JONESBORO -- During last week's in-house media day, a relatively innocuous question was posed to Arkansas State defensive coordinator Rob Harley about improvement across a defense with lots of new personnel.
The answer began rather generically.
"It's [consistency] every play and right now, we have to build a consistent mentality. We can't be Whack-A-Mole," he said. "It can't be, this play two groups are really good and one group's not, and then the next play it's this group and we're trying to plug leaks. It can't be."
But what Harley said next was revealing.
"We know the defensive backfield is a position on every team at every level [that] has no help behind them, and that group's got to be at their best," he said. "Anybody in conflict positions and anybody out in space has to be at their best, and that's what we're building."
Harley declined to specifically point to one group he felt better or worse about than the others. The message between the lines seemed evident: ASU's defensive back group remains quite unsettled.
Five of the eight players who started a game in 2021 for the Red Wolves at either cornerback or safety are back. But none of them appear to be guaranteed starters through more than a week of fall camp.
The only guy who can comfortably claim that mantle appears to be Eddie Smith. The redshirt junior from Slidell, La., transferred in from Illinois after spending three years at Alabama, and he's taken every snap as the first-team defense's boundary safety.
On top of being a likely starter, Smith was tasked by Coach Butch Jones with being a leader from the time he arrived in January.
"Standards over feelings," Smith said when asked how his past experiences have shaped how he wants to be a figurehead at ASU. "Once you get guys complaining and not wanting to be here ... we cut that short immediately because that's what starts a losing program."
Taylon Doss started five games last fall and could partner with Smith, although sophomore Trevian Thomas looks to have a slight edge in that preseason battle.
Where there's been serious shuffling is at the cornerback spot. Kenneth Harris and Denzel Blackwell began camp as the top options on the outside, but neither has the same level of experience as Samy Johnson or Leon Jones -- both started at least six games in Year 1 under Jones.
Harley and his staff have repeatedly altered the cornerback tandems but no one player, let alone a duo, has been consistent in pass coverage throughout the preseason.
If there's a new face who could emerge from the pack, it's Drew Rawls. Unlike the other four corners -- all of whom are in at least their second season with the Red Wolves -- Rawls spent the past three years at Utah, appearing in just six games as a special teamer.
For a defense that was among the bottom third nationally in passing yards allowed in 2021, even marginal improvements could make a significant difference.
With ASU's entire defensive backfield able to return in 2023, there's an ever-rare opportunity to grow together.
"[Last year] got depressing, I'm not going to lie," said sophomore safety Justin Parks, who appears set to serve as Smith's understudy. "You can tell that the attitude in the defense has changed -- the expectation, the physicality. ... [Having someone like Smith] coming in, it did change the program.
ASU defensive backs glance
RETURNING STARTERS Samy Johnson (8 starts in 2021), Leon Jones (6), Taylon Doss (5)
LOSSES Jarius Reimonenq (transferred to James Madison), Elery Alexander, Antonio Fletcher (transferred to Southern Illinois)
WHO’S BACK Kenneth Harris (2), Denzel Blackwell, Trevian Thomas, Justin Parks, KaRon Coleman
WHO’S NEW Eddie Smith (transfer from Illinois), Drew Rawls (transfer from Utah), Ahmad Robinson, Websley Etienne
ANALYSIS Smith is the unquestioned leader among a very young group. He was a special-teamer at Alabama as a true freshman in 2018 but has appeared in seven games since, stopping at Illinois in 2021. He’ll man one safety spot with Thomas and Doss battling to be Smith’s partner. Cornerback is perhaps the most up-for-grabs position on the team, with as many as five guys shuffling through the first- and second-team units throughout camp and no clear favorites yet.