Defensive Back X’s and O’s
The corner position is becoming frustrating. In my eyes it isn’t just our coverage that needs help, but our pass rush is having just as many problems. Coverage and pressure go hand and hand. Until our DL and LB’s can get some pressure we will consistently give up a lot of yards through the air.
Here is something to think about: This is our third year running this defense. Teams now understand what we are doing and they know how to beat our schemes. The first year of the scheme change our defense was very good, but all the concepts and coverages were new to our opponents. The second year our defense had one whole year of experience under their belts and also had a few extra wrinkles in coverages and blitzes. This year, opponents are used to what we do on defense. Our young secondary doesn’t have the luxury of running coverages that teams haven’t seen. This puts the pressure on our DBs’ technique and assignment understanding and for young players those are the aspects of the game that take the longest to develop.
What are some technique problems that need to be addressed?
The first would be stepping in the bucket. When our corners break on the ball it should take two steps. One to plant your foot and the second step should be a drive step, which closes the gap between the corner and receiver. Our defender should only need to make up a step or two. Currently we are stepping in the bucket and leaving ourselves with too much space to make up.
When “breaking” The first step halts your backward momentum and the second step propels you forward toward the receiver. In order to be successful in planting and driving our DBs need to play with better pad level. That means their back peddles need to improve, their leg strength needs to improve and their vision needs to improve.
Paddle level- When you play with the right pad level it puts your lower body in an explosive position. If the DB is too high they will need an extra “bucket step” to get their momentum moving in the correct direction. On Saturday BYU played more man coverage then I played in two years under Coach Hill. When you play more man technique pad level becomes crucial to knocking down passes and closing out WR separation.
Back Peddle- Our corners and safeties aren’t staying square in their back peddles long enough. They all turn their hips too early or have either too much pace or too lightly pace when they peddle. When you position yourself at certain depths in coverage you need to match your back peddle speed to correspond with the WR speed and your depth. If you are deep and the receiver is faster than you are, you might need to peddle with a normal pace. If you’re tighter to a receiver and the receiver is faster than you, your back peddle will need a faster pace. If you are in a bad back peddle position the receiver can force the DB out of their peddle quickly. The DB then has to turn his hips –which takes time-, accelerate –which takes time-, and keep his eyes in the right place –outside hip of the receiver. All of these components need to be efficient and quick in order to stay in good coverage. If the back peddle fails you might as well give the receiver an easy catch –and we are.
Vision- This is probably the most important part. A corner has to have his eyes in the right places in order to insure that they can break to make a play. Our young corners are having trouble because they aren’t focused on the things they need to be focused on.
Pre-snap they need to pay attention to which receiver they are guarding -is it the primary receiver or someone who doesn’t catch a lot of ball. They need to look at the receivers’ split/alignments. This can help anticipate an inside or outside route. They also need to see how many receivers are on their specific side. This can help you understand what kind of route combinations to expect.
Then depending on the coverage they need to read their keys, get into a good back peddle and make the play when the ball comes their way. Taking care of all of these variables is what gets you into position to make plays. The last part is making the ball. Don’t wave at the ball as it flies past you. You can’t teach someone how to make plays, but you can teach good technique.
Our secondary play will improve once the rush starts getting some pressure on the quarterback and our defensive backs get better at the aforementioned coverage principles. Why aren’t you seeing G Pittman, Bradley and others play more? They aren’t ready. Once they prove –on a consistent basis- that they can prepare both mentally and physically, they will get the opportunity on the field. Brandon Bradley has started making more plays and as a result will get more playing time.
There is talent on the bench, but they aren’t playing for a reason. Let’s trust the staff that they are putting the most capable players on the field.
Quinn, I respect your analysis and also your respect for the coaches. However, trust is a two way street. Just like if the coaches trust a player, they expect him to deliver on the field. Similarly, if the fans are to trust the coaches then the coaches need to earn that trust by making the right decisions.
