Aaron Henry - DBs Coach & Pass Game Coordinator

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NDMD

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Illini fans seem to be very happy he's leaving. Wonder what that's about
 
SoIll

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Illinois fans are rejoicing. They absolutely hate him. He was damn near fired in the middle of the season.

Check the replies from the tweets and it’ll tell you everything you need to know about how Illinois fans. Bret literally had to take play calling away from him throughout games. And DB play has been a massive weakness for them the last 2 seasons
 
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Dale

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NDMD said:
Illini fans seem to be very happy he's leaving. Wonder what that's about
Click to expand...

Illinois fans don’t get how/why they were really good on defense a few years ago. Lovie Smith recruited EVERYONE that ended up having success under Walters as DC. Lovie may have lost his fastball for coaching, but not recruiting. So they play(ed) this uber aggressive scheme that works when you have a NFL secondary. NFL players left, doesn’t work with their current talent

Henry should know how to coach a primarily man based defense. Maybe he was in over his head with playcalling.
 
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NDFAN2008

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Not sure how I feel about this higher. I wasn’t happy about the Ash higher but it turned out to be good.
 
calvegas04

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SoIll said:
Illinois fans are rejoicing. They absolutely hate him. He was damn near fired in the middle of the season.

Check the replies from the tweets and it’ll tell you everything you need to know about how Illinois fans. Bret literally had to take play calling away from him throughout games. And DB strength has been a massive weakness for them the last 2 seasons
Click to expand...
So we should get the sheets back out?
 
US_Highway14

US_Highway14

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SoIll said:
Illinois fans are rejoicing. They absolutely hate him. He was damn near fired in the middle of the season.

Check the replies from the tweets and it’ll tell you everything you need to know about how Illinois fans. Bret literally had to take play calling away from him throughout games. And DB strength has been a massive weakness for them the last 2 seasons
Click to expand...
Well saw an Illinois State guy say he was a 10/10 DB Coach, 3/10 DC, and 10/10 Person.

He was Illinois's DB coach before being promoted to DC if that tells you anything
 
SoIll

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GoldenAura said:
Once again ND fans act like they know better than Marcus Freeman. Incredible.

Some of you on here love being miserable.
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Not miserable. MF knows more than I. I’m just giving you facts.
 
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DomeFieldAdvantage

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Yeah, the stats say his defense was not good when he was DC. However, they did finish 3rd in DFEI his second year as DB coach.

And looking at the guys he put in the league, it seems like they all improved when he coached them.

So as a developer of the great talent we already have on campus, I have high hopes.

As an evaluator and recruiter, I have some questions.
 
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LifelongFan

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Just because someone wasn't a good DC does not mean they are a bad DB coach. I don't follow Illinois enough to know their complaints, but we see this every year in football. If NFL teams were interviewing him, I am not too concerned. Biggest question is if he can recruit.
 
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IrishInOntario

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Put this in the Mickens thread, but will leave it here as well.

Mickens was not the first choice of hires for most ND fans and he wound up being the best secondary coach in the country. That doesn't mean we'll see that happen again, but we might... Who knows?

Experience as a DC, but he won't have play calling responsibilities at ND. He'll be back to coaching DBs and contributing to the game plan, which appears to be his strong suit.

In 4 years at Illinois he produced 4 All Americans in the secondary...

Devon Witherspoon (1st team)
Sydney Brown (2nd team)
Kerby Joseph (2nd team)
Xavier Scott (Honorable Mention)

The following were also drafted in the NFL Draft...

Devin Witherspoon (1st round)
Jartavius Martin (2nd round)
Sydney Brown (3rd round)
Kerby Joseph (3rd round)

That's, objectively, a lot of individual production at a place like Illinois, where they're not exactly getting top talent. With an upgrade in talent, the likes of which exists in the ND defensive back room, he should continue / improve that success. Time will tell if he can have his group put it all together and play with cohesion the way Mickens was able to.

Staff cohesion is also a factor here. Henry played for Ash at Rutgers so there is a working relationship there. Freeman is big on that cohesion and bringing in guys that enjoy working with each other.
 
Dale

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Besides a literal NFL secondary graduating, 1st team all Big Ten nickel/safety Xavier Scott in 2024 missed most of this year with an injury. Matthew Bailey All Big Ten Honorable Mention 2x also missed most of 2023.
 
irishff1014

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I don’t watch Illinois football so I have no idea how well he coaches. But between the post @IrishInOntario put up and the article Dale put up from Jamie as ISD this appears to be a good hire.
 
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