What Spring Practice will tell us about Defensive Backs

First, the question - “Where will freshman and early enrollee Tee Shepard line up, at corner or safety?”  - will not need to be answered as he decided to leave.  At cornerback, will the experience (one year in South Bend; not necessarily game time) of Lo Wood and Bennett Jackson outperform the size of Josh Atkinson and Jalen Brown?  How will Cam McDaniel make the switch from running back to the defensive backfield?   Jamoris Slaughter and Zeke Motta should use the spring practice to go from sharing time opposite Harrison Smith to taking ownership of the two safety positions.  However, Slaughter and Motta also need to use spring to prove or at least develop into safeties that can be respected by opposing offenses.  Austin Collinsworth should be able to show that his speed, abilities and toughness are good enough to make him a legitimate contender for a starting role, but at the very least, a player who should get playing time.  Spring may also let us know if Chris Salvi’s effort and football intelligence is enough to get him on the field.  Overall, we need to leave spring with confidence in Slaughter and Motta as starters (and to some degree Collinsworth) and Salvi (Chris), McCarthy, Farley and the rest as solid substitute options at safety.