Through The Scout’s Eye: Khari Willis

[Blue]

Does Willis fit that “box safety” template?


Henry: “I think, actually, guys (that) are calling him box safety are doing him a disservice, because if you look what he did for their team, they played him all over the place. I think he's probably most natural in the box, but the kid is so smart. I’m going to sound like a broken record here; his character is, I mean, he's probably one of three or four best guys I did this year.”


One of the best character-wise? Out of how many guys? Two hundred? Three hundred?


Henry: “Three hundred; ballpark. I mean, he is a unique human being. The city of Indianapolis is going to love him every bit as much as Indianapolis Colts are and that transfers into his football character. He's really smart. He's the guy the coaches really trust up there (at Michigan State).


“So, you see him not only playing in the box, but I mean, he's played free safety. He plays nickel. He's played on the slot and he did a pretty good job with that. I think he's faster than a lot of people and a lot of people give him credit for it and he tested pretty well that way. I think he ran in the 4.4s, and he's a very well-rounded player. I was always taught a long time ago slow safety usually get your beat, dumb safeties always get your beat. He's the polar opposite of both. So, we're really excited about him.”


With Willis, what was the way they primarily used him in college?


Henry: “He was really a utility player. I mean, because he was a starting strong safety. That was the good thing about his evaluation — you got to see him do everything. You got to see him play back. You got to see him play nickel on the slot. Got to see him man cover tight ends. This guy is exceptionally smart and you can see it not only in his play, reflected through who he is when you talk to him, but I mean, you can see him on film telling other guys what to do. He's the guy the more you watch, the more you appreciate him, the more you like who he is.”


Matt Eberflus over the course of the season started using more wrinkles with the defense. Does Willis give him more options in that regard?


“Absolutely. He was the guy that again, we felt that way, too. We were (saying), ‘Hey, if we get this guy here, he's done a lot of these things.’ We've gotta laugh when people are saying he's just a box safety. He's really not. We were excited about the options he could bring. I think that's the intelligence fueling that as much as anything.”