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In addition to discipline, Jones says cornerbacks need two more important characteristics. First, they have to be extraordinarily competitive.

“ they play on an island,” says Jones. “The passer is going to force those guys into one-onone matchups all the time. They have to be willing to compete.”

Second, they have to have what he calls a “short-term memory.”

“Every play is not going to be a good play. You may give up a touchdown. You may give up an explosive play or big gain. You have to put it behind you and go onto the next down.

“That’s what you have to have to be a cornerback.”

In a battle between the cornerback and the wide receiver, the receiver has the advantage. He’s running forward instead of backward. He knows which route he’s running, and at what depth he’s running it. He knows if the play is a run or pass.

The corner knows none of this. He has to read the offensive formation, take what he knows from film study and assess the situation. As soon as the ball is hiked, he has to react and make a decision.

Take the slant route. The receiver typically takes two steps off the line, then cuts for the middle of the field. The quarterback, upon taking the ball from center, reads the defense then fires the ball. All of this takes less than two seconds.

“The cornerback backpedals. He’s taking two steps back then he has to drive that foot in the ground and close on the slant,” say Jones. “We always tell them to drive to the collision point. Slants are always thrown slightly ahead of the receiver, so we break and drive to a point in front of them. We’re going to meet where we think the ball is going to be thrown. We’re either going to break it up or catch it, or if he catches it, make the tackle.”

OSU’s takeaway philosophy adds another level of complication to the position, inserting a bit of well-rehearsed risk taking. If there’s an opportunity for an interception, defensive backs (along with the rest of the defense) are not just encouraged to go get it — it’s expected.

“We put a big emphasis on, ‘If you have the opportunity to intercept the pass, intercept the pass,’” says Jones. “I try not to over-coach them. We recruited them because they’re athletic, and most athletes have confidence and believe in their ability. If they have the opportunity to intercept the pass, we expect them to catch it.”

OSU cornerbacks are held accountable for possible interceptions in practice. There’s someone counting, usually a graduate assistant. At the end of the practice, for every dropped or missed interception, the entire position unit does up-downs (an exercise where starting from a standing position, you drop to a push-up, and then pop back to your feet). For each drop, they do five up-downs.

“we do it as a unit, as a team,” says Jones. “In a game, that dropped interception could make the difference between winning and losing. So we hold them accountable.

“They put a lot of peer pressure on each other. A guy like Brodrick, he’s going to catch it and if Justin drops one (not that Justin’s going to drop one), Brodrick would be mad and say, ‘Hey, you shoulda caught that. I’m doing up-downs because of you.’

So they put a lot of peer pressure on each other. It works.”

Because cornerback is such a difficult position to play, the Cowboy coaching staff scours the country looking for prospects every year, and the search is not limited to players already playing the position.

“Everyone wants to play offense,” says Jones. “People fill the seats to see touchdowns, so a lot of your best players are playing on the offensive side of the ball.”

Jones typically watches both the defensive backs and the wide receivers when he scouts a practice or camp. If there’s an athletic wideout who may not have great hands, he becomes a candidate for defensive back. Sometimes, they’ll look at athletic quarterbacks.

“That’s what happened with Justin Gilbert and Jonovan Griffin,” says Jones.

In those cases, it takes convincing.

“They are so used to playing offense. t hey like to score touchdowns and get the attention. It took me awhile to convince Justin. He had offers from people telling him he could be a wide-out. Some were telling him he could play offense and defense. I had to convince him. I had to convince his high school coach. I had to convince mom. ‘Just trust me. He has the ability where if he focuses and plays corner, athletic-wise, if he plays as well as I think he will, he has the chance to play on Sundays.

“I had to convince Jonovan Griffin. He had offers as a wide receiver from several schools, so trying to convince him to play defensive back was a challenge.

It’s a comfort zone for them. That’s what they’ve always done. It’s easy. This spring he was going through a slight learning curve because he’s never backpedaled before. Now, if you watch him backpedal, you can’t tell.

“If they are willing to continue to learn and fight through that learning curve, it usually works out for the best.”

Jones joined the Cowboys prior to the 2008 season, the same year Brown showed up as a freshman. In that time, he’s coached Perrish Cox, Andrew McGee (both first-team All- b ig 12 cornerbacks ), as well as Jacob Lacey (who’s playing for the Indianapolis Colts). Jones coached corners at Alabama (as a graduate assistant), Tulsa and Rice prior to arriving at OSU, and he started at defensive back for Alabama.

Brown and Gilbert, his latest protégés, were just picked by KC Joyner of ESPN.com as part of the second-best secondary in the country. Joyner even listed Gilbert as the no. 1 cornerback in the country last season (though Brown might have something to say about that particular assessment).

The Big 12 is a pass-happy conference, and if a team is going to be successful, it needs strong play from its cornerbacks. Gilbert and Brown were instrumental in OSU leading the Big 12 in scoring defense. They were good. Great, even. This year, they could be even better.

“I’m expecting great things from them,” says Jones. “From what I’ve heard from my strength and conditioning coaches, they’ve had great off-seasons. They’ve worked hard. i ’m expecting them to have a better year than they had last year. I think both of those guys, they sort of push each other. When they get out there on the field, they compete against the wideouts, but they also compete against each other. If Brodrick breaks up a pass, Justin will intercept one.

“I’m expecting them to have a great year. I think they’re good enough they can play with anybody in the conference and anybody in the country.” story C ontin U es

The last two years, his job was Justin Blackmon. Guarding a first-round, top-5 n FL draft pick is bound to make you a better defensive back. The great ones do more than just refuse to back down. They seek out the challenge. Prior to the Texas A&M game last season, Brown dropped by Jones’ office to talk about A&M wide-out Jeff Fuller.

“Everyone knew last year the A&M game was a big game for us,” says Jones. “We felt as a staff that winning that game could give us a lot of momentum and give our players a lot of confidence to finish out the season. They had a lot of good players. One of them in particular was Fuller.