“We’ve always known that Sean’s a great player, it’s just getting the opportunity,” Everett says. “We expect great things from each other.”
In keeping with his ability to fly under the radar, Tracy’s specific role in the defensive scheme has to this point been inconsistently catalogued. Varying sources have him alternately listed as a linebacker and a defensive back.
Tracy, in outlining the Harvard defensive system, attempts to set the record straight.
“I’m a defensive back,” he says. “The way it works is we play with two strong safeties. We run a 4-2-5, but in layman’s terms, for the program, we call it a 4-3.”
But even Tracy acknowledges the difficulty in pinning down his exact position.
“I’m really a strong safety,” he admits, “one of the deep safeties, but I’m kind of a hybrid between a strong safety and a free safety.”
In other words, Tracy has the flexibility to roam the middle of the field, inching in or dropping back as the situation requires.
He loves that the position allows him to be involved in both run and pass coverage, to combine finesse and ferocity.
“The basic philosophy is an attack defense,” Everett explains. “He’s playing his butt off, playing quick and aggressive, and that’s how he got the two picks and
the sack on Saturday.”
Under the tutelage of Doherty, Tracy has learned to
play aggressively but under control, balancing his natural instincts with the responsibilities of operating within the system the coaching staff lays out.
“Coach Doherty has really molded me into a much more refined player than I was when I came here,” Tracy says. “He’s very demanding in terms of details, knowing your responsibility and getting everything right.”
“He’s smart in terms of picking up things,” Doherty adds. “Now on defense he doesn’t have to think, he just knows what to do. That’s why he’s thriving.”
Amidst the success Tracy has enjoyed thus far in his senior campaign, he has had the chance to reflect on his high school years and his much-anticipated return to gridiron stardom.
“This is what he’s been waiting for, for his time to shine,” Doherty says. “And he’s running with it.”
Running on Saturdays like it’s Friday night.