LINCOLN — Prince Amukamara looks almost uneasy talking about it.
It's probably the same way a lot of receivers appear when they line up across from the Nebraska senior.
The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Amukamara, out of Glendale, Ariz., was listed in a number of NFL draft projections during the winter, even as a first-rounder in at least one.
Not that Amukamara noticed. He found out only because of a text message he received from a friend.
“I was never really considering (coming out),” Amukamara said.
Wise move, NU defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders said. While he may be the top cornerback in a secondary that most are expecting to be the strength of the Husker defense and one of the best units in the country, there's still plenty to get done at the college level.
“He had a good year,” Sanders said of Amukamara's 2009, “but Prince is a long ways away from being ready for anything, much less the NFL. He's got a lot of work to do.”
Sanders has been there to keep things in perspective for Amukamara. When one bad day follows two good ones, there's Coach to point out the differences. Whether it's a mental or physical mistake, Sanders sees it.
And he lets his guys know.
“Even if you don't want to hear it,” Amukamara said.
Amukamara talked openly at last week's spring press conference about the relationship between coach and player, one Sanders said has “taken a while” but is now “great.”
“It's hard to distinguish (between) the criticism and encouragement,” Amukamara said. “Sometimes he'll be on me and I'll be offensive and try to defend myself, but as soon as I let my guard down and started trusting him and believing that he has the best interest for me, that's when I started to become a better player and a better leader.
“He definitely had a lot of good things to say, but I wasn't trying to hear it. But now I'm hearing it.”
It showed last year, especially down the stretch. Amukamara had five interceptions, good for second on the Blackshirts. His 11 pass breakups were tops of that unit.
He returned a first-quarter pick against Oklahoma to the Sooners' 1-yard line, setting up the only touchdown in a Husker win. He also had an interception in the first quarter of the Big 12 title game against Texas that set up a score.
The focus and consistency issues that Amukamara said kept him from the field as a sophomore sometimes still sneak up on him. When you're on an island like cornerbacks are, every miscue is obvious.
“You can be right 99 times and one time wrong and give up six points and lose a ballgame,” Sanders said. “So you've got to be more consistent in your thought process.”
When he has total focus, though, just how good is Amukamara? Ask one of the guys who line up against him in practice. Wideout Niles Paul said an in-season talk with defensive coordinator Carl Pelini turned Amukamara's play up a notch.
“I don't know what Coach Carl said to him,” Paul said, “but he went and turned Prince from a regular DB to a great DB.”
Contact the writer:
850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com
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