Arizona football: Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles ranked No. 2 in pass coverage among Pac-12 safeties

Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles is good at doing football things.

Shortly after being named the Pac-12’s top playmaking safety by Pro Football Focus, the Arizona Wildcats’ safety was ranked second in the conference among returning players in pass coverage by PFF.

Opposing quarterbacks had a passer rating of just 59.3 when targeting Flannigan-Fowles in 2016. Only Utah’s Chase Hansen posted a better mark (48.5).

Manning the “bandit” position in UA’s 3-3-5 defense, Flannigan-Fowles was second on Arizona in tackles, plus tallied six pass breakups and two interceptions in his sophomore season.

Per PFF, Flannigan-Fowles had a “Playmaker Index” of 25 percent, meaning he either intercepted or broke up a quarter of the passes thrown in his direction.

Considering how opposing quarterbacks fared against him, the other 75 percent of passes thrown Flannigan-Fowles’ way weren’t exactly yielding much success, either.

The Wildcats enter 2017 looking to rebound from a disappointing 2016 season, and Flannigan-Fowles will be tasked with leading a young secondary.

And based on the numbers, there might not be a player in the Pac-12 better equipped to do that.

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire