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Grading The Frogs - Safeties

There were some unknowns coming into the season as to who would replace Derrick Kindred not only at the Free Safety position, but as the leader of the defensive backs. Sophomore Niko Small emerged as the new starter at Free Safety and senior Denzel Johnson became the leader of the defensive backs for 2016. The group of Denzel Johnson, Niko Small and Nick Orr started nine games together and as the season went on, they began to be the most productive group on defense. Travin Howard started one game at strong safety and Ridwan Issahaku started the final two games in place of the injured Johnson. Overall, the safeties, who are almost always the most dynamic group in the 4-2-5 defense lived up to any expectations we had for them.

Overall Grade: B+

The safeties combined for 13.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, six interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Those are pretty good numbers from a group that played two safeties deep for more than half of the games because of the spread offenses run in the Big 12.

Nick Orr - Weak Safety

Nick Orr has emerged as one of Gary Patterson's most important players on the defensive side. As a sophomore in 2015, Orr started games at cornerback, weak safety and free safety. In 2016, Orr started all 13 games (12 at WS and one at FS) and finished third on the team in tackles with 86. He led the Horned Frog defense in interceptions with four, was second in passes defended with 10 and also had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He has the skills to cover slot receivers or tight end's and the mentality to take on running backs at the point of attack. Orr was named to the All-Big 12 Second team by the Big 12 coaches.

Grade: B+

Niko Small - Free Safety

Niko played sparingly in 2015 as a freshman, but impressed Gary Patterson enough in spring and fall camp to take the starting free safety job in 2016. Small started 12 of the 13 games he played in for the Frogs and finished fifth on the team with 83 tackles and led the team in passes defended with 11 and pass breakups with nine. He struggled at the beginning of the season adjusting to the speed of the game, but figured it out quickly and became a solid player in the defensive backfield. He gets his hands on footballs and that's exactly why he's playing back at free safety. With a year starting under his belt, he may turn three to four of those breakups into interceptions next year.

Grade: B+

Denzel Johnson - Strong Safety

Denzel was expected to be the leader for the Frogs defensive backs and he did just that in 2016. Johnson started 11 games (10 at SS, one at WS) before an injury ended his season. Johnson tied for the team lead with 11 tackles for loss despite playing two less games than Josh Carraway. Johnson also had 2.5 sacks and six passes defended and six pass breakups along with a forced fumble. Johnson was named to the All-Big 12 Second team by the AP and Big 12 coaches.

Grade: B+

Ridwan Issahaku - Strong Safety

Issahaku was a key special teams contributor all season and when Denzel Johnson went down with and injury, "Ray" was ready to step in. Issahaku started to final two games for the Frogs at strong safety and performed relatively well. He excels against the run, but sometimes gets lost in coverage. Only a sophomore, Issahaku has a high celing and will look to earn the starting strong safety job in 2017, but will have to battle with Michael Downing, Innis Gaines and Arico Evans for that title.

Grade: Incomplete

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