Perhaps Derrick Ansley wasn't the biggest free safety in football. As a freshman at Troy in 2001, he was listed at 6-1, 166 pounds.
Mike Turk, then a Trojans assistant, remembered how skinny he was. But there was natural talent there and Ansley never backed down from contact. And he was a very smart player on the back end of that defense. Turk echoed how former Troy coach Larry Blakeney described the defensive back.
"He seemed to always be in the right place at the right time," Turk said.
More than a decade later, that remains the case as Ansley developed as a fast-riser in the college football coaching world.