What began as a joke between coach and player turned into reality out of necessity.
The University of Toledo works on fundamentals every week, and each player on the roster participates.
Offensive players tackle. Defensive players pick up fumbles and catch passes. Every position group does something foreign.
Wide receiver Jaden Dottin would trash talk safeties coach Ross Watson, cavalierly telling Watson that he could play safety.
“I can vividly remember the first time seeing him do the tackling drill, and I went, ‘Oh shoot,’” Watson said. “There was playful banter going back and forth, and I can remember him lining up, and he says, ‘Hey, watch this.’ And I’m thinking, yeah, right. And that son of a gun goes up there and does that tackling drill, and looked fast and violent. And that’s when that started.”
Last week, Dottin’s position change — and number change, from 10 to 3 — was set in motion. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, a shoo-in to be named All-Mid-American Conference, suffered a serious undisclosed injury that required swift action. Toledo has 10 safeties on its roster — seven are freshmen, including multiple walk-ons.
After the Eastern Michigan game, Dottin thought to himself, perhaps he could help out. The Rockets are deep at wide receiver, so he approached the coaches with his thoughts.
“We knew that the offense would be just fine because we’re really confident in the guys over there,” said Dottin, a Penn State transfer who’s caught 21 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown in two seasons at UT. “I told the staff, ‘I’m just a football player. I’m going to do what I can to help the team.’ And I feel like that was the best thing to do.”
The coaches took him up on the offer. And they quickly saw that this wasn’t just an experiment for Dottin, as he spent four hours per day in Watson’s office preparing for the Central Michigan game. He had questions for McNeil-Warren, Maxen Hook, and Braden Awls. He took extra time on the field. The undertaking was serious.
When head coach Jason Candle was asked how Toledo assesses the possibility of players changing positions, he said the player has to be “convicted in doing it.”
Dottin passed the test.
“We have to see it as a pathway for him to have success,” Candle said. “Connor Jones is an example of that on offense. He switched over from linebacker, and he’s playing a significant role now in total personnel as a tight end/fullback. We did that with Kendall Rogers a few years ago, a center coming over from the D-line.
“This isn’t like coaching a Mount Union, where there are 220 guys and there is that kind of mentality at every position. Sometimes there’s a veteran player who can help you. And I think those conversations to put your team in a position to win, that's the responsibility of the staff to continue to look into that.”
At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Dottin has the frame of someone who can make a difference in the defensive secondary. If coaches have an option, they are going to choose size. Dottin was recruited as a wide receiver and an athlete. He estimates that half of the teams that offered a scholarship saw him as someone who could play defense. During his junior and senior seasons of high school, Dottin had eight interceptions.
Game 1 offered a realistic portrait — Dottin displayed an ability to play the position, as well as areas where considerable improvement is needed. He played 25 of 66 defensive snaps at strong safety, finishing with one tackle. He was targeted in coverage once and the pass was not completed. Pro Football Focus gave Dottin a low grade, but it hasn’t deterred him or Watson.
“I think it was OK,” Dottin said. “I think I left a couple plays out there. It could have been way worse.”
One play Dottin no doubt wants back, for his own pride as much as anything, is the first-half run by Marion Lukes, when the Central running back juked Dottin in spectacular fashion, with the receiver-turned-safety grasping at nothing but air and falling to the turf.
“I said, ‘Hey, where’s that tackling drill,’” Watson said. “I didn’t let him forget about that.”
“Maybe it’s unfair to [Dottin], but I lumped him in with all the safeties. They all played all right. Every guy had a missed tackle, so he wasn’t an outlier. I had as many corrections for Maxen as I did for him. I say that as a positive. He did a good job. A lot of room for improvement, but I said that to all of them.”
Nerves never materialized. Dottin was confident after a week of studying, and his self-belief is genuine. Yes, he gave up a home at wide receiver, the position he treasured. But a new opportunity sprouted, and Dottin wants to take hold of what’s next and leave no doubt.
“I think it could be a great path,” he said. “I will always miss wide receiver a little bit just because I’ve done it for so long, but I’m a football player. Whatever team needs me to do, I’m going to do my best.”
First Published November 21, 2024, 12:18 a.m.
