ALLEN PARK -- It’s not just one homegrown product making a name for himself at Detroit Lions training camp this year. Safety Ian Kennelly is turning heads.
The 24-year-old Macomb native showed his playmaking in practice, then recorded six tackles in the Hall of Fame Game against the Chargers and three more last Friday against the Falcons.
As he works to master the details of NFL life -- from precise communication to sound technique -- one teammate has taken a vested interest in his development: Kerby Joseph.
“Kerby sits behind me in the meetings, and every now and then, he’ll be in the back of my ear, ‘Hey, do this, do that a little better. Cheat your alignment here a little more,” Kennelly told MLive. “At the end of the day, we’ve got our iPads, and we go back to the hotel at night and go through those mistakes. You watch the film and come back the next day ready to work on those things.”
Kennelly said Joseph has been a mentor throughout OTAs and training camp, constantly giving him pointers and helping correct mistakes, much like the coaching staff.
And for a player like Kennelly, who is making a strong case for the Lions’ 53-man roster, there isn’t a better example than Joseph, last season’s NFL leader in interceptions and one-half of what’s considered the league’s best safety duo alongside Brian Branch.
“Kerby’s great. He really is the life of the (secondary) room,” Kennelly said. “We’ve got a great room all around, but Kerby embraces that leadership role. He looks forward to helping out the young guys.
“Even just as a guy you can talk to about anything, he’s going to listen and give you pointers. I couldn’t have asked for more from a leadership standpoint in the DB room.”
The next step for Kennelly is to take what he’s learned from Joseph and the coaching staff and put it together consistently.
He knows special teams will be his primary path to the roster -- and he must do more than hold his own. As an undrafted defensive back out of Grand Valley State, he must excel.
“Playing special teams in the NFL is different than playing special teams in college,” Kennelly said. “Just adjusting to the speed and the different concepts that come with it, especially with the new kickoff rule. Just little details with that.”
Defensively, Kennelly knows the demands are just as high.
“It’s a passing league now, so I’ve always got to work on improving my man-to-man coverage,” he said. “No matter how good you get in this league, that’s something you can always improve on. Then there’s the details of knowing the defense inside and out. As a safety, we have to know a lot of different moving parts, and things can adjust on the fly within a play. You’ve got to think out there and really know all the little minute details.”
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