Professor

http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=article7&news_id=3746

Jackson Could Play Corner or Safety Next Season
INDIANAPOLIS – He doesn’t know yet, and Marlin Jackson doesn’t know exactly when he will know.

Where will he play next season?

Cornerback? Safety?

The Colts’ first-round selection in the 2005 NFL Draft, Jackson said he has heard the question often this off-season. From friends. From fans. From family. And although he doesn’t yet know the answer, he does know this:

Wherever he plays, whenever that time comes, he will be ready.

“I’m just waiting for them to come to me and say, ‘Hey, this is where you’re going to go,’’’ Jackson said recently during the Colts’ off-season conditioning program at the Union Federal Football Center.

He’ll be waiting a bit longer to know for certain, Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy said this week.

Jackson, the No. 29 overall selection in the 2005 draft from the University of Michigan, spent last season at corner, playing 15 games at nickel back. He made just one official start – on December 4 against Tennessee – but played extensively in the 14 other games, finishing the season with four passes defensed and one interception.

The question, Dungy said, isn’t whether to get Jackson on the field, but where and how to do so.

Nick Harper and Jason David started at cornerback last season, improving dramatically from the season before. David started all 16 games, the only player in the Colts’ secondary to do so, and Harper started 15 of 16 games, missing only the Tennessee game in which Jackson started.

At safety, Bob Sanders made the Pro Bowl and emerged as one of the NFL’s top young players at his position. He finished second on the team in tackles despite missing two games. Mike Doss, a 2003 second-round selection, started 14 of 15 games at the other safety and finished fourth on the team in tackles.

Throughout this off-season, Dungy has said trying Jackson at safety was a possibility, and he said this week it remains as much.

“The decision with Marlin is how to best utilize his talent, and how to best put our whole secondary together,” Dungy said. “We drafted (cornerback) Tim Jennings (from the University of Georgia in the second round) and we could slide Marlin to safety. My sense is he’ll do a little bit of both. We really won’t know until we get a good look at our young guys.”

The Colts also drafted safety Antoine Bethea in the sixth round from Howard. How Bethea and Jennings fare in the upcoming mini-camp and summer school could influence where Jackson plays next season, Dungy said.

“We’re going to see how the whole secondary comes out, and see how Bob and Mike Doss are healthwise,” Dungy said. “That will determine a good deal of what we do as well.”

Jackson, for his part, said while he wouldn’t mind knowing his immediate future, preparing to be ready physically for the coming season is his priority. He sustained shoulder and hip injuries in preseason as a rookie, and he said both injuries hampered him last season. The desire to prevent such injuries has driven him this off-season, he said.

“I think it’s very important,” Jackson said. “You can’t stay on the field and do what you can do if you’re not healthy. I need to be in here and do what I can do to make sure I can remain healthy and do what I can do.

“I’m a competitor and I have a lot of confidence in my ability and what I can do. I never lost that last season, but it was tough at times, playing through the injuries. You want to be on the field all the time, but sometimes, things can stop you – injuries and things like that.

“Sometimes, they can stop you from doing what you really want to do and what you’re able to do.”

Despite being limited at times, Jackson said he improved as a rookie. Around the midway point, he said he started “catching onto things as far as the nickel situation goes.” He said he improved his reads, and improved as a run defender.

“I learned the speed of the game,” Jackson said. “Everybody told me it would pick up from the preseason to the regular season. I thought it would be the same. It wasn’t. It was a lot faster.

“You’ve got to learn the pace of the game and how to play at the high level and the high pace of the NFL.”

As he learned, improvement came. He had at least one tackle in every game he played, and on November 20 against Cincinnati, his second-half interception helped secure a crucial victory. He also had two passes defensed against the Bengals.

While playing extensively in the season finale against Arizona, he had a season-high nine tackles.

“I think I showed flashes of the level I can play at,” Jackson said. “With the injuries, I wasn’t able to be out there all the time. Now, I’m excited about the season. I woke up this morning thinking about next season, when I’m able to run and go out and play. I’m real excited.

“You’re unsure about a lot of things during your rookie season, but I always had a lot of confidence in myself. It’s good to have confidence in yourself. If a player doesn’t have confidence in himself, he won’t be able to perform at a high level.

“You have to be confident in yourself and your abilities.”

Jackson said that confidence will remain no matter his position, and he said he has prepared this season to play either. After playing corner throughout high school, he also played there as a freshman and sophomore at Michigan.

He played safety as a junior, then moved back to corner as a senior.

That’s where he was listed most often last off-season while preparing for the draft, although many observers said before the draft safety might be his more natural position. Still, Jackson said this week where he plays isn’t as important as being ready, and being prepared.

And his ability to be prepared for next season, he said, is something about which he is certain.

“I believe I’m able to perform at a high level at either spot,” Jackson said. “I’m physical enough to play safety and do a good job, and I have the speed and quickness to be good at that position. At corner, I have the speed and quickness to go out there and be a physical corner. Whatever’s going to help the team out. I feel I can perform at either position.

“Right now, I’m just taking in both. I know a lot of the things from corner. Now, I’m just trying to get prepared to go out and play. When the time comes, I’ll be prepared to perform. I’m real excited to get out there and get a chance to show what I can do. I have my mind set on being on the field full time.

“That’s my main goal – to be on the field full time and have a great season.”