New safeties coach Anthony Poindexter making a positive first impression
No matter who you ask about new Penn State safeties coach Anthony Poindexter and his early contributions, the answers all revolve around a similar point.
The energy that he brings is infections.
If Poindexter is on the practice field, you can expect high-fives and chest bumps if you make a good play on the defensive side of the ball — an injection of enthusiasm that cornerbacks coach Terry Smith thinks has been important.
"Coach "Dex' has been terrific," Smith said. " You want to talk about energy, we haven't had that type of energy on the staff since [former defensive line coach Sean] Spencer left. And it's infectious.
"That energy just feeds on a defense. We all know the more energy we can create on defense, the guys will fly faster to the football and hopefully punish the football. He's been tremendous in that sense."
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Poindexter has developed a relationship with Penn State head coach James Franklin since Poindexter first started coaching at Virginia in the mid-2000s, when the two of them had overlapping recruiting territories.
Franklin has said that he'd been interested in hiring Poindexter previously, but the timing had never worked out until this winter, when Poindexter left Purdue to take over for Tim Banks when he was named Tennessee's new defensive coordinator.
It was an addition that carried plenty of name recognition for college football fans of a certain age, who will likely remember Poindexter as a two-time All-American safety at Virginia. Poindexter said players he speaks to now tend not to know about his fantastic playing career, though.
"I'm like a dinosaur," he said, laughing, during his introductory press conference earlier this month.
Senior Penn State cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields stumbled upon Poindexter's accomplishments on Google after the hire was made, and immediately reached out to safety Jaquan Brisker to share his discovery.
Castro-Fields' takeaway from his first few weeks with Poindexter has little to do with his past, though.
"He's literally just a funny guy, super relatable," Castro-Fields said. "He relates to all of us really well. He brings a certain type of energy, a certain type of funniness. I'm not going to say it wasn't there, but it's just new. He brings his own way of thinking, his own way of relating to us. Coach Dex is a great addition."
Castro-Fields' thoughts are consistent with an approach to coaching that Poindexter says is relationship driven. That's gone both ways between Poindexter and his players, who have done their best to help him settle into his new job, he said.
"I think they've been very open with me," Poindexter said earlier this month. "Really trying to just understand my style, my method, and really helped me along the way teaching me the defense as well, and how they do things here. I'm excited just to work with them. They're great kids, and obviously they're talented."
Poindexter inherited a Penn State safeties room with an interesting dynamic.
One of the two safety spots will surely be filled by Brisker, who was the second highest-graded safety in the Big Ten last season by Pro Football Focus.
The other spot, though, is a bit of a wild card, but Smith said Poindexter is handling the competitors for that position well so far this spring.
"He's had a tremendous impact on us already. He's done a great job already with Jaquan Brisker, Ji'Ayir Brown, Jonathan Sutherland and those guys. There's a healthy competition. Obviously Brisker is the solidified guy, but the other spot is wide open for three or four guys and coach is going a great job with them so far."
For his part, Franklin has been impressed, too.
"Anthony Poindexter has done a really good job. He's brought a bunch of energy to practice. The guys really like him. The staff really likes him. He's been a really good fit for us, and it just seems like everybody's kind of feeding off it."
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