Alphonso Smith worked so hard on making Josh Bush into the next great cornerback at Wake Forest that Bush is now playing safety.
But it's not like Smith, the ACC's all-time leader in interceptions who is a rookie with the Denver Broncos, didn't warn his protege.
"When I first came in I was about 205 pounds playing corner," Bush said. "Alphonso Smith told me, ‘Get your weight down or else you're going to be playing safety.'"
Smith's prophecy came to pass this season when Bush, after being moved back and forth between cornerback and safety, was inserted into the starting lineup at strong safety.
The move was made in the fifth game against N.C. State, after junior Alex Frye fell so far out of favor that the coaching staff exiled him from practice for two weeks.
Bush, who is listed at 5-11, 195 pounds, saw no reason to complain.
"If I had my choice I probably would rather play safety," Bush said. "At safety certain things can set you apart from another safety, and ball skills are one of those things. Being able to catch and adjust to the ball in the air is one of those things that can make you excel from other safeties.
"That's one thing that Alphonso Smith has talked to me about, was ball skills."
Coach Jim Grobe said that the emergence of redshirt freshman Kenny Okoro at cornerback gave him and secondary coach Tim Billings the confidence to put Bush at safety. The precedent was Kevin Patterson's move from cornerback to safety in 2007 after Brandon Ghee, then a redshirt sophomore cornerback, couldn't be kept out of the lineup.
Patterson found a home at strong safety, and there are signs that Bush has as well.
"He loves to play the game," Grobe said. "He's got great practice habits. And he's just a good guy. He's a guy you like to root for.
"I think he'll get better and better. I'm glad that we've settled him in now. That deal of going back and forth from corner and safety, I don't think anybody realizes how hard that is.
"We tried to do that a little with (Patterson) and we did it a little with Josh. If we can just keep him right where he's at I think he will continue to improve."
Bush, like Okoro, is a homegrown talent. Okoro played at Greensboro Dudley High School and Bush played at West Davidson High School in Lexington. Bush was a wide receiver and safety most of his career for the Green Dragons, but spent his senior season at quarterback.
He reminds Coach Tom Elrod, the Deacons' quarterback coach, of that at every opportunity.
"I always joke around with Coach Elrod," Bush said. "Every day in practice I ask him if he needs me on offense."
The Green Dragons were 8-4 Bush's senior season and made the playoffs. So how good a quarterback was he?
"Obviously not good enough," Bush said.
The question that faced Wake Forest this season was how could the Deacons lose seven starters on defense -- including four good enough to be chosen in the first four rounds of the NFL Draft -- without paying the consequences with points allowed? Last year's defense gave up 18.3 points a game. This year's defense is allowing 24.1.
There were signs that the defense was coming around until last Saturday's 38-3 loss at Clemson. There's another test awaiting this Saturday at Navy, which is 5-2 and averaging 32.6 points a game.
"A lot of people doubted us because we lost guys like Aaron Curry, Chip Vaughn, Alphonso Smith, Kevin Patterson and Stanley Arnoux," Bush said. "But there's 11 guys on the defense and we all take something from each of those guys that I just mentioned and try to put it into one just to form our own mentality.
"I guess in a sense those guys aren't missing from the defense. They've become a part of us."
dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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