>BLOOMINGTON Authentic B.J. Upton Jersey , Minn. 鈥?Facing Gwynn Park High School as a cornerback for Potomac High School in 2010, Ronald Darby slipped and fell to the ground.A Gwynn Park receiver was caught up in a scrum of defenders. Darby figured his foe would get tackled, so he did not immediately get up.Then the opposing wideout broke away with a clear field to the end zone. Darby, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, stood up and sprinted. He caught the receiver 40 yards down field and stripped the ball loose.鈥淒arby had a chance to fall down, cross his legs, look at our kid get in front, get up and catch him,鈥?Gwynn Park football coach Danny Hayes told Capital News Service.Darby鈥檚 speed, which carried him to Florida State University and the NFL, was the main reason he stood out at the Oxon Hill, Maryland school. He was recognized as Maryland鈥檚 second-best class of 2012 football recruit and was one of the fastest high school track-and-field sprinters in the country.鈥淚鈥檓 just naturally fast,鈥?Darby, who still carries around his USA Track & Field backpack from high school, told a small group of reporters at the Mall of America on Wednesday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 in my genes.鈥漅elated StoriesExperience at Md. high school propelled Rodney McLeod to Super BowlNFL NewsTerp who won Super Bowl with Ravens now an on-field mentor to rising EaglesNFL NewsWhile Darby has endured injuries since then, his quickness helped him earn a starting role in each of his first three NFL seasons, now as cornerback with a team trying to win its first-ever Super Bowl. He鈥檚 recorded three interceptions in nine games this season on a defense that鈥檚 allowed 17 points in its two playoff games.The Eagles play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Sunday at 6:30 p.m.鈥淒arby is by far the fastest guy I鈥檝e seen in a high school uniform,鈥?Hayes said. 鈥淒arby鈥檚 gonna do what Darby wants to do.鈥滵arby said he always won suicide sprints when he started playing football at eight years old, claiming his quickness came naturally. When Darby was a freshman at Potomac, football coach Ronnie Crump said Darby ran a 4.31 40-yard dash, which led colleges to contact him and Darby every week.Coaches from different colleges bumped into each other at Potomac. Whenever Notre Dame鈥檚 coaches visited Darby, they鈥檇 call him 鈥渘itro鈥?to try to flatter him http://www.newyorkgiantsteamonline.com/odell-beckham-jr-jersey , Crump said.Crump usually develops plans for his players to try to make the NFL, but Darby was the only player Crump knew would play professionally from his freshman year.The only way Hayes tried to game-plan for Darby, who played running back and cornerback, was to force him into the middle of the field.鈥淵ou can鈥檛 even see Darby when he hits that corner and goes down the sideline,鈥?Hayes said. 鈥淚f you blink, you might have an 80-yarder against you every single time.鈥滵uring Darby鈥檚 sophomore season, Potomac played against Central High School on a muddy field after it had rained all day, so players could hardly run without slipping. The only offense that night came from Darby鈥檚 three punt returns for touchdowns. Crumb said Darby accounted for about 90 percent of the Wolverines鈥?yards in another game against Largo High School, scoring five touchdowns.During the spring, Darby dominated the track, winning the Maryland 3A state championship in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4×100 relay as a senior. He won a bronze medal in the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where the top high school track athletes around the world competed in France. Darby was one of six American men selected to represent USA Track & Field in a friendly meet in Japan in 2011.Potomac track-and-field coach Stan Mullins taught Darby a better sprinting technique and improved his knee lift for acceleration, which helped him in both sports.While using the leg press machine in the Potomac weight room one afternoon, Darby鈥檚 hip flexors popped up over his shorts and caught the attention of his teammates and Mullins. Darby had unusually strong leg muscles, Mullins said.鈥淲hen you have a kid that鈥檚 natural like that, the only thing you have to do is point them in the right direction,鈥?Mullins said, 鈥渁nd keep their head straight.鈥滵arby hoped for a longer career by playing cornerback instead of running back in college. But he also wanted to run track for a backup option, which was one of the reasons he committed to Florida State.Darby looked up to former NFL cornerbacks Deion Sanders and Darrell Green, who also ran track in college. He wanted to emulate that speed. But he endured a groin injury entering Florida State, forcing him to focus on football.Darby still won the 2012 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year. After nabbing two interceptions his sophomore season Authentic Olivier Rodrigue Jersey , he started every game the next year and won the 2013 national championship, a happiness Darby hopes to experience again Sunday.鈥淪uper Bowl will probably be more of a better feeling,鈥?Darby said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a lot harder than college.鈥滱fter Darby ran the seventh-fastest 40-yard dash at the 2015 NFL Combine, the Buffalo Bills drafted him with the 50th overall selection. He started all 29 games he played in and recorded a pair of interceptions over his two seasons there. In August, the Bills traded Darby to the Eagles for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a 2018 third-round draft pick.Darby dislocated his ankle in the first game of the season and was carted off the field, missing eight games. Since his return, Darby鈥檚 helped bolster a position group that was one of the Eagles鈥?weaknesses in preseason.鈥淭hat鈥檚 a good thing that it happened early on, rather than later,鈥?Darby said. 鈥淚鈥檓 able to play through the postseason.鈥漈he 5-foot-11-inch, 193-pound cornerback will often play off his receiver, making it appear as if he鈥檚 not tightly guarding, then use his speed to intercept or knock down a pass. Darby will continue to lean on that skill Sunday, when the Eagles face Tom Brady, arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, in the Super Bowl.鈥淗e鈥檚 got it all: Speed, quickness,鈥?Eagles safety Corey Graham said It’s apparent the coaching change to Matt Nagy will mean anything but business as usual for the Chicago Bears on offense.
