SANTA CLARA -- Rookie defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen was asked to evaluate the 49ers cornerbacks on Wednesday. Here's what he said, courtesy of the 49ers P.R. department.
Q: You’ve been around CB Charvarius Ward for a couple years now. I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on his development, how much better he's gotten and the fact that he played with his core injury the second half last year. It didn't seem to really slow him down that much. What did you think of his year last year? What can he do going forward?
SORENSEN: “I think it was, clearly it was great. He had great numbers, he had production, but we always knew he was really tough. I think it gets overlooked that he's a tough player as far as how he tackles. He's a really good tackler, which is essential in our defense. We ask a lot of our corners. Everyone has got to be able to tackle, run and hit, be physical, be violent. He does that and it was just good to see how he got some recognition this year, and how he got a little bit more production on his PBUs and his interceptions. And I think he just keeps taking those steps as he matures and becomes that leader. He's just internally motivated and the group that he's around, I think all those guys motivate each other and can't wait to get him back.”
Q: He was saying he should have had 10 last year.
SORENSEN: “Of course. All those guys say that, right? If you drop any or if you're close at all, that should count, which is the right mindset. I love that.”
Q: With CB Renardo Green, how have you seen him kind of fitting in a little bit with the veterans and how he's picking everything up?
SORENSEN: “I've been really happy with Renardo. The cool thing is he’s been doing both nickel and corner and it's not a lot of time right? It's a certain amount of practices and hasn't fully been a nickel. So, he's really embraced the challenge of it. That's the best part. Like it's never perfect because now all of a sudden we're teaching you all these different coverages, but there's also run fits too and then that changes. And guess what? You can't like fully trigger and feel the physicality of the line because there's rules and those guys aren't playing the same. But just with him, it's just the mentality and the competitiveness that I love. We knew the movement skill was there and you see it in man-to-man stuff and he gets those too. But just like he's embraced any challenge that's anything that's hard I think he's embraced and he's kind of attacked it and willingly been like, ‘no man, I want more of that.’ And that's really been awesome.”
Q: CB Isaac Yiadom was a free agent that didn't get a lot of hype when he was brought in, but you guys have been running him with the ones effectively a bunch. What did you expect when you guys signed him and what has he done so far?
SORENSEN: “I think with Ike, he came into the league and he kind of bounced around for a while. But everything we had heard about him and you see is what he's been when he got here. He's kind of self-made, like he works. He's very serious. I think when he came to sign, he actually like went and got a workout after he signed. I've never seen that, but that's him. I think that's what's kind of shown up with who he is and he's very meticulous and the stuff that showed up later in the year with him and how he competed against a lot of really good receivers. I think it's been awesome that we're seeing that now too. He's very technical. He's very strong. I think he's a guy that's also, like we talk about Mooney being strong and a tackler, he's got that in his history as well. He's a tough guy. He's physical. He plays with his hands. He's violent. He communicates. He sees things before they happen and that stuff has shown up.”
Q: CB Darrell Luter Jr. has looked really good. What do you see from him in the second year?
SORENSEN: “Again, right when you see him, stout, built a lot like Mooney. He's big, he’s got length and he's learning to use that. I think with him it stunk because we were excited for him really quick last year when he got here and then got injured pretty quickly. And then when he came back it was mid-season or later in the season and then saw some flashes and so it's about growth. And again, he's a competitive guy. He is really smart. He's a guy that really, really, really cares. So seeing him progress and utilize his size and his length and then his brain and how he sees things, he's progressed the right way and just can't wait to see him when he comes back after these 40 days.”
Q: You mentioned Renardo accepting challenges. I saw a team rep he ended up in the slot on WR Ricky Pearsall. I don't know if you did that purposely obviously since you can't do that. But do you relish something like that to see the top two picks kind of going at each other?
SORENSEN: “Absolutely. Yeah, I wish we could have one-on-ones in this, but CBA you can't. So you look for those opportunities to try and get guys in, ‘alright let's give him a man rep here or let's give him this run fit versus this coverage and this zone or that. Alright, this guy struggled.’ So you kind of look for opportunities to get guys matched up if you can.”
