Why Penn State football’s Terry Smith believes Tariq Castro-Fields is ready to lead cornerbacks
Penn State’s secondary is going to look very different next year without John Reid, who exhausted his eligibility after five years with the Nittany Lions. Reid played inside and outside at cornerback and often faced the opponent’s best wide receiver because he was the team’s best cornerback.
With the former Nittany Lion headed to the NFL draft, Penn State cornerbacks coach Terry Smith has a replacement in mind to step up as the unit’s best player — senior Tariq Castro-Fields.
“(Castro-Fields) is the leader of the corner room,” Smith said in a teleconference with the media Wednesday morning. “Tariq, not to put pressure on him, needs to have a great year for us. We need a lock-down corner that can handle the best receiver of whoever our opponent is. We expect Tariq to be that guy.”
Penn State will need Castro-Fields and several other cornerbacks to step up next season for the defense to take another step forward and improve its pass coverage.
The 6-foot, 190-pound Castro-Fields has all of the measurables to succeed as a shutdown corner. He has the size, length and athleticism to stick with cornerbacks of any size, but needs to find consistency to do it on a weekly basis.
He began the 2019 season as if he was the team’s best corner, but soon struggled to find success as a defender.
“His season last year was almost like two different season,” Smith said. “The first half of the season he came out of the gate looking like a first-round draft pick. Then he suffered an injury and from that injury on, he was a different player. He wasn’t as confident, he wasn’t as sure of himself. ... One of our offseason plans and goals for him is to make sure that he can be more consistent throughout the season.”
Castro-Fields won’t be the only player to see his role adjusted with Reid’s departure. Sophomores Keaton Ellis and Marquis Wilson will need to take a step forward in their second year on campus and redshirt junior Donovan Johnson will have to come back from injury to make an impact in the secondary.
Johnson was already in the mix last season, but saw Ellis and Wilson flash their potential while he was sidelined. The redshirt junior will now have to fend off his younger counterparts in order to earn a larger role.
“He’s very talented,” Smith said about Johnson. “He’s in the mix ... He’s got an opportunity, once we get back to ball, he’s gonna be the first guy on the field to play and compete.”
He and Ellis will be two of the players fighting for the starting nickel position. Safety Lamont Wade started at the position last year but Smith said the spot could shift to a corner because the position has more proven depth than the safety room does.
“This year the safety position has a little bit more of a question mark,” Smith said. “At the corner position, we’ve got some young guys who we kind of know what they’ve got. It may lend to the (nickel) position may come from our room.”
Smith named Ellis, Johnson, and redshirt freshman Daequan Hardy as players who will fight for that spot.
Hardy came to the Nittany Lions out of Pittsburgh last season and contributed mostly on the practice field. He took advantage of his opportunity with the scout team and earned himself recognition from the coaching staff for his performance.
“Hardy was one of our scout team players of the year,” Smith said. “He’s bigger, he’s stronger, he’s faster ... I’m looking forward to him competing as well.”
While the competition for the starting nickel spot will be intense, it’s not the highest battle on the depth chart. Castro-Fields will assume his position on the outside as the No. 1 cornerback, but without Reid, the team needs to find a second starter. Ellis and Wilson are two of the most likely candidates to fill that job.
“They just continue to get better and better,” Smith said about Ellis and Wilson. “We see them both as major contributors. They’re both battling for that other starting corner position. ... They both hit the weight room really hard. ... I’m looking forward to, when we have the opportunity to get back out on the field, seeing those guys continue to develop.”
Regardless of who wins the starting jobs, the secondary needs to improve its coverage for the defense to reach its peak. Without solidified coverage behind the front seven, the team will get picked apart again and find itself leaning on the offense to win the team games.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 5:08 PM.