Whether it’s hiring former Oregon coach Mark Helfrich, coming from an up-tempo college attack, as offensive coordinator, or quarterback Mitchell Trubisky running Nagy’s pet run-pass options, the Bears anticipate becoming less predictable than under former coach John Fox.
Nagy, former Kansas City offensive coordinator Manny Ramirez Jersey , is still completing his coaching staff, and the most surprising hire so far was bringing in Helfrich to help revive the league’s 30th-ranked attack.
”As you could tell from some of the things we did in Kansas City offensively, we were trying to be a little bit out of the box and new wave type of stuff,” Nagy said. ”It was easy when I was approached, and started researching different names, that he was the guy.”
Developing Trubisky is the key for the Bears’ offense, and Nagy cited it as a reason for hiring Helfrich.
”It’s such an important position in this league and it’s a delicate position that has to be done the right way,” Nagy said. ”It was a slam dunk.
”The second I knew he was interested and got to talk football with him and people skills, it was a no-brainer.”
Helfrich was head coach at Oregon when his quarterback was current Tennessee Titans QB Marcus Mariota, and he sees Trubisky as someone with similar abilities – and flaws.
”Mitchell has a tight release, he’s an accurate passer,” Helfrich said. ”They also have a couple things similar that makes them inaccurate. Their feet take them out of position.”
Whether due to poor footwork or other reasons, Trubisky completed only 59.4 percent of passes as a rookie. He had seven touchdowns to seven interceptions.
”He had, I think was a 3-to-1 or maybe even a 4-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in college,” Helfrich said. ”That works. That’s a good thing. We need to continue that.
”We can’t put the defense in a bad situation, our team in a situation, because there’s times in the NFL they’re going to get you, and I think a quarterback kind of has that innate ability to take care of the football versus turning it over when he, for lack of a better word, panics.”
Nagy will call plays, and referred to Helfrich’s role as a ”conduit” between himself and the offense.
”The communication process is so big, so Mark’s been there Logan Woodside Jersey Elite , done that as a head coach,” Nagy said. ”He’s been there as an offensive coordinator, so the process whether you want to compare it from college to the NFL, it’s the same.”
While Helfrich lacks any NFL experience, the same isn’t true for Nagy’s defensive or special teams coordinators. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was retained from Fox’s staff, while former Browns special teams coordinator Chris Tabor returned for his second stint as an assistant in Chicago.
Fangio’s defense finished 10th and he was a candidate for the Bears’ head coaching position. He had interest from other teams as a coordinator, but found returning his best option after Nagy was hired.
”I just had to feel comfortable with everything, you know, with who the head coach was going to be, the continued direction of the team as far as where we were headed roster-wise, things of that nature,” Fangio said.
Having personnel back from an effective defense was an enticement, but Fangio sees work ahead. The Bears had eight interceptions in each of his three seasons as coordinator – each a franchise single-season low.
”I think it’s a wrong picture to paint that the defense was great and the rest of the team wasn’t,” he said. ”We were 5-11. If we were a great defense we’d have more than five wins.”
Tabor was a special teams assistant under coordinator Dave Toub from 2008-2010 in Chicago and inherits an immediate problem at kicker. The Bears went through three last season and have no one under contract for 2018. It’s much different than when Tabor left, with Robbie Gould as a mainstay and the Bears coming off an NFC title game.
”When you have a great one, you want to ride that horse all the way, there’s no doubt about that,” Tabor said. ”And then when teams are looking for guys, I think there’s going to be growing pains.”
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