STARKVILLE — Jamal Peters is nothing if not a volunteer. So when a team need at cornerback came about, Peters’ long history at safety didn’t stop him from making himself available.
A full year later, he’s still there — now he’s making it his own.
Peters came to Mississippi State as one of the top rated safeties in the nation on top of being one of Mississippi’s best prospects regardless of position. Now he’s in position to be among MSU’s go-to cornerback options alongside Cam Dantzler.
Peters’ best offering to the position might be his potential.
“He developed a lot, but he still has a ways to go which is very exciting,” MSU cornerbacks coach Terrell Buckley said. “It takes about two full years to know what people are going to do to you and then anticipate things.”
Peters’ timeline took a little less than that: he said he started to grow into the position when he intercepted a pass against South Carolina, MSU’s second game of the 2016 season. The true proof-of-concept moment came 11 weeks later.
“I had a real chip on my shoulder going into the Ole Miss game, I knew they were going to target me,” Peters said. Against the Rebels he had two tackles, an interception and a pass break-up. “I felt like I could cover anybody in the SEC after that game.”
All of that came after a rough beginning.
“It was a hard process. When I went over there (from safety to cornerback) it was real bad, technique was terrible and I didn’t really want to be over there,” Peters said. “I had positive people on the corner side telling me what I can do and I can be a great corner. That’s where you’re going to have all the fun: I like going against the best receivers and competing.”
Peters quickly realized just how much of an island cornerbacks are thrust into, “in all that space.” It exposed how he needed more mobility in his hips, something he said he’s worked on outside of practice on an almost daily basis with single-leg squats and mobility exercises around hurdles.
Then Buckley taught Peters how to use his hands and how, “you can stop the receiver from doing a lot of things,” when one uses them well. He’s grown to love the daily competition in practice with MSU’s projected leading wide receiver Donald Gray.
The command of the position has introduced Peters to an entirely new way of watching football.
“I don’t watch much NFL, but I’ll watch other corners in the league to see what they’re doing,” Peters said. “I’ll watch Florida State’s corners, I’ll watch Tarvarus McFadden to see what he does to make interceptions. I try to learn from (MSU cornerbacks) Tolando (Cleveland), Lashard (Durr) and all them.”
It’s been a long transformation for Peters to approach the game this way. Peters’ first spot after a standout career as a high school safety was at wide receiver; he might still be there if a broken pinky didn’t grant him the opportunity to ask the coaching staff to move him back to defense. That’s when he moved to safety, where he played the 2015 season, setting up his 2016 move to cornerback.
There’s no denying where his allegiances lie now.
“Being a corner,” Peters said, “is probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter, @Brett_Hudson
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