Very excited about this hire, but I'll be that guy who'll say it is fair if someone has a little hesitation that he's Rocky's Robot (just had to do that for the Rocky V reference)since he's only done it w/ Long and it's been made very clear this past week how much Long loves coaching Defense (as opposed to hiring a guy like Newberry from Navy or Rocky Long himself who were the primary guys).
Having said that (and before I get booed), I am very optimistic that he will do a fantastic job and stand on his own for the following reasons:
1) He coached under Rocky for a bunch of years. This isn't Dino hiring his friend Norwood who had 1 year to learn the Defense from his Co-DC Newberry
2) He played under this Defense for several years. It's one thing to coach it, but having played it, he can probably offer extra insight to our players, particularly the LB's. He also wasn't physical stud who was able to dominate w/ his physical tools-He had to overachieve with all the other stuff-intelligence, grit etc.
3) It sounds like he actually called the Defense the last 2 years and wasn't just a figurehead (though I'm sure Long was involved in the game planning and strategy).
4) Sounds like Long doesn't just look at him as another assistant who coached under him. The fact that he flew out here says a lot and from everything I'm hearing he is very invested in his former player and coach being a success and believe he will be a resource for him, if necessary.
5) As others have written, this Defense is perfect for our personnel. Quality DT's are the hardest position to recruit, as there's a limit of guys out there who are big and can run. This limits the pressure of landing a bunch of them. We've done much better recruiting the other Defensive positions.
Lastly, I would recommend going to Youtube and watching some of these defenses. They are aggressive, really know how to tackle, and create a ton of turnovers. Posted a short one below against BYU