Denver Broncos All-Pro cornerback Patrick Surtain II is a player many youngsters look up to, including two extremely talented corners who succeeded him at Alabama.
The Broncos star has provided the top Bama draft prospects, Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold, with a valuable blueprint to follow in his footsteps. And at this week's Scouting Combine, potential first-round pick McKinstry spoke about his own game being very similar to Surtain's.
"We kind of have the same playing styles, whether it's playing man or playing zone," he said, via the Broncos' official website. "We came. of course, from the same college and same coach [in] Coach [Nick] Saban, so we were taught the same things. If I ever wanted to just look at something back when I was in college... I'd always pull up his film and see how he did it and just kind of add it to my game."
Indeed, prior to the Combine, it was Arnold's name that was being linked to Denver via scores of mock drafts. Much like McKinstry, Arnold is also a devoted disciple of Surtain's well-polished skill set, which made him arguably the league's best CB.
"Everything that Pat does, he does it extremely well," Arnold said Thursday. "So with that being said, I used to go back and watch his old tape [and see] how he practiced. At Alabama, we liked to say Pat is a robot. No matter who he's guarding - it could be BeVonta Smith, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle - he's going to step, step, get his hands on him, and he never panics. So I mean, Pat, he's the best cornerback in the game right now."
Bookending Arnold with Surtain would be a dream come true for the former when April 25 rolls around. It, too, would give Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph a pair of studs with which to compete against the likes of Patrick Mahomes in the pass-heavy AFC West.
Born out of adversity, Arnold has no shortage of personal ambitions once he hits the pros, and that's bound to impress the Broncos' brass — perhaps enough to sway what they do with the No. 12 overall selection.
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