College Football 2012 Top 150 Players: No. 84 Desmond Trufant Washington CB

Every day here at Your Best 11, we are counting down to the start of the regular season with our top 150 players for the 2012 season.

No. 84: Desmond Trufant, No. 6, Washington, Cornerback

Strengths:

It would seem that this kid was born to do it at the defensive back position. His brother, Marcus Trufant, was a standout cornerback in college and a big-time NFL player.

Now, Desmond Trufant is among the nation's best and his instincts are the foundation of his play. He understands how to play press, off, man and zone coverages and can play them all back-to-back; disguising each and confusing quarterbacks.

The rising senior has great reaction times, good closing speed and the ability to get his hands on the football. Fourteen pass break-ups and two interceptions was good for 14th nationally in passes defensed, and this year the Huskies defense should be better in the back-end.

Weaknesses:

Last year, Trufant made a point to be more physical, making 64 tackles and inserting himself into the running game a bit more than in 2010. However, he still has to work on tackling and getting off blocks.

In 2010, he missed a lot of tackles running at legs; in 2011 he did a better job of getting guys on the ground, but there is still room to improve.

The most important thing for Trufant this year will be getting off blocks. If you stay blocked, you're not helping your teammates get to the ball-carrier and his big weakness to improve upon is separating from blocks and getting to make a tackle.

2012 Predictions:

Jordan Poyer is going to be his chief competition as they are the two best cornerbacks in the Pac-12. Nickell Robey is going to try and battle his way into the mix as is Aaron Hester from USC and UCLA respectively.

However, Trufant is set up to truly have a solid year, as the Huskies have taken great care to shore up the defensive side of the ball following their point hemorrhaging against Baylor.

Justin Wilcox gets solid play out of his defensive backs and with a great player like Trufant leading his charge look for the huskies to improve as a whole. Trufant should be a first-team All-Pac 12 player and has a shot at making an All-American team if he can keep up his pass-defensed totals.