 2012 as a grad assistant at Penn State, where he worked under his defensive coordinator from Auburn, Ted Roof.

Roof was a pivotal character during Etheridge’s recovery from his scary neck injury in 2009 that nearly left him paralized.

“He is like a son to me,” Roof told Auburn Undercover last month. “I’m so happy that he is back at Auburn, back at the school he has a bunch of sweat equity in. I think he is a great representative of Auburn and will have an outstanding career.”

The Troy native won Auburn’s James Owens Courage Award in 2013.

Etheridge also took on a grad assistant position at Georgia Tech, then earned his first full-time assistant job at Western Carolina, coaching cornerbacks, then linebackers. He took a job with UT-Chattanooga in 2018 but was lured away by Louisiana less than two weeks later.

That’s where Etheridge met Williams — only, things got a bit jumbled at the start of their relationship.

Williams (6). Photo: UH Athletics

Williams, one of the more highly sought-after JUCO defenders in the 2019 class, was committed to Minnesota and P.J. Fleck, even “shutting down his recruitment” with the Gophers. But he continued to hear from Etheridge at Louisiana, and he remembers feeling strongly about how he was being recruited.

Williams ultimately flipped to Houston, and Etheridge joined the staff as the program’s new cornerbacks coach two weeks later. Etheridge was excited to know a familiar face in the building. Williams was still trying to get his facts in order.

“He was recruiting me to go to Louisiana-Lafayette, but I didn’t remember that I was talking to him,” Williams told Auburn Undercover. “When I committed to Houston, he ended up getting the job here, and he was so excited that I was there, too. So he came up to me and was like, ‘Glad we’re here together.’ And I was like, ‘Who are you? No, that was some other guy.’ But then I was glad I already had talked to him and knew his vision, because then it was straight to work, straight to business.”

 

What is Etheridge’s vision as a recruiter? Auburn is seemingly tabbing the young coach as one of their top recruiting assets on Harsin’s new staff.

Marcus Jones, an All-American cornerback for Houston last season under Etheridge’s tutelage, said one of his most enjoyable moments of his playing career was being recruited to Houston.

Jones entered the transfer portal from Troy and was sought out by Etheridge. Although they were able to relate to one another immediately, with Etheridge being from the Troy area, Jones never felt he was being vetted or evaluated or interviewed. If the match was meant to be with Houston, it was meant to be. Otherwise, Etheridge applied very little pressure during Jones’ recruiting process beyond pitching what the program had to offer and how he could grow under Etheridge’s watch.

Jones thinks Auburn’s prospects of the future will enjoy Etheridge’s approach. He said he felt like, even if he hadn’t ended up transferring to Houston, he could have still maintained a friendship with Etheridge.

“He would never lie to you,” Jones told Auburn Undercover. “Some recruiters will just try to get you there. But he’s up front.”

Jones (8). Photo: UH Athletics

There exists a breed of athlete and worker that Etheridge desires, Williams said. The coach’s recruiting feels like a “challenge,” as Etheridge discerns whether a recruit will trust in his process and buy into his philosophies.

If a prospect is willing to do those two things, Etheridge wants to give him a chance.

“Some coaches won’t give you a chance,” Williams said. “[Etheridge] would look deep down and see who you are as a person, challenge you. And if you accept the challenge, he wants you."

There’s no babying once one of Etheridge’s players is on campus, however. There’s only so much food on the plate, so much playing time to go around, Williams said. Etheridge tells his cornerbacks they have to be hungry, because there’s always someone who will want it more.

“He recruits dogs,” Williams said. “Big dogs only. No puppies allowed.”

Bynes is excited to see Etheridge’s full-circle tenure at Auburn, as his former teammate is now tasked with recruiting new faces to the program that gave him his shot as a player.

Only 11 different programs have won a national championship since the turn of the century. Etheridge has the advantage of coaching where he won it all, where he reached the mountaintop. That’s an invaluable tool in his recruiting belt, Bynes thinks.

“Watching him over the years, he’s such an awesome recruiter and teacher,” Bynes said. “Knowing what it takes to be an Auburn Tiger, he can do that for other kids and give them the same chance Auburn gave him. That championship pedigree, having won a championship, that’s so important. He can tell kids how to get there and how to be national championship-caliber players and teammates.”

Etheridge doesn’t just flash his ring on the recruiting trail, though. It’s an area of coaching he cherishes and is obsessed with excelling in.

“You can’t fake that type of energy and love for the game,” Bynes said. “You can’t beat that. And Zac has shown throughout his whole career that he is a successful recruiter just being him. He knows how to guide kids through adversity, obviously with his neck injury, he fought through that and never quit.

“If I’m being recruited, there’s no other person I’d want to listen to. They won’t take for granted his words and his experiences and how easy he is to play for.”

 

It can be argued somewhat easily that Etheridge’s Auburn cornerbacks room is the most talented position group on the roster for 2021.

Three days after Etheridge was hired, the Tigers’ top cornerback from last season, Roger McCreary, elected to return for his senior year in favor of heading to the NFL Draft, where he had been projected by some as a third- or fourth-round pick.

