Malik Hartford

Um, I, during recruitment I talked to him a lot for sure, and we had a great relationship.

I also had a good relationship with, uh, Malik Hartford and Jordan Hancock, so those guys, I talked to those guys a little bit before I committed, so they're, they're good people.

Last question right here.

I feel like they wanted to win, so it wasn't really a surprise to me.

There was one throw early.

where he drops it in over Malik Hartford in a very tight, flat zone.

I think Malik, he only had maybe four yards on Malik, and it was zone.

So you've got Malik, eyes on the quarterback, hands up.

I would say they've had some individual problems.

I think Scooter Jackson has not performed up to the level that I think he was, that he's obviously capable of playing and was playing at last year.

I think Malik Hartford has had some rough moments at safety and, But from a coaching standpoint, I don't know how much of that is on the DB coaches versus just, you know, there's a level of talent that you have.

I'm curious about what's gone on with Cole Martin.

Uh, a couple of times Joshon James got beat.

You know, Malik Hartford and Scooter Jackson.

We just, w- uh, those guys have been, have had some really high highs.

They've had some great moments.

Whether misreading a play and allowing a seam yet again to one of those slots where all they were doing was running up the seam.

And then Malik Hartford, I thought, had just a generally poor game.

Misreading angles, struggling in any kind of man coverage on those slots.

Even...

And it just didn't seem like UCLA was ever quite... uh able to kind of take over the initiative on defense which is i know something that um hitchler prides himself on is like essentially dictating to the offense what they're going to be forced to do and i think basically from play one where they got that 75 yard touchdown i just don't think that they ever quite um stole it back from purdue um so i'm sure there's gonna be a lot in the film from a you know tactical standpoint that they're gonna find but i just i I think the emotion of it all got away from him.

Whatever that kind of feeling is where a defense can start to pin its ears back and make plays in the backfield, I think this defense was just kind of on its heels.

I think Malik Hartford was in his head.

uh a lot and um you got to remember a lot of times these games do come down to individuals and their mental state and their you know that's that um i think mccrone's always talking about it but like the game state the mental state the um you know you're you're you know how locked in you are on next play and not previous play um and you could kind of see with some of the tentativeness that they were they were thinking a little bit too much about previous play um But overall, I mean, it's a 52-38 win in the conference opener.

Tayshaun James can play downhill.

Malik Hartford played a lot downhill in that game on Saturday.

And it just... one of my concerns coming into the season, and we've only seen Cal and San Diego state, but one of my concerns was how does this single high safety, you know, aggressive defense work where they're just trying to shut down the run early.

Will it continue to work when you get into, you know, more talented teams that better quarterback play the whole thing.

I'll kind of pivot it back to you, man.

The guys that I'm excited for Malik Hartford has been great.

The Ohio transfer, you know, led the team in tackles last week, you know, really just active on the field and looks like a dude's duty.

Looks like the guy you want first off the bus, you know, just looks like an NFL guy makes plays out in the open field.

I think Tashaun James' picks were up there.

But, I mean, to each their own, that was a huge play by Scooter, no questions asked.

So Malik Hartford's my first one.

Give me some more Jalen Woods love, dude.

LaShawn James had another good game.

I know we didn't say his name much, but he was in on a lot of plays, along with Malik Hartford.

I mean...

These two guys fly around the field and they make a difference.