SWC75
Bored Historian
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DEFENSE
One thing nobody questions about Scott Shafer is that he knows defense. He and the man to whom he gave his old job as defensive coordinator, Chuck Bullough , like a fan-pleasing, aggressive defense. Athon quotes an opposing coach: “They’re one of the most unique teams we play because defensively, it’s like they’re always just coming after you. They play a lot of zone and blitz but whatever the book says, they’ll do the opposite. If it says you’re supposed to sit back and play coverage, they’re coming. As a play-caller, you’re trying to get into a rhythm and build one thing into the next but they’re coming from everywhere. I don’t want to say they’re unsound, but they’re just always turning guys loose and if you can get the ball out you have a chance to hit them in the mouth and if they have a busted protection you’re going to hit them.”
Shafer and Bullough avoided getting “hit” enough last year that we had the 26th best team in the country in terms of yards surrendered and 37th in points, (of 125 teams), despite getting no help from the pitiful offense and little from unproductive kick return unit and the archly conservative punting philosophy of the head coach. But it wasn’t their first really good defensive team. In 2010 they were 7th in yards surrendered and 17th in scoring, (of course it was just Shafer then: he was the defensive coordinator).
That year he had a bunch of senior defensive tackles, all of whom were 300 pounds or more. They stuffed any attempt to run the ball, forcing the other team to throw when we wanted them to and took up blockers, freeing defensive ends, linebackers and safeties or even cornerbacks to apply that defensive pressure on the other team. The next year the senior tackles were gone, replaced by freshmen and sophomores who were not only less experienced but smaller, (more in the 270 pound range), because they had been in our strength and conditioning program for a shorter period of time. Going up against 300+ pound offensive linemen, they were not able to stem the tide at the line of scrimmage or keep blockers off of their teammates. The 2011 defense fell to 64th in yards and 78th in points and our record fell from 8-5 to 5-7. Our offense had actually improved slightly, gaining 25 more yards and scoring two more points per game. It was the loss of those tackles that sent the ball rolling back down the hill.
We may be in a similar situation this year- perhaps even worse. We’ve lost 8 of our 11 defensive starters to graduation, (although one jumped early to the pros: same impact), the most in 32 years. In addition talented Isaiah Johnson, who had the size to play inside, (6-4 276) but the speed to play on the flank, had to end his football career due to too many concussions. Massive Wayne Williams, (6-4 330) a highly touted but thus far disappointing former junior college player decided to leave school. Another massive tackle, John Raymon, (6-5 305, down from 325 last year) returns but so do his legs, which have frequently been injured, including a terrible, Joe Theisman-like twisting calamity two years ago against Georgia Tech that destroyed a knee and from which many thought he’d never come back. He sustained another knee injury last year and had one at Iowa before he transferred here. John spent much of fall practice watching on the sidelines after still another injury, this one to his “upper body”. And our most talented defensive lineman, end Ron Thompson (6-3 255), missed two weeks of fall practice with a “lower body injury” that caused him to wear a ‘boot’ and use crutches.
Looking at the other names on the defensive line depth chart I only recognize a couple: Donnie Simmons, (6-2 264), a senior end who has been part of the rotation for a while and now will get his chance to start at the end of his career here and Luke Archinega (6-4 243) is a converted linebacker. I do not recognize the other names. , which include 8 freshmen. There are two seniors, Rony Charles, a third string tackle behind two freshman and Lucas Albrecht, a fourth string end, also behind two freshman, an indication that those guys aren’t likely to see much action. There are good reports about a couple of these freshman. Chris Slayton (6-4 289) is supposed to have set records in the weight room and Steven Clark (6-3 290) has torn it up on the practice field. It’s the sort of thing you hear about in August. But the games begin in September. Kayton Samuels, another freshman, has in fact beaten out Clark for one of the tackle spots per the latest depth chart. Samuels is 6-0 300, so it appears the “new guys” of 2015 are bigger and stronger than the new guys of 2011, a good sign. But even if we can find four guys who can play well, we need people to back them up and spell them and we have no proven depth at all up front.
Shafer and Bullough like comparatively light, quick linebackers Dyshaun Davis, Marquis Spruill and Cameron Lynch all had fine careers here but struggled to get up to 220 pounds. This year our outside linebackers are junior Parris Bennett, (6-0 216) and Marqez Hodge (5-11 221). Somebody back there has to be able to “bring it“ when the other team starts running downhill at us. Fortunately our middle man is sophomore Zaire Franklin, who last year played at 6-0 238 but has lost 8 pounds for this year. it was clear as a freshman that this guy was something special and he’ll have plenty of work to do this season. Last year we’d put in Archinega to give us more bulk back there but now he’s a defensive end. You wonder if we might positon him at his old linebacker spot in some situations.
We’ve got a couple of veteran cornerbacks in Julian Whigham and Wayne Morgan. Corey Winfield has actually beaten Morgan out for one starting spot but Shafer says he expects the top 4-5 cornerbacks to play about equally. Antwan Cordy has won the strong safety spot but he’s tiny, (5-8 175) for a safety. Rodney Williams (5-10 196) has surprisingly beaten out the bigger Chauncy Scissum, (6-2 207) at free safety. These guys may have to do a lot of run support, so being undersized is a concern.
