By now, New York Giants fans have learned the backstory behind the team’s second-round pick, Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood.
Hood comes in NFL-ready, having been trained by the likes of former All-Pro Patrick Peterson and his uncle Roderick, who once played for current Giants head coach John Harbaugh.
Roderick Hood believes Harbaugh will get the best of his nephew, just as he did for him back when they were in Philadelphia with the Eagles in the early 2000s.
“Harbs has an uncanny knack for being super tough and then pulling back the reins,” Roderick told the New York Post. “He will kick your butt, but then he will love on you. He’d have a situation where he would be really, really tough on me and then he would bring me to his office and say, ‘I think you are a heck of a player, but I need you to be better.’
“You could respect that he’s just a hard-nosed player who cares about you but is not going to let you slack. He won me over from that. I respect the honesty and that he demanded greatness from me, so I’m super excited for Colton because I know that Harbs is going to get the best out of him.”
Colton Hood has modeled his game after some of the NFL’s top corners, some of whom Uncle Roderick personally mentored after retiring from the NFL. He has a leg up because of that and will also not suffer culture shock under Harbaugh.
“My uncle always told me how good of a person [Harbaugh] was, but also how hard of a coach he was and how good of a coach he was. Definitely somebody I want to be coached by and somebody I want to play for,” Colton said, per The Post.
Roderick is confident Colton will be a success at the pro level, but still has room to grow. He has all the tools and the temperament.
“There’s nothing he can’t do,” Roderick said. “Pressing and playing man-to-man is the toughest thing as a cornerback. I think he can do [zone] just as well. A lot of times, you see switch routes that a lot of teams pass off, but Colton wasn’t asked to pass those off because Tennessee had a young secondary. I think he can go in and play any kind of defense you ask him to. He definitely has to get better, though. It’s always about evolving.”
That improvement now falls onto the shoulders of Harbaugh and his staff.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Roderick Hood: Giants’ John Harbaugh will ‘get the best’ out of Colton Hood
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