When the coaches come out with a scheme like they had at TCU, it is hard for me to trust them. When the coaches start Fowler or Tafuna over Rich, it is hard for me to trust them. When the coaches start Johnson over Bradley it is hard for me to trust them. That trust has to be earned. The backups are outplaying the starters and quite frankly it really isn’t close and yet we have not seen adjustments made. It seems more like the coaches are rewarding hard work and seniority while being loyal to older players at the expense of quality football.
Bronco has said himself that winning is not the most important thing for him but it is for the fans. We respect him for wanting to make these young men into better human beings. But the fans want to see the best players on the field regardless of who is working the hardest, who has the best relationship with the coach, or who has been around the longest. It sure seems like Bronco and Hill are just comfortable and too risk averse to make personnel changes.
It kills me to say this, but I would take Kyle Whittingham’s aggressive defense in a heart beat over what we have now. You could say it is about players but BYU could get the athletes if we played a style of defense that attracted them.
MattC,
I can almost guarantee that Rich does not know the defense well enough to be an every down guy.
Scott Johnson has been the most consistent player on our defense all year, and the most physical. Rich had a good game against UNLV and will be a great player down the road, but he has some learning to do. The Encouraging thing is that he seems to be catching on faster.
I don’t know what else we could have done the past two years to attract defensive players, we were ranked in the top 10 in total defense both years.
If someone were to ask me to name the two people I trust the most when it comes to football knowledge, Coach Hill and Coach Mendenhall would be my answer without hesitation. I would do anything they asked, because I have that trust in them.
The coaches have had two 11-2 seasons and finished in the top-25 the past two seasons. If you don’t “trust” them know, guess what….you never will. They are making the right decisions.
I could go back to early season comments and I know I wouldn’t see a comment from you about how bad Fowler, Tafuna, Howard, Johnson where when we smashed UCLA or Wyoming. They best players are playing.
The coaching staff has made adjustments and the team isn’t executing in order to make those adjustments productive. The coaches can only make adjustments if the players are able to implement those changes quickly. That’s just another perspective for you.
I ask you this, did you all love Bronco’s 3-3-5 defense, because that was an aggresive style? How many of you were gripping about Bronco being to aggresive back then? BYU has good athletes, they are young and need to develop.
Bronco is the riskiest play caller on the defensive staff. So that statement carries zero weight. When you are risky with young players they can’t develop into good players. Ask Nate Soleberg about man to man, blitz crazy schemes…..or ask Justin Robinson, or ask….Jenaro Gillford. I think those players will have something to say about playing more zone and less man coverage.
Quinn/Staff,
I too am frustrated with the corner postion. Ill share my thoughts and hopefully you guys can shed some light. Why arent we jamming the receivers at the line and re-routing the them? Staff mentioned in a earlier post how Nixon was getting closer and closer and closer to the QB I would think that jamming/re-routing the receivers will throw off their timing and give our guys in the trenches time to get to the big sack. Also, are our corners recovery speed that bad to have them play 10-12 yards off?
I look foward to your insights. By the way, LOVE the blogs. It is my everyday rituals to read what you have on here. Thanks and GO COUGS!
Outside of the Washington game I have not had much negative to say about our corners. Of course I think I am the only person who thought J5 was great and maybe the best cover corner we have had since Rodney Rice. Sorry Genaro. If we can’t generate any pass rush whoever is out there playing corner is going to get beat. I give Mendahall credit for trying to tighten the pass coverage this game and put more pressure on the quarterback. It just seems like on too many plays someone was just a second late or a second behind making the play that was needed.
On another note, forget Michal Oher for the Outland trophy I am putting up the LT from UNLV if Jorgensen is not injured.
I always find it interesting when fans start saying things like:
“When the coaches start Fowler or Tafuna over Rich, it is hard for me to trust them. When the coaches start Johnson over Bradley it is hard for me to trust them. That trust has to be earned. The backups are outplaying the starters and quite frankly it really isn’t close and yet we have not seen adjustments made.”
