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.
