'Lockdown corner' Patrick Surtain II settling in nicely at Alabama
Free 30-day free trial subscription to BamaInsider.com!
Daniel Wright suspended from Alabama for 'violation of team rules'
How Jalen Hurts has proven to be the most selfless man in college football
A few dizzying weeks in Miami were enough for Patrick Surtain Sr. to understand the rigors his son is facing this season. Then entering his eighth year in the NFL, the three-time Pro Bowl cornerback was first introduced to the many intricacies of a Nick Saban defense when the head coach signed with the Miami Dolphins in 2005.
“I know Coach Saban’s defense can be a bit challenging,” Surtain told BamaInsider.com. “He came in during OTAs in my last year in Miami, and I got a little taste of his defense. As a pro, it was difficult for even me to get a hold of.”
Don't Miss: WATCH: Nick Saban rips into the Alabama student section
Surtain never played a game under Saban and was instead traded to the Kansas City Chiefs as part of a rebuilding project shortly after the head coach’s arrival. Thirteen years later Saban finds himself coaching another Surtain at Alabama. This time the star cornerback fits firmly in his plans.
Patrick Surtain II was viewed as the top prize of Alabama’s most recent recruiting haul, coming to Tuscaloosa as the No. 1 cornerback in the 2018 class. So far, the five-star freshman has lived up to his high billing, starting the past two games for the Crimson Tide while tallying four pass breakups and an interception on the season.
Recruiting: Four-star QB enjoys trip to Tuscaloosa
Through five games, the 6-foot-2, 202-pound corner has been targeted 23 times, allowing just eight completions for 84 yards. According to Pro Football Focus, he is holding quarterbacks to an NFL rating of 28.2, the fifth lowest among cornerbacks with at least 150 snaps. All of that coming from a player who didn’t join the team until it summer workouts.
“From his first college game it just seemed like he looks comfortable out there,” said Surtain Sr., who coached his son at American Heritage School in Plantation, Fla. “He has a calmness about him and doesn’t let the last play get in the way of the next play. He’s really focused, and you can see him communicate well with the other guys who have been there. From what I’ve seen, he’s been lights out.
“For him to go in the summer, learn the defense and now start for the No. 1 team in the country, it’s just remarkable.”
Picking it up fast
The highlight of Surtain II’s young season came during his first career start against Texas A&M. Locked in single coverage deep downfield, the corner perfectly shadowed Aggies receiver Quartney Davis before extending his arm to pull in a finger-tip catch on an overthrown ball from Kellen Mond.
With no help in sight, any slip in coverage from Surtain II would have likely resulted in a Texas A&M touchdown. Instead, he pulled in the interception at the Alabama 20-yard line, returning it 20 yards to set up a field goal before the half which allowed the Crimson Tide to comfortably pull away for good.
“You can try to coach that stuff a little bit, but a lot of it is God-given. Either you have natural ball skills or you don’t,” Surtain Sr. said. “He’s been like that since the early days. I remember film of him at 8 or 9 years old playing against receivers turning his body and making a play on the ball. You see guys in the league, when the ball’s in the air they panic. Throughout his career, he’s never panicked in those situations.”
Saban originally inserted Surtain II into the starting defense to give Alabama the necessary length needed to go up against taller SEC receivers. Paired with fellow 6-foot-2 defensive back Trevon Diggs, the duo provides the Crimson Tide with one of the tallest cornerback tandems in the nation. So far, the switch has been a success as Alabama has allowed opponents an average of 175.5 yards through the air while forcing a combined four interceptions over the past two games.
“I'm not surprised at all,” said Diggs. “I've seen him, how hard he worked in the summertime, working with us, so I feel like it's showing now. He's a really good player; I've been saying that since he came in."
While Surtain II fits the mold of a typical Saban cornerback, his ability to adapt to Alabama’s scheme quickly is what has kept him on the field. Earlier this season, the head coach referred to him as a “bright young man,” signaling out his ability to grow from game to game.
“He fits our style very well in terms of what we want to do,” Saban said. “We’ve been pleased with his progress. I think with young players their ability to stay focused and sustain is always a challenge for them, and hopefully, Patrick will have the maturity to continue to do that throughout the season.”
An early start
Surtain II was born in 2000, his father’s third year with the Dolphins. By the time his dad was traded to the Chiefs five years later, the pint-sized playmaker was already zooming up and down the sideline of Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium.
