*Walt taking 2014 and 2018 |
Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst |
James Winston Thinks Jalen Ramsey Can Play Corner or Safety
Updated Jan. 10, 2016By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.
A year ago, Florida State featured a rare quarterback prospect for the NFL in Jameis Winston. This draft writer and some NFL scouts felt Winston was the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck and was on a par as a pro-ready signal caller with Luck coming out of college. This year, Florida State has another rare prospect in defensive back Jalen Ramsey.
We caught up with Winston to get his thoughts on Ramsey entering the NFL. It was clear that Winston would love to be reunited with Ramsey. The Buccaneers hold the ninth-overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
“He’s good enough that we probably won’t even get him,” said Winston. “That’s just one thing to talk about, his competitiveness, and his mentality to always want to be great. That is something that is going to take him a long way.”
Winston went against Ramsey in practice and watched him play both corner and safety for the Seminoles. After going against NFL defensive backs in 2015, Winston didn’t feel that Ramsey would be better off at one secondary position in particular.
“He can do anything he wants to do really,” said Winston. “He’s so talented in some many ways. He can be a lock-down corner for you like a Richard Sherman, or he could be a safety-corner hybrid like Charles Woodson. This guy is very talented and has a lot of ability.”
Winston said that he had some fun battles with Ramsey in practice, and if Ramsey goes as high as Winston expects, they could be going head-to-head next fall.
With a tongue-in-cheek tone, Winston said they had some good practice battles against each other, “Absolutely. I had a good pleasure to play against Ronald Darby, P.J. Williams, [Ramsey]. I most likely got the best of them every single time, but they got some wins.”
Ramsey was a star as a safety in 2014. He totaled 79 stops, 9.5 tackles for a loss, 12 passes broken up, two interceptions and two forced fumbles on the year. In 2015, Ramsey moved to cornerback and generally was assigned the best receiver on the opposition. Once again, he was a valuable defender for the Seminoles. He totaled 50 tackles with 10 passes broken up on the season.
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