Tim Walton Working with Davison Igbinosun to Master Fundamentals As Ohio State Cornerback Looks to Reduce Penalties in Senior Season
“I want to improve on the penalties,” Igbinosun told ESPN when explaining his decision to stay at Ohio State for another year. “I had too many, I want to clean that up.”
Fortunately for Igbinosun, he has the benefit of another year to learn from one of college football’s top secondary coaches, Tim Walton – who knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level as a former NFL secondary coach. And even though it’s been a lingering issue for two years, Walton believes Igbinosun’s penalty issues remain entirely correctable.
“Anything in life is correctable if you put the work in,” Walton said this spring. “You work on it, it’ll improve, and it’ll keep getting better. Football has a lot going on – you got splits, you got body size, you got field position, so you got different calls that puts you in those different positions, so you got to be able to plow all of that and know how it works so when you're at the top of the route, you're not in a bad position that makes you have to reach around.”
While refraining from grabbing opposing receivers is the obvious answer to how Igbinosun can reduce penalties, Walton believes it all starts with having proper footwork.
“Just moving his feet. Just feet drills, just moving his feet so you don't reach at the top,” Walton said when asked what he’s working on with Igbinosun to cut down on penalties. “Your eyes, feet, hands slide at the top so if you get your feet in the right position early in the down, that puts you in a better position at the top of the route so you don't have to reach as much.”
