Moving to Perkins to "Star"...what is the position and how does his role change?

There's a lot of topical conversation about what to do with Perkins to get the most out of his talent. Most solutions would have us let Weeks play LB and move Perk to the "star" position currently occupied by Major Burns. So what is the star and what would we need out of Perkins.


The Star as it's come to be known was born of the old nickleback looks where you're playing 5 defensive backs. 3 corners and 2 safety. The 3rd corner played the nickel as he may not have had the long speed to hold up outside. He was also replacing in that package, a traditional lumbering linebacker. Remember Saban's fat slow linebackers that couldn't deal with lateral speed to the edges somewhere around the time he was bitching about spread offenses?

Over time, with the onset of more spread offenses, it became a position of its own where you have a guy who can make coverage reads in zone against TEs and slot receivers. But there's also instances of being drawn deep into man to man coverages, being a pass rusher or quickly reading and reacting to a play to make a tackle laterally. Think peak Tyrann Mathieu. He was doing star things before the position became trendy.

Here's what Saban had to say about what he looks for in the position

quote:

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“Star is really a Sam linebacker, aight, but they’ve got three wideouts or more in the game, so you’re playing on a wide receiver, so that guy’s versatility is different than a linebacker playing that position where he can never play a guy man-to-man,” Saban said. “But he is the Sam linebacker in essence. So it takes a guy that A.) is a good tackler. He’s tough, is a good blitzer.

“But he’s got good enough block protection on the perimeter that when they throw smokes and bubbles, he can win. As well as being very instinctive in reading run-pass, but then he’s gotta have enough cover skills to be able to cover a slot guy. That’s kind of what we look for.

“Sometimes that guy’s a corner, sometimes it can be a safety

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Here's a recent example of one of Sabans players, Brian Branch at the star position





You look at that highlights package and what stands out right away is that 1) were not getting any of that out of Major Burns. 2) There's a lot of things this player has to do well... drift back into coverage, rush off the edge, be a missile to react to lateral runs or screens and get over to make those tackles.


So how do we feel about Perkins in this role? The pass rush element obviously shouldn't be an issue but can he hold his own if he's pulled out into coverage, does he have the instincts to read and react to screens and be a missile to them for a TFL. TEs and slot WRs in front of him, is he able to make those tackles (that Burns is missing).