IMO, Johnson has been our best defensive back this year, and it isn’t even close.
IMO, Bradley certainly makes plays when he’s in position, but I’ve seen him out of position far more often than Johnson.
IMO, the safeties have not been particularly spectacular this year, but I haven’t seen Rich “obviously” outplaying them – we’ve been as susceptible defensively to the pass with him out there as anyone else.
IMO, Whittingham’s scheme, with this set of players, would be yielding FAR worse defensive performances than what we’ve had.
Quinn-
Who in your opinion is the next wave of DB’s? Not looking past this year, just curious what you think of the fresh/soph we have on the bench.
Food for thought on the top D’s in the MWC:
2007 NCAA Rankings
Total D Scoring D
BYU – 10 Utah – 5 (16.8)
TCU – 15 BYU – 9 (18.5)
Utah – 18 TCU – 10 (18.7)
Pass Efficiency D Rush D (net yds/game)
Utah – 1 BYU – 9 (97)
TCU – 11 TCU – 11 (103)
BYU – 18 Utah – 52 (144)
2008 To Date Rankings
Total D Scoring D
TCU – 2 TCU – 2 (10.4)
Utah – 6 BYU – 14 (16)
BYU – 46 Utah – 30 (18.6)
Pass Eff D Run D
TCU – 7 TCU – 1 (31.2)
Utah – 43 Utah – 9 (89)
BYU – 44 BYU – 53 (131)
I can’t believe anyone is questioning the coaching staff!! There isn’t anyone I would trust much more than coach Mendenhall. Whittingham?? Especially not after the way he handled the national publicity Utah has been getting. As for the corners. Maybe their is some truth to the notion that corner is the most overrated position in football (see ESPN analyst Jeremy Green). You are lined up against the faster most ‘athletic’ player the other team has, it’s no wonder it’s hard to play against them. That doesn’t excuse our guys from making plays it just may allow us to not ream them when they don’t intercept a pass on every play. They will get better, and if they don’t the coaches will know who to play next year! Let’s try to see the positives, especially when we are winning!!
I was wondering if the reason we aren’t getting to the quarterback very well is becuase our lineman and linebackers are sitting back expecting the quarterback to take off running. It seemed like in the Washington game, we were getting a good pass rush, once the d-lineman got up field towards the quarrterback locker would step up and take off running. Now the D-Lineman are holding their position waiting for the QB to run.
One of my biggest concerns right now is that runningbakcs arre beating our defenders around the corner. UNLV consistently picked up 5-6 yards on first down with those sweeps around the corner. I realize that we may not have had the most athletic defenses the past two years, but could it be possible that this years defense is even less athletic. Especially at the linebacker spot. The way Kehl, Nixon, Poppinga and Bolden ran to the ball was pretty quick. This year it seems like all of our linebackers with maybe the exception of Nixon are slow to get to the ball carrier.
Jared, I am offended (not really, but kind of) Kehl, Poppinga, Bolden and I all ran pretty fast times at the NFL Pro-Day…I think we had pretty good LB speed Sideline to sideline…but it was our formation recognition which more than anything helped us know when the perimeter plays were coming.
Great thought on the QB pressure…that is what I would credit it to.
Question for Staff and Gooch,
How do you think the players felt when Bronco said UNLVs receivers were more talented than BYUs secondary?
Personally, I would use it as motivation if I was a DB, but I am still surprised he came out and said it.
Quinn, why do so many guys lead with their head? The reward of a huge hit isn’t work the injury risk. I am all for a huge hit, but lets “keep our eyes on the defender” to prevent the leading from the head problem
Also, great to see Kehl get his first NFL pick
Zak,
That is nothing new for BYU players to hear, no matter what position.
Here is a typical Team Meeting.
“You are not the most athletic team in the country. You are not even the best athletes in the conference. Sorry if I hurt some of your egos, but it’s the truth. However, if you stick to what we do, you can be the best.”