One thing nobody questions about Scott Shafer is that he knows defense. He and the man to whom he gave his old job as defensive coordinator, Chuck Bullough , like a fan-pleasing, aggressive defense. Athon quotes an opposing coach: “They’re one of the most unique teams we play because defensively, it’s like they’re always just coming after you. They play a lot of zone and blitz but whatever the book says, they’ll do the opposite. If it says you’re supposed to sit back and play coverage, they’re coming. As a play-caller, you’re trying to get into a rhythm and build one thing into the next but they’re coming from everywhere. I don’t want to say they’re unsound, but they’re just always turning guys loose and if you can get the ball out you have a chance to hit them in the mouth and if they have a busted protection you’re going to hit them.”
Shafer and Bullough avoided getting “hit” enough last year that we had the 26th best team in the country in terms of yards surrendered and 37th in points, (of 125 teams), despite getting no help from the pitiful offense and little from unproductive kick return unit and the archly conservative punting philosophy of the head coach. But it wasn’t their first really good defensive team. In 2010 they were 7th in yards surrendered and 17th in scoring, (of course it was just Shafer then: he was the defensive coordinator).
That year he had a bunch of senior defensive tackles, all of whom were 300 pounds or more. They stuffed any attempt to run the ball, forcing the other team to throw when we wanted them to and took up blockers, freeing defensive ends, linebackers and safeties or even cornerbacks to apply that defensive pressure on the other team. The next year the senior tackles were gone, replaced by freshmen and sophomores who were not only less experienced but smaller, (more in the 270 pound range), because they had been in our strength and conditioning program for a shorter period of time. Going up against 300+ pound offensive linemen, they were not able to stem the tide at the line of scrimmage or keep blockers off of their teammates. The 2011 defense fell to 64th in yards and 78th in points and our record fell from 8-5 to 5-7. Our offense had actually improved slightly, gaining 25 more yards and scoring two more points per game. It was the loss of those tackles that sent the ball rolling back down the hill.
We may be in a similar situation this year- perhaps even worse. We’ve lost 8 of our 11 defensive starters to graduation, (although one jumped early to the pros: same impact), the most in 32 years. In addition talented Isaiah Johnson, who had the size to play inside, (6-4 276) but the speed to play on the flank, had to end his football career due to too many concussions. Massive Wayne Williams, (6-4 330) a highly touted but thus far disappointing former junior college player decided to leave school. Another massive tackle, John Raymon, (6-5 305, down from 325 last year) returns but so do his legs, which have frequently been injured, including a terrible, Joe Theisman-like twisting calamity two years ago against Georgia Tech that destroyed a knee and from which many thought he’d never come back. He sustained another knee injury last year and had one at Iowa before he transferred here. John spent much of fall practice watching on the sidelines after still another injury, this one to his “upper body”. And our most talented defensive lineman, end Ron Thompson (6-3 255), missed two weeks of fall practice with a “lower body injury” that caused him to wear a ‘boot’ and use crutches.
Looking at the other names on the defensive line depth chart I only recognize a couple: Donnie Simmons, (6-2 264), a senior end who has been part of the rotation for a while and now will get his chance to start at the end of his career here and Luke Archinega (6-4 243) is a converted linebacker. I do not recognize the other names. , which include 8 freshmen. There are two seniors, Rony Charles, a third string tackle behind two freshman and Lucas Albrecht, a fourth string end, also behind two freshman, an indication that those guys aren’t likely to see much action. There are good reports about a couple of these freshman. Chris Slayton (6-4 289) is supposed to have set records in the weight room and Steven Clark (6-3 290) has torn it up on the practice field. It’s the sort of thing you hear about in August. But the games begin in September. Kayton Samuels, another freshman, has in fact beaten out Clark for one of the tackle spots per the latest depth chart. Samuels is 6-0 300, so it appears the “new guys” of 2015 are bigger and stronger than the new guys of 2011, a good sign. But even if we can find four guys who can play well, we need people to back them up and spell them and we have no proven depth at all up front.
Shafer and Bullough like comparatively light, quick linebackers Dyshaun Davis, Marquis Spruill and Cameron Lynch all had fine careers here but struggled to get up to 220 pounds. This year our outside linebackers are junior Parris Bennett, (6-0 216) and Marqez Hodge (5-11 221). Somebody back there has to be able to “bring it“ when the other team starts running downhill at us. Fortunately our middle man is sophomore Zaire Franklin, who last year played at 6-0 238 but has lost 8 pounds for this year. it was clear as a freshman that this guy was something special and he’ll have plenty of work to do this season. Last year we’d put in Archinega to give us more bulk back there but now he’s a defensive end. You wonder if we might positon him at his old linebacker spot in some situations.
We’ve got a couple of veteran cornerbacks in Julian Whigham and Wayne Morgan. Corey Winfield has actually beaten Morgan out for one starting spot but Shafer says he expects the top 4-5 cornerbacks to play about equally. Antwan Cordy has won the strong safety spot but he’s tiny, (5-8 175) for a safety. Rodney Williams (5-10 196) has surprisingly beaten out the bigger Chauncy Scissum, (6-2 207) at free safety. These guys may have to do a lot of run support, so being undersized is a concern.
