Purdue defensive coordinator Gary Emanuel rattled off the impressive list: Ray Edwards; Anthony Spencer; Shaun Phillips; Rosevelt Colvin; Akin Ayodele. All Purdue defensive linemen he once coached; all playing in the NFL.
Emanuel said the latest addition, Redskins first-round pick Ryan Kerrigan, tops them all in one area.
“The one thing that separates him from the other guys who have come through here,” Emanuel said by phone Friday morning, “is that he has a tremendous, relentless motor. A non-stop motor; and that’s the one thing that pushed him over the edge.”
Naturally, Emanuel is going to be high on his former player. That’s to be expected. But in his one season with Kerrigan, Emanuel saw enough to be impressed. It wasn’t the stats; it was Kerrigan’s approach to the game.
And, given the players he’s coached in the past, Emanuel knows the blueprint. No player is a guaranteed success; but Emanuel likes Kerrigan’s base.
“The thing about Ryan is that he loves everything about football,” he said. “He loves to train; some guys don’t like to lift or train or study film or play hard all the time. He does all those things. There are no chinks in his armor.”
He called Kerrigan a “sponge” in meetings. Kerrigan watched film like an NFL player must, seeking clues from opposing linemen as to what they might be doing. It could be the way a tackle kicked out at the snap. Anything to get an edge. Emanuel said he constantly asked him to help him improve his hands or his footwork. Before the draft, Emanuel and some of the other Purdue defensive coaches worked with him on linebacker and even secondary drills to improve his coverage skills.
“He had a thirst for knowledge,” Emanuel said. “And most defensive linemen at the college level could only tell you about their position. He could put the whole defense up and draw up the linebackers and the secondary.”
Emanuel on:
Kerrigan’s on-field strength: “The thing that stands out is that he has tremendous hands. He has really great hands. He plays with strength, he plays with good leverage. He’s a very good run defender and an outstanding pass defender and he has a lot of ability to drop in coverage. He’s a complete player.”
Kerrigan moving to a 3-4: “It’ll be a smooth transition for him. We did it in practice throughout the year, but I’m not very smart but I know I’m smart enough to know that you have your best player rushing the passer and not going backward in pass situations. The biggest reason we didn’t drop him is because he was so good rushing the passer. When we did zone pressure he raised havoc just the way he played so we wouldn’t drop him a whole bunch. He could do it easily because he’s a smart player.
“I believe the majority of the time he’ll be going after the quarterback. That’s why they have guys called safeties and corners, to cover people. In pass situations you hire guys like Ryan and Orakpo to create pressure.”
Kerrigan’s mindset: “The more attention he got the more he deflected the attention. He’s a very unselfish guy. He’s not a guy who will walk around with a big head or a guy who makes plays and pounds his chest or points to his name. He wanted to celebrate with his teammates. Like I told the scouts at his Pro Days, if you had a son you’d love him to be like Ryan; if you have a daughter you’d love for her to bring him home and as a coach you’d love for all your players to have the attitude and passion and desire Ryan has. You all got a winner.”