A little paraphrasing, but pretty much on target. I don’t if someone thinks I have more or less talent. All I care about is beating the guy across from me. The mature players at BYU, will fell the same…and they will help the young guys understand where Coach is coming from.
Quinn,
On the last drive, it was clear UNLV was not going to run. I would expect nickel and therefore Bradley to be on the field. Is he really that bad at position mastery that the coaches couldn’t trust him on the field the entire drive? That is realy disappointing if that is the case. He seems like one of only about three guys on defense that has the potential to individually disrupt what the opposition is trying to do. This is his second year in the program? I really want to see him out there, but if they couldn’t put him out there during that drive, there must be something terribly wrong. What are your thoughts on why they didn’t play him, and how far he is away from being on the field every down. IMO we need him out there ASAP.
It’s still amazing too me that after the success Bronco has had people are doubting his system. After Hill’s first year here fans were praising him for the work he did with the secondary. Now I go to forums and I hear a lot how stupid the sceme is for giving up a cussion, the coaches aren’t playing the right players blah, blah, blah. It’s amazing how people who only get a limited view of the field once a week feel like they know more than the coaches who are with the players every day and see every player on every play while watching film.
Staff,
Now thats just funny, I’m rolling. They never say that you guys are less athletic than Air Force do they?
Did you ever see the sing the BYU fan had at an Air Force Game? It read, Our Slow White Guys are Better Than Yours
Zak,
I can’t say that he did. He usually reserved that speech for a TCU type game, where we might be a little cocky…AFA week we were usually just confident and really focused. You have to be when you are playing the option.
Quinn,
I noticed in the UNLV game that they had receivers running crossing patterns which opened up substantial gaps.
What is the proper technique for db’s, (man to man coverage), when recevers run crosses and create screening scenarios? Do DB’s call switches like basketball screens?
I think Quinn you were right on with your comment about trust. I fancy myself an All-American Arm-Chair QB (it’s better than my night job as an intramural flag football QB; last game’s line something like 1 TD pass- 3 interceptions-yikes!!!).
However, I am more than a little perturbed by the rumbling in the bleachers. We are 7-1 and have only lost 5 five times in three years. Bronco has my trust.
I blame the BCS really for the rumbling. It is the reason why every non-BCS school’s fans that witness an amazing one or two loss season will never be satisfied. I would be dang proud as a player to have won that many games consitently. My last point, we have gone from the absolute dumps to a national relevant team in only three years because of Bronco. Enjoy it baby!
Look at Nebraska. They fire Frank Solich after an 8-3 season because of whiney fans and discontented alumni. They got away from what made Nebraska great and they haven’t gotten on track in over six years. Be content. Bronco is restoring BYU football to its roots. Just enjoy it!
Staff and Quinn, I was wondering what you guys think Bradley is doing well, and what he needs to improve on. Also, is his athletic ability all that it is hyped up to be? Thanks for your insights!
Hey Staff,
Just giving you a hard time. I named off every linebacker I could think of from last year, with the exception of one the best of course.
The way a DB gets past a pick route is called stream lining. You have to position yourself right behind your receiver and run directly in his shadow. This will prevent yourself from getting picked. You can also switch in man to man coverage but that takes two experienced guys and a lot of communication.
B.Bradley is athletic and he is going to get more playing time. He is a good player, he just needs to learn the game menatally and he will be a great player.
The UNLV receivers were more talented and Bronco doesn’t hide the fact. Staffs comments are true Coach always said we were less athletic, but we are still going to win.
Gooch, are you telling me that our defense was so solid for two years because opposing coaches were unfamiliar with the scheme change from 3-3-5 to 3-4? That is crazy. Every coach is familiar with the 3-4 defense. It is the most used defense in the NFL and the majority of top NCAA programs as well. Lack of familiarity was not the reason our D was so successful. If there was a coach who wasn’t versed in the 3-4, he had no business coaching college football.
Yes coaches do understand the basic concepts of the 3-4 but there are so many variations of the schemes. Those variations are what made our defense effective, plus the personal and how the coaches called the game. When there is something new introduced it will always be successful.