Even more impressive than McCreary toward the end of last season was rising junior Nehemiah Pritchett. He led the secondary with 10 pass breakups and turned in some elite numbers in coverage, too: Pritchett’s 2.9 yards allowed per target were the lowest for an SEC cornerback in a season since 2016, per CFB Film Room, and his 0.53 yards per coverage snap allowed was the fourth-lowest mark in the conference last season, per Pro Football Focus. He didn’t begin the 2020 season as a starter, but it’s tough to envision Pritchett not lining up across from McCreary when spring practices get rolling.

Jaylin Simpson, a redshirt freshman last season, earned the coveted starting job at the No. 2 cornerback spot prior to the season opener. He was injured in that game, however, and wasn’t able to fully shake his injury troubles for the remainder of the season. A long and athletic defender down the field, Simpson should be right on Pritchett’s heels, challenging for a big role in 2021.

Etheridge has already put in some recruiting work to land West Virginia transfer Dreshun Miller, one of the highest-rated defensive backs on the transfer market. Miller, the former No. 1 cornerback from the JUCO ranks, was the best player in a Mountaineers secondary that was first in the country in passing yards allowed, and he led the Big 12 in pass breakups with nine. He’s coming to Auburn with designs on starting, dominating and becoming an NFL player, which is exactly what he was looking primed to do at WVU.

Then there’s plenty of depth and talent in the second layer of the rotation, with former JUCO additions Marco Domio and Kamal Hadden, plus a couple of freshmen faces from the past two classes.

Roger McCreary (23). Photo: Auburn Athletics

At Louisiana, Etheridge produced an NFL-caliber cornerback in Michael Jacquet, who flipped from receiver to DB under Etheridge’s watch. He became an All-Sun Belt player in 2019.

The coach’s prized pupils from Houston are Williams and Jones, who were named All-AAC and All-American, respectively. Both graded out as high-level coverage players in 2020 and both are returning to Houston in 2021.

Etheridge’s approach to coaching corners is unique, Williams said, because he brings a former safety’s perspective to the position. As a result, Etheridge puts an emphasis on hard hitting and physicality.

“He prided us on being physical,” Williams said. “He was a safety, so he brought that to the table for us, always wanting us to be strong and physical at the line of scrimmage. We used to get on him like, ‘Coach, you’re crazy. You want us to all hit like safeties.’

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"And he’d be like, ‘Yeah, I’m crazy. Get tough.’”

Like all other aspects of his coaching, that, too, is a “challenge” by Etheridge. Williams and Jones both said “Coach E” prioritized the film room and the playbook over everything.

He won’t truly tap into a player’s athleticism and on-field skill set until he knows they’ve accepted the challenge of studying — the mental aspect of the game. They won’t be complete players until they do so, Etheridge thinks.

“He would say most of the game is not even physical; it’s mental,” Williams said. “You have to build up that mental because most guys have the physical part, toughness and all that. But the mental, the IQ and assignments and stuff like that, he really challenged me. I accepted the challenge, and I got better. My understanding of the game got way better, making better plays and reacting better to things. He said we need to be instinctive players, he would always tell us to know what was going to happen before it happened so you can make the play faster.”

As much as he loves to coach, Etheridge loves to learn, too.

Jones remembers, on multiple occasions, Etheridge being asked to speak in a defensive meeting at Houston. He valued his players’ input, so during a position meeting, he ran some of his talking points by Jones, Williams and others.

After he was finished presenting in the meeting, he stopped Jones outside and asked how he did.

“He didn’t talk down or treat us like kids,” Jones said. “He’d come to us and ask for advice. He never feels like what he does is always right. He’ll ask us how he did in a meeting and if we liked what he said. He’s getting advice from not just people older than him.”

That mutual respect is key, Jones said. Etheridge wants to see his cornerbacks succeed, obviously, but the same can be said for his players.

That’s why Williams’ favorite memory of Etheridge is from the Tulsa game in 2019. The cornerback instantly read a quick screen on his side of the field, jumping in front of the receiver and sprinting untouched for a 29-yard pick-six.

Williams dropped the ball in the end zone and didn’t stop running as he made his way toward the Houston sideline. He was met by his coach — red baseball cap backwards, of course — who couldn’t stop himself from jumping around on the sideline for the next couple minutes.

“Just seeing how excited he was when we made plays — we wanted to do it to make him happy,” Williams said. “That was my favorite part about Coach E.”

Comments (7)

[aubiefifty 18,231]

this says it all.........................................“He recruits dogs,” Williams said. “Big dogs only. No puppies allowed.”

[Hay Field 101 660]

Sir that is a good article thankyou for posting this and all of the articles that you take time to do. It does not go unnoticed.

[homersapien 12,230]

Man, I am SO pumped by this staff!

[aubiefifty 18,231]

On 3/5/2021 at 11:22 AM, Hay Field 101 said:

Sir that is a good article thankyou for posting this and all of the articles that you take time to do. It does not go unnoticed.

thanks hank. i screw up some like posting an old article on occasion  but my whole purpose it to get where if we want any auburn news we can come to this site and get it all. just for the record you are allowed to post as well but i understand some folks have a life.

[Beaker 2,457]

WOW, what  a hire.