There is an old saying in football that the middle linebacker is like the quarterback of the defense because they are often in charge of making calls, identifying different formations the offense is in and making the proper checks to defend against an offense.

That saying wouldn’t be true about Ryan Walters’ defense at Illinois. Instead, the safeties would be the quarterbacks of his new defense.

“They got to be great communicators, not only identifying formations and getting us in the right calls, but also situational football in the down and distance and where we are on the field and all those indicators,” Walters said on Tuesday after Illinois’ eight training camp practice. “Those guys have to be the quarterbacks on the field because they have the best vantage point.”

Walters, who Bret Bielema hired as his defensive coordinator, comes from Missouri where he spent time on staff since 2015 when he was the safeties coach. Walters worked his way up from being the safeties coach to being the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2016-20.

As a player, Walters protected the back end of Colorado’s defense from 2005-08 where he started 33-of-46 career games for the Buffalos. As a senior, he earned All-Big 12 honorable mention from the Associated Press.

Now, Walter is trying to build a brand-new scheme at Illinois that is predicated on the play of his safeties, but more importantly the communication of that group.

“They have to communicate and to do it effectively you have to know what you are doing from a schematic standpoint,” Walters said. “I’ve been pleased with that group. The amount of mental errors has been small, defiantly gone down since the springtime, but we have to rep it and get better.”

Illini fans should take solace in Walters’ words that there have been few mental errors from the safeties because in the last two seasons it has been a group that has been prone to making errors that have led to big plays, and three-year starter Sydney Brown thinks a lot of struggles have to do with a lack of communicating.

“The communication part has been huge,” he said. “In the past, I feel like that’s something we’ve lacked on. It’s obviously gone against us a few ways, so being able to communicate with the defense and everybody as one se can be together on the field.

Illinois’ best safety from last season was Tony Adams, and while Adams is back for the Illinois defense in 2021 for a super-senior season he moved a cornerback, a position that he feels more comfortable at. Joining Brown in the safety room is Quan Martin, Derrick Smith and a pair of transfers in Prather Hudson (Georgia) and Eddie Smith (Alabama).

The trio of Brown, Martin and Smith all experienced their fair share of struggles last season. The Illini defense allowed opposing Big Ten quarterbacks to complete a higher percentage of passes than any other group and opposing quarterbacks tore up the back end of the defense to the tune of a pass defense efficiency rating of 165.3.

Walters has said that he isn’t concerned about what happed in the past at Illinois, instead opting to focus on the present and to scheme for the future. But it’s hard to ignore that Wisconsin, Purdue, Rutgers, Iowa, and Penn State all threw for at least 220 passing yards against the Illini defense last season.

How Walters goes about correcting it, is all based on how many his safeties communicate on the field – and in the meeting rooms.

“You just have to demand it,” Walters said about how you build communication. “That’s something we harp on. In the springtime, those guys weren’t communicating with enough volume, so I presented a position meeting room and made them say it loudly.”

It’s not clear how Illinois is going to rotate the back end of their defense, nearly all of the scheme aspects to the defense remain a secret. But Walters needs his safeties to be versatile in how they are able to cover offensive schemes, but more importantly, he needs consistency.

“The consistently with which they play is important as far as building trust within the coaches and teammates,” he said. “The most consistent and productive guys will play.”

Brown has been one of the most productive safeties in his career, but he has also really struggled with consistency in his career. As a sophomore in 2019, Brown had 88 tackles and three interceptions. But in 2020, he had the 24th worst coverage grade by Pro Football Focus in the Power 5 of any safety and he was tagged with nine missed tackles. Now, entering his fourth season, Brown brings more experience to the safety room than anyone.

“Experience is something you can’t teach in a film room,” Walters said. “I think kind of going through the fire and understanding the pressure it brings with playing big-time football and going through certain scenarios. Sometimes your best teachers are failures and those are things you can’t simulate in the film room or on the practice field. The added experience is nothing but beneficial to have moving forward.”

But Brown’s experience and the quality end-of-season play from Martin wasn’t enough for Bielema and Walters to fully buy in on the safeties that were on the roster. That’s why Illinois went and added Hudson and Smith, two players who bring credentials of playing for some of the best defensive coaches in the country.

“Works his butt off every day, no matter what the scenario is,” Walters said of Hudson’s play since arriving in Champaign last semester. “That’s just who he is. So that leadership, that example he has set, that standard he has set, especially for our room in the secondary has been key. You can’t put a price on that.”

Smith joined the safety room in the fall because he had to finish certain credits at Alabama before he could graduate, so he is a little bit behind the other safeties in terms of learning the defensive schemes and how they are going to used. But Walters praised his attention to detail in practice and in the meeting room.

“Eddie’s a veteran guy, an older guy,” Walters said. “So, his attention to detail in meetings and being able to execute in meetings and on the practice field has been very impressive.”

When Walters was hired, he was met with a group that he said was “hungry to learn” and since then he has only been able to build a relationship with them on the field and in the meeting room. But in the coming days or weeks he is expecting to close on a house and Champaign and that is only going to create more opportunities for his group to talk.

“I can’t wait to get into my house so I can have them over for dinner,” Walters said. “I’ve really been happy with the way they’ve worked.”