A week ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with Wake Forest cornerback Essang Bassey. Bassey is a sophomore from Columbus, Georgia and is coming off what many would consider a breakout season for the Demon Deacons. Bassey started the entirety of the season at cornerback, with 66 total tackles, 16 passes defended and 3 interceptions, all while leading the entire defense in snaps played.
Although never the biggest player on the field, Bassey has more than proved that he’s a player opposing offenses shouldn’t throw towards. He joined me to talk about his football story, the past season, and future expectations for Demon Deacon Fans.
John Crumpler, Sports Editor: Tell me about your high school football experience.
Essang Bassey, Sophomore Cornerback: Funny enough, my high school wasn’t that good. My freshman year we went 0-10, sophomore year we went 1-9 and my junior year we went 3-7. It wasn’t until my senior year we made the playoffs, first time in thirty years. I obviously played cornerback for the defense and offensively I switched between running back and wide receiver.
JC: Were you the best player at your high school?
EB: I mean yeah, I’d say I was.
JC: How’d you choose to continue playing at Wake Forest?
EB: Originally, I didn’t have a ton of offers. Wofford, Tulane, Georgia Southern and some of the military academies had reached out to me. I’d come to Winston-Salem before for Wake Forest’s junior day and one of their camps and that’s actually where they offered me. I committed three days later.
JC: What about Coach Clawson sold you on the football program?
EB: For my family, Coach Clawson sold us on how big he was on doing things right. He said the three tenets of recruiting were 1) You have to go to class 2) No weed and 3) You have to love football. That was simple and good enough for me. Throughout the process, the rest of the staff also did a great job in showing me love. Coach Jackson, the corners coach at the time, would call me once a week to not just talk football, but to talk about my family.
JC: Tell me what’s impressed you the most about defensive coordinator/defensive backs Coach Jay Sawvel
EB: Coming from Minnesota they had a great defense. Immediately with us, he put a major emphasis on the details. A lot of people don’t pay attention to the little things, such as starting techniques and your pad level. These fundamental, little things I learned working with him I think allowed me to make the jump that I did from my Freshman to Sophomore year. Every day he told me that if I started the play right, I’d end the play right and that led to some success for me this season.
JC: Speaking of ending plays right, what was it like picking off the reigning Heisman winner, Lamar Jackson?
EB: You know, people forget that on that same drive Lamar actually busted out a fifty-yard run, and it was my fault. They had this unbalanced formation where the guards blocked down and I came down on the running back, and Lamar Jackson just went right around us. It’s funny because the rest of the defense actually read the play right, I ran into Jessie Bates who was coming in to make the tackle. Luckily though, I was able to chase him down.
JC: You still got that pick though?
EB: Yeah, I don’t know what he was doing throwing that ball.
JC: Greg Dortch went from an unknown to absolutely exploding onto the scene in 2017. What makes him so hard to guard against as a cornerback?
EB: We knew how good he was, even his redshirt year just watching him in practice, he would kill guys on the scout team. Everyone in the building knew he’d do big things out there. Mainly, he’s just so good at changing direction. There were times when Greg would take plays that weren’t blocked well and turn them into huge gains. I wouldn’t say that he’s a stereotypical ‘burner’ but one-on-one his route running and his quickness makes him almost impossible.
JC: Another defensive back, Jessie Bates, declared early for the NFL draft this fall. What about Jessie makes him such a great defensive back? Why will he work at the next level?
EB: I mean, that’s my boy, he’s going to be great. First of all, he’s so smart. Jessie is so good at reading the field and putting himself in the right position, that’s why he made all those plays. He’s not the fastest, but his mind more than makes up for it. He’s also just so smooth. You’ll never see him in bad body positions against wide receivers
JC: Where are you most comfortable on the football field? And where did you find yourself used the most for Coach Clawson’s defense this past year?
EB: I love playing nickel cornerback, getting to be that extra defensive back and cover the slot receiver. It’s nice because sometimes you’re playing man-to-man and other times you’re blitzing, stuff that I feel I’m really good at. We didn’t necessarily have a ton of depth for me to play nickelback though this past season so we put Coby (Davis) in there a lot. I usually ended up playing “boundary corner,” where I’d be lined up on the side of the field closest to the hash. I ended up leading the team in snaps, and that helped me get a lot better usually having to lineup against a team’s X receiver (usually a team’s best receiver.)
JC: Finally, after an incredible 2017 campaign, the team is losing some big pieces such as Jessie, John Wolford, and Duke Ejiofor to name a few. How is the team trying to continue building off that success with a new group?
EB: Last season our motto was “Keep Building” as we tried to make progress off of our bowl appearance from 2016. This year, our motto is “Eleven Units Strong.” It’s about bringing accountability to every position and every man on the roster. We’re trying to make sure every man on the roster, whether they’re playing every snap or not playing at all, is on the same level of commitment and competition. Eleven Unit Strong means that whether it’s the corners, the quarterbacks, or the wide receivers, no position group is going to be the one to lose us a game. There’s no reason why we can’t win more games next season and that starts with bringing every man up.