“Since he’s been able to walk he’s been around it. I put him on the field, put the ball in his hands, and he ran with it,” Surtain Sr. said. “I brought him with me every chance I got. When I went to Kansas City, he got to come in the locker room, play on the field. He fell in love with it and just became a student of the game.”
There are perks to having a former NFL player for a father. From a young age, Surtain II was introduced to the cerebral part of the game, learning to read tendencies and formations far sooner than his peers. By the time he played under his dad at American Heritage, he was calling out coverages and checks in a defense that mirrors current Division I schemes.
Under his father’s guidance, Surtain II helped lead American Heritage to back-to-back Florida Class 5A state championships, ending his high school career on a 27-game winning streak. While most offenses shied away from the five-star cornerback’s side of the field, he tallied a combined five interceptions and three forced fumbles over four years.
However, that production led to an amount of attention no one could prepare for. Surtain Sr. never had to deal with the constant phone calls from coaches and media members when he quietly committed to play at Southern Miss. in 1994. His son’s recruiting experience had far more twists and turns.
“I remember we had five home visits in one night,” Surtain Sr. recalled. “One coach would come outside and there would be another coach in the driveway waiting to come in. It was stressful on him, and it had been going on since 10th grade.”
Most experts projected LSU as the favorite to land Surtain II. His father is from New Orleans, and he grew up rooting for the Tigers. It also helped that the Surtains are close friends with LSU defensive backs coach Corey Raymond. There was also the misconception of hostility between Surtain Sr. and Saban because he was traded so shortly into the head coach’s tenure in Miami. Surtain Sr., a longtime admirer of Saban, assures the latter couldn’t have been further from the truth.
"He brought me in and sat me down like a man. He was like ‘Pat, you know you’re one of our best defensive players and you have value. Right now, we don’t have the assets to pay you,’” Surtain Sr. recalled of the trade. “It was a contract year for me, so I welcomed the situation of being traded. I look at it as he made me some money. I appreciated the way he treated me, and just watching from afar I’ve been a fan of the way he went to Alabama and cultivated that program.”
Surtain Sr. left the choice up to his son, telling him to make a pro and con list of each school. Ultimately, the decision spilled over to 1 a.m. the morning of National Signing Day. Hours later, the prized recruit pulled a crimson and black Alabama hat over his head, announcing his commitment to the Crimson Tide during a live segment on ESPNU.
“It was down to the midnight oil. We’re talking about neck-and-neck,” Surtain Sr. said. “We prayed about it; he cried about it. It was such an emotional decision. I just think it came down to him picking the school that was best for him. At the end of the day you can only go to one school, and why not Alabama?”
Like father, like son
Surtain Sr. laughs when comparing himself to his son. While the two share a similar playing style, he is willing to admit his son has already passed him as an athlete, stating that he wished he could have played out his NFL days with his son’s 6-foot-2 frame.
“Pat can scratch his toes without bending over his arms are so long,” joked Surtain Sr., who stands in at 5-foot-11.
Those arms naturally help Surtain II excel in bump-and-run coverage where he can get physical with opposing receivers. This offseason, Alabama experimented with playing him out of the Star position inside against slot receivers. However, the freshman was unable to provide the same impact when receivers went into motion and was deemed a better fit for an outside spot.
“He’s a lockdown corner, the kind of guy you put on the outside against the other team’s best guy and let him go to work,” Surtain Sr. explained. “One thing I’ve seen is the coaches just put him out there, like ‘you’ve got him.’ He’ll have the safety to the other side of the field, and of course, if a quarterback sees that his eyes are going to light up. He’s one-on-one over there, but he’s been able to hold up.”
Despite his son’s success, Surtain Sr. said there are still areas of his game that need improvement. His off-coverage game needs tweaking, and he’s still getting a better feel for recognizing more complex schemes. This week, Saban said those things skills should continue to develop through extended reps.
“There's no substitute for experience. You have to have knowledge, that's one thing, but having the experience, so you know how to apply the knowledge in the right situation is something else,” Saban said. “We have a lot of young guys playing in the secondary, and we certainly need to make those guys sort of continue to grow and develop so they can get confidence in what they're doing and how they play. Everybody that's ever played here in the secondary was a young player at one point in time. They all learned it.”
Even so, not many have picked things up quite as fast as Surtain II. Judging by his progression, this is only the beginning.
“I want him to exceed my career and be even better than I was,” Surtain Sr. said. “He’s got all the tools to do it. The thing about Pat is he’s so humble. You’re not going to see him put his stuff on Instagram about making a play. He’s just going to move on and get better. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the best who have ever played. If he keeps working, he has a chance to do all those things.”