Why Coach Prime hired Robert Livingston as Colorado's defensive coordinator

After months of anticipation, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders and Colorado finally announced former Cincinnati Bengals safeties coach, Robert Livingston, as Colorado’s defensive coordinator. With the addition of Coach Livingston, Coach Prime has added another young, upcoming coach who has a vast amount of NFL experience.

Livingston spent the last 11 seasons in Cincinnati filling multiple roles within the organization. After starting as a scout in 2012, he was moved to the coaching staff in 2015 as a defensive quality control coach and special teams assistant. In 2017, Livingston became the Bengal’s safeties coach. He remained on staff after Cincinnati fired Marvin Lewis and hired Zac Taylor to be their head coach in 2019. That same offseason, Taylor hired Lou Anarumo to be the Bengals’ defensive coordinator, Livingston’s mentor.

Anarumo and the Bengals had a down year in 2023 as quarterback Joe Burrow battled through injuries dating back to training camp. Despite that, Lou Anarumo has earned a reputation as one of the better defensive coordinators in the NFL with Livingston receiving credit for the Bengals’ ball-hawking secondary.

Drafting and Developing

The Bengals are considered one of the most “old school” franchises in the NFL in terms of how they handle their scouting and personnel staff. Cincinnati is known for having the smallest scouting staff in the league and does not have a General Manager listed in their Front Office Staff.

The Bengals hired Livingston in March of 2012 as a southeast scout primarily covering the ACC and SEC after Jim Lippincott, Director of Operations, retired. Livingston was only two years into his coaching career, having coached at Furman in 2010 and Vanderbilt in 2011, before he got his NFL shot. The Bengals saw something in Livingston and were able to watch him blossom as a promising young football mind.

While Livingston was scouting the southeast for the 2013 and 2014 NFL Draft, the Bengals drafted North Carolina running back Giovani Bernard, Georgia cornerback Shawn Williams, LSU running back Jeremy Hill and Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron. Livingston proved himself as a scout and quickly earned a promotion to the coaching staff where he helped mold the young talent he helped bring in, most notably cornerback Shawn Williams. In 2015, the third-round draft pick started in four games and would transition to safety ahead of the 2016 season. Williams went on to start 57 games at safety for the Bengals from 2016 to 2019 and had 393 tackles, 12 interceptions and 26 pass breakups in that time. In 2018, Williams had the best season of his career playing alongside the best player Livingston has coached thus far in his career, Jessie Bates.

Jessie Bates declared for the 2018 NFL Draft after only playing three seasons at Wake Forest. Bates redshirted his freshman season in 2015 before emerging as one of college football’s best safeties in 2016. Despite a less productive season in 2017, Bates was still drafted 54th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals. Since then, Bates has been recognized as one of the best safeties in the NFL. He received Second-Team All-Pro honors in 2020 and helped lead the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

After proving his scouting and coaching chops with the Bengals, the 38-year-old Livingston has a chance to cement himself as one of the best young defensive coaches in the game with Coach Prime and Colorado.

Film Takeaways

You don’t earn nicknames like “The Mad Scientist” or “Dr. Lou” by coaching conservative, run-of-the-mill defenses. Lou Anarumo has created an ever-evolving defense that features multiple looks up front and in the secondary while mixing up simulated pressures and blitzes to keep even the best NFL quarterbacks guessing down to down.

While Livingston will have certainly learned valuable information under Anarumo, Colorado’s defense will likely have more structure and some characteristics that we saw last season under Charles Kelly. Regardless, let’s take a look at what Cincinnati has been doing defensively the last few seasons to get a glimpse at what Colorado will be running under Livingston.

Cincinnati’s base defense in 2023 was a 4-2-5. The strong side EDGE appeared to have had the option to play out of a two or three-point stance.

Under Amarulo, Cincinnati’s defensive backs play all over the field. He routinely mixed up one and two high-safety shells and often utilized the nickel defender to bring an extra helmet in the run game and create pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Former Liberty cornerback Preston Hodge could be a Swiss Army knife for Livingston and Colorado in 2024.

Anarumo tinkers with the Bengals defense on a week-to-week basis for each opponent. At times against San Francisco, Anarumo would bring in an extra defensive lineman to match the 49ers’ big personnel packages but would stick with five defensive backs and opt for only one linebacker.

Anarumo was showing off against the 49ers last season by holding San Francisco to 17 points. Christian McCaffrey was held to 54 yards rushing on 12 carries, Brock Purdy threw 2 interceptions and was forced to run more than any other game in 2023.

Tampa 2 coverage is much more common in the NFL and it usually has to do with the responsibilities and athletic ability of NFL middle linebackers compared to those in college. Could we see Trevor Woods or Shilo Sanders dropping down into the box to play the middle of the field in Tampa 2 coverage this season?

2022 was Jessie Bates’ final season in Cincinnati but it didn’t take long to notice how Anarumo designed his defense around the talented young safety.

The trust that Anarumo had in Bates as the last line of defense was apparent as the safety was often lined up 15+ yards off the ball in single-high looks.

Bates is lined up only 10 yards off the ball in this clip but he shows tremendous range by following the quarterback’s eyes from the opposite hash to bring in this interception.

Bates was extremely versatile and would drop down into the box as often as he was the deepest man back on the field.

The first player that came to mind for most Colorado fans once Livingston’s hire was announced was Shilo Sanders. Sanders proved he could be an impact player at the Power 5 level in 2023 and often spoke about how Charles Kelly helped elevate his game last season. While Livingston will certainly help mold Shilo as he has done for so many other players, safety remains one of Colorado’s strongest positions and multiple players could hit the fast track in their development.

Living up to the standard

Coach Prime and Colorado’s staff have remained consistent in their expectations for 2024. When it was reported that Charles Kelly would be leaving Colorado to return to the South, there was a lot of media hype about who would replace Kelly. All of a sudden, finding a defensive coordinator became the most important objective of the offseason.

Livingston is undoubtedly a good, young, up-and-coming coach but the common link may be a man who was widely thought to be in consideration for the job; former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. Zimmer was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator when Livingston was hired in 2012 and Zimmer’s departure to Minnesota coincides with Livingston’s promotion to the Bengals coaching staff.

Colorado’s search for a defensive coordinator this offseason was thorough and involved multiple coaches from the NFL and college ranks. The names surrounding CU’s defensive coordinator were kept under lock and key allowing Coach Prime to execute his search in secrecy. At one point, Colorado had a big NFL name lined up for defensive coordinator. Once the search came to an end, DNVR was told that because of how the NFL coaching carousel worked out this off-season and the decision by one NFL team to not change head coaches, Colorado zeroed in on Livingston.

Charles Kelly played a key role in getting the Coach Prime era in Boulder off the ground and while there are plenty of questions about whether Livingston can fill Kelly’s shoes, he checks all the boxes Coach Prime was looking for. Livingston’s age, NFL coaching experience and proven track record at evaluating and developing talent would suggest he’s ready for the task at hand. Livingston will truly prove himself at Colorado if he can complete the transition back to college to be an effective recruiter at Colorado.

It’s all in front of Coach Prime and Colorado to achieve their goals this season. With the best quarterback in the nation, the best all-around player in college football and multiple transfer portal and recruiting acquisitions at positions of need; Robert Livingston and Pat Shurmur have all the tools at their disposal to be successful coordinators at Colorado.