Lewis stated that O’Boyle believes Tiernan’s ceiling depends on opportunity.
“We could put in a screen game where we could get him on the perimeter in a way you couldn’t with other tackles,” O’Boyle relayed to Lewis. “Because he’s that fast. He’s got that sneaky, fat-man speed.”
One other player worth mentioning is the fourth defender Minnesota picked in the Top 100 this year: safety Jakobe Thomas, who played under former Gophers defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman in the same role last season at Miami. Hetherman has studied Brian Flores’ wizardry and identified overlap between what Thomas did for the Hurricanes and what he could potentially do for the Vikings.
“His style of play, and their style of loading the box and doing different things with the safeties and being multiple, is ideal,” Hetherman told Lewis. “He was also a guy who didn’t come in until August (after playing at Middle Tennessee State), and he picked it up quickly. So, you’d think he’d do the same there.”
Canes safeties coach Will Harris, who helped coach Byron Murphy, Jr., at Washington, raved about Thomas’ play style: “We always talked about enforcing your will on your opponent, and he did that.”
