A long, long, long time ago, we in this space dubbed Karl Joseph “Batting sixth, Karl Joseph.” He was a freshman and he was something like an all-or-nothing player. He was green, but he was good, but he was also green. He’d make a play or he’d miss. He’d be on top of something or he’s be somewhere else. He did more good than bad, but he was, in baseball terms, the sixth hitter. He’d smack a bunch of home runs and hit the ball hard, but he’d also strike out a lot and bat around .240.

It was fun and dumb, and it’s history. Joseph grew up to be way better than that joke, which we always knew would be the case.

He asked the NFL for draft feedback following the 2014 season, and the projections told him he’d be picked anywhere between the second and seventh rounds. It’s not a single-source evaluation, by the way. There are three evaluations, and all they told Joseph for sure was he’d be drafted but also that he could work on his pass coverage.

Joseph was dynamite in his first game of his senior season, and in the third quarter alone, he had five tackles and three interceptions, which was basically Joseph saying he got the message, and he would not change but would get better.

For the record, he was always above average when on the ball, which is different than in coverage. For proof, check out the first interception of his career, which was basically the lone defensive highlight from a 49-14 loss at Texas Tech in 2012.