I spoke with Coach Woodie about two of his guys at the Duck position, Junior Fotu Leiato and sophomore Lamar Winston. They will be the top two guys manning the new Duck position, a hybrid LB/S. Here is what coach had to say about them.
Lamar Winston
"He is starting to understand the defense. When going in to a new situation, when you’re learning new things you can be somewhat hesitant. Giving a kid like that confidence, keeping it simple allows him to play faster and that is what he is doing.
"A lot of times people look at prototypical guys; 6-4 and up, 240-pounds. But he is quick, he is violent, he’s strong pound-for-pound for his size. So you can get away with a guy that may be undersized in people’s mind, but in my mind he could play base, he could play the Duck, he is just so active. A guy like that who is so active makes up for lack of size."
Fotu Leiato
"Those two guys, they are mini me’s. They give fanatical effort, technique, discipline; they just can run. Like I told them ‘if you’re wrong, you’re right if you’re hustling to the ball’. When you press ‘play’ you see them going sideline to sideline and that is what we want out of the defense.
"Coach Leavitt is always talking about running, running to the ball. Those guys, they definitely run to the ball. We are blessed to have two of those caliber kids on our football team. We could do a lot of different things. We can go from base to nickel and those guys can do both.
"Obviously, Lamar is a little bigger. But Fotu makes up with his speed and his aggressiveness"