Playing for TCU’s Patterson has prepared Jeff Gladney for Mike Zimmer’s Vikings
Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is known as a hard-nosed, old-school coach who demands plenty out of his players. Oh, and he’s a defensive mastermind.
In other words, he’s the NFL’s version of TCU coach Gary Patterson.
So it came as no surprise that Zimmer and the Vikings tabbed one of Patterson’s players in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night, taking cornerback Jeff Gladney with the 31st overall pick.
Gladney is known for his hard-nosed approach to the game, playing through injuries and bringing a “junkyard dog” mentality to the field. And he’s more than happy to join another program where hard coaching is commonplace.
“With coaches like that, you’ve just got to get where you know they coach like that because they love the game,” Gladney said. “It’s the message, not the delivery. Once you learn that, you’re pretty good with any coach. It doesn’t matter who’s coaching.
“I like guys like that — who are going to tell you not what you want to hear but what you need to hear. That’s definitely what Coach P was. I’m sure Coach Zimmer is going to be the same way. I’m just ready to meet him and learn from him.”
For Gladney, Patterson’s demanding style helped him become a little-known recruit out of New Boston into a first-round NFL talent. In fact, TCU was Gladney’s only Power Five offer coming out of high school.
Gladney developed into a shutdown corner in his five years under Patterson. Gladney held some of the Big 12’s top receivers in check over his career such as Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb and Baylor’s Denzel Mims.
Gladney’s game is expected to translate well to the next level as he’s had success containing bigger, more physical receivers as well as smaller, quicker ones.
The biggest question for Gladney is his size at 5-foot-10, but Zimmer had success with another 5-foot-10 corner, former Dallas Cowboy Terence Newman who played in the NFL for 15 seasons.
“If you need me to be a physical matchup with a bigger receiver I can do that,” said Gladney, who had 15 passes defensed in both his junior and senior seasons.
“If I just need to use more feet and be quick and use my hips with my feet on a smaller receiver I can do that also. Really, if they want to put their main player on the slot I can move to the slot if I need to.”
That’s the mindset that turned Gladney into one of Patterson’s favorites. This is a guy who played through an ankle injury in 2018 and a meniscus injury in 2019.
“I do think he has the intangibles to make himself better,” Patterson said. “And I know he’s going to get coached very well when he gets there. He’s going to listen and he’s not going to mind if they say it in a rougher tone than maybe other people do.”
Patterson went on to joke that, “Coach Zim will be a mild cat compared to here, let me just say that.”
But, Patterson added, “He’s the same way I am. Here’s how many passing yards we want them to get — zero. Anything over zero is not good. I know that’s not realistic, but that’s kind of the way we go about it. Jeff’s going to be able to handle that.
“He’s from East Texas. He’s country tough. He can handle those kinds of things. I told Jeff, you’re a guy who can handle tough coaching. You’ve been through all of that. You know how to move forward and say ‘Yessir,’ and go forward with what you need to get going with. I think it’s a good fit when it comes to those kind of things.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
