Horseshoe Huddle

Colts 2022 Draft Interviews: Delarrin Turner-Yell, S, Oklahoma

Meet Oklahoma safety Delarrin Turner-Yell. We talked about his career year with the Sooners, what he studies on film, and his leadership abilities as a player.

Zach Hicks

Delarrin Turner-Yell is a former three star recruit out of Hempstead High School in Hempstead, Texas. He originally committed to Baylor out of high school, but switched to Oklahoma prior to signing day.

I asked Turner-Yell why he ultimately chose to play for the Sooners:

Early on, I wanted to stay close to home. Texas A&M and TCU didn't offer but Baylor did end up offering. They are only like an hour and forty five minutes away from home, so I knew I could still be close to family if they wanted to come up and see me play. So, I ended up committing to Baylor.

Oklahoma had invited me to an annual barbecue thing they do every year for recruiting, so I ended up going there for the visit. While I was at Oklahoma, some stuff happened with Baylor. I guess they were disappointed that I was down there and pulled their offer.

A lot of schools offered, but the only two teams late that were still talking to me were Utah and Oklahoma. It was honestly like love at first sight when I went on that visit and I knew I wanted to be at Oklahoma.

Turner-Yell had an immediate impact with the team, playing seven games as a true freshman. His career was marred with injuries each season, but it finally all came together for him as a senior.

He finished the year with 52 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, and three interceptions as he was named to the All Big 12 Second-Team list. I asked him what it felt like to finally put together a season like the one he just had:

It felt amazing, it felt really good. Although I had to deal with a hamstring injury in the middle of the season, it all just came together. Before this past season started, I started to reflect back on the things that I have done and looked at the areas where I could grow.

That is what really led to me having the season that I had. I was able to be confident in myself no matter what happened. I knew after this past season that I was going to have to be put in that situation regardless because when you go to the NFL, you have to believe in yourself.

Just reflecting back opened my eyes to a lot of things. I started off a little slow this past season in the early games. I was getting some production, but I'm hard on myself. The West Virginia game is where it started to pick up. I started hot in the first half, I had an interception to start the second quarter, and that bled over to the second half.

I ended up getting injured in the second half. With that break I had with the injury, I looked back on the games I played before I got hurt. I knew there was something else that I could tap into and get to another level to reach the goals that I wanted to reach.

I was just locked in after that and really focused on what I wanted to be. That helped me have the season that I ended up having.Β 

Interchangeable Safety Play

Safety play in the NFL is not what it used to be. There used to be free safeties and strong safeties across the league, but the NFL has transitioned to teams having interchangeable players on the backend.

I asked Turner-Yell why he thinks it is so important for a safety to be able to do it all on the backend:

It is a huge part of today's game because teams will scheme up against a DB's weakness. If they see that you are a bad tackler, they will scheme up plays where you have to make a tackle. If you can get a guy, like myself, that can play in the box at times when needed, it can really benefit the team.

I've always been the type of player that is big on tackling and big on contact. The biggest thing for me when I got to college was improving in coverage and locking down receivers. Before college I didn't have to cover receivers, I was just running around hitting people. Once I improved on that, I knew my game could be taken to the next level because that opened a lot of doors for me.Β 

Another reason why this is so important is that there is a lot of RPO in the game today. With all these RPO's, having a guy that can cover and make big hits is really needed on the backend.

Just being versatile opens a lot of doors for players. Even guys coming out of high school, I feel like they need to make it so that's the type of game that they are playing. You want to be known as a guy that can do it all. Those are the guys that have the long careers in the NFL.

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Talking Some Film

Talking film with a player like Turner-Yell is a bit different than some of the other positions I've interviewed so far. Offensive linemen or corners are focused on their individual match-ups, but a safety has to be able to see the entire field.

I asked Turner-Yell what his week of film study is like as a safety:

First off, I would look at all the top concepts of the team we are about to play. I would make a note of the plays they like to run the most. The way we would break down film was to see how frequent (the opposing offense) is in a certain formation. Once they are in certain formations, we look at what they like in those sets.

Once I get the big picture down, I would look at smaller things. Like what each receivers likes to do, what way the quarterback is looking when he throws certain things, and stuff like that. Then after I watch for that, I would break it down even more.

I would put myself in different calls and see which guy I would have to cover in those different calls. When I can look at those match-ups, I'll study when the receiver is breaking their route off, how he runs his routes, and I'll start dissecting it like that.

Anytime I'm not going to be a half-field player, I'll study the quarterback. Is he going to stand there and stare at his options or is he going to try to look me off? After that, I'd text the corners to let them know what the offense likes to run out of certain sets. That way we can communicate and alert to certain things on the field.

All of this film work allows us to be able to anticipate things that the offense is going to do.

Leadership Ability

Throughout this entire interview, Turner-Yell has constantly mentioned ways that he communicates with his teammates. So, I decided to pry a little bit into how he grew into the leadership role he was in this past year.

I asked him if stepping into a vocal leadership position was an easy transition for him as a senior:

I'll be honest with you, it wasn't easy for me. I'm the type of guy that will give you the answer if you come to me one on one, but I'm more of a guy that would lead by example in a group setting. As an older guy at the program, I needed to do more than just lead by example this past year.

It was difficult early on because I was worried about being able to speak so guys could comprehend what I was saying. So, I started to pull guys to the side one by one, because it is easier to get their attention there than in a group setting.

I would let them know that I was there to answer any questions they needed answered. I would let them know that they could come to me with anything. One day, I was in their shoes as the young guy in the room that needed help.

I just wanted those guys to feel comfortable around me. They could come to me with anything, not just on the field stuff, and I would do whatever I could to help them. In the game of football, mental health plays a huge role in everything. I wanted to let them know that I would help them in any way I could.

Once I was able to do this individually, I was able to move it into the group setting. Doing it that way made it much easier for them to pay attention and follow my lead in those group settings.

NFL Outlook

I finished off the interview with the same way I finish all of them. I asked Turner-Yell how he would sell himself to a team this offseason. I asked him what my team would be getting, on and off the field, if they draft him:

Off the field, they are getting a guy that they won't have to worry about what he's doing with his free time. I've seen a lot of guys hurt themselves by doing things off the field, and being able to play in the NFL has been a dream of mine for too long to throw that away off the field. They are getting a guy that is disciplined on and off the field.

A guy that is always looking to give back to the community. I was once that kid that looked up to NFL players, and I want to be that kind of role model for a kid that has a dream. I take any opportunity I have to go out and talk to kids. I let them know to keep chasing their dreams, no matter what anybody says to them.

On the field, they are getting a guy that is an extremely hard worker. I'm always looking to better myself because I know there is no conquering the game off football. I have that understanding of always trying to get better at something.

They are getting a team-first player that will do whatever to help the team. When I was in college, I was still helping out the team whenever I was injured. I'd line up on the scout team and help my guys prepare even when I couldn't play.

At the end of the day, we all want to be great and all want to reach the Super Bowl. What steps are you going to take to reach those goals? Constant improvement is needed to have success in this league.

Lastly, they are getting a hard-nosed player that will do anything for his team.

He may be a bit under the radar in this draft class, at the moment, but Turner-Yell has the mental makeup and the film to be a long time NFL player.

Whichever team drafts him is getting a truly great individual that will be a major asset on and off the field.

Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.

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Zach Hicks
ZACH HICKS

Zach Hicks is the Lead Analyst for HorseshoeHuddle.com. Zach has been on the NFL beat since 2017. His works have appeared on SBNation.com, the Locked On Podcast Network, BleacherReport.com, MSN.com, & Yardbarker.com.Β 

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