It’s not crazy, and there are many coaches that aren’t versed in the 3-4. Especially in college football.
Neon,
There are two major defenses…3-4 and 4-3 right? Well it just so happens that what Quinn is saying caries a ton of weight. All those numbers mean are DL-LB. How you use them is completely different.
Early on our 3-4 was nothing more than our 3-3-5, with an xtra LB instead of S.
Another case-in-point…When the Dolphins play the Eagles (a 4-3 D) They completely changed their blocking scheme and play calling because the Eagles run a different 4-3 than anyone else in the NFL.
It is kind of like saying that the Texas Tech Spread and the BYU spread (which came from Texas Tech) are the same…each Coach puts his own twist on the schemes.
“There is talent on the bench, but they aren’t playing for a reason. Let’s trust the staff that they are putting the most capable players on the field.”
People only trust the coaches after blowouts. And the media never fully trusts any coach. That’s healthy though, I think.
I think LB strength is a big key to our problem. Losing Kehl, Poppinga and Bolden has been huge. Lack of outside containment, lack of pressure on the QB, lines are able to double team Jorgensen without worrying about Kehl or Kelly Poppinga penetrating on a blitz and, as Quinn said, pressure on our inexperienced defensive backs.
Speed, skill, whatever. It’s just not the crew we had in 2007, but the Cougar defense has been carried by linebackers since Brady Poppinga. This group is NOT those guys and, especially not the group we had last year when, according to Quinn, he made fewer tackles at safety because the linebackers were so strong.
I know I shouldn’t say this, but as happy as I am with the possibility of Manti Te’o coming to Provo, there’s a part of me that feels bad that we will lose him to a mission after his freshman year. I know… don’t say anything. Let’s just hope Norm Chow can’t pull him to UCLA. Sounds like Manti’s dad likes BYU, in spite of the one-stop flight from the islands.
Somebody needs to tell me if Kyle Van Noy is LDS and what our chances are of getting him. I also see other 3 star LBs on the prospect list and the safeties look good, though also mission bound before they play.
As usual, BYU does not recruit good CBs. Bateman with a 4.45 is very fast for a BYU DB but still only gets 2 stars. I guess that where we are in the CB world and that won’t change anytime soon.
Forget this… the guys on the recruit list won’t be playing until the millennium.
Kyle scares me. I’ll catch flak for this, but I think he’s the best defensive coach in the conference. What’s tough is that he’s great at figuring out how to exploit BYU’s defensive schemes year in and year out. 2008 could get ugly if Bronco and Jaime don’t get out secondary’s learning curve on the fast track.
Kyle Van Noy out of MCQueen High School in Sparks NV
I met him over the summer and he is LDS, as of July he was not planning on a mission. His Mom and family all want him at BYU and are pushig for it. he may have stars in his eyes, cause all of the PAC 10 is recruiting him. Big rangy kid with room to pack on pounds.
Jason Bucks boy out of Lone Peak High School: All State Linebacker 6″ 2′ 210 lbs is off his mission and heading to the Utah Utes. BYU did not so much as invite him down for a visit. Seems they are still not putting much recruiting effort on locals even with family ties. I think they expect them all to walk on when other schools don’t offer due to Missions.
Well I knew I would get flamed for questioning the coaches but sometimes the truth hurts. I do think that they play favorites. I think it is a big part of the reason that G Pittman became deflated and gave up on academics and decided to transfer. Young players will never gain “position mastery”, as everyone likes to call it, if they don’t get time on the field. Bradley has clearly outplayed Johnson on the field in my eyes. You say that he hasn’t mastered the system yet, but I cannot recall a single instance when he was out of position and clearly burned. Yes he has given up passes but he almost always has good coverage and he is the most physical CB, yes more so that Johnson.
I love this blog and respect both Quinn and Staff’s views and opinions. You undoubtedly know more about football than I do. However, I also think that you are biased because you know these players and coaches personally. If you had an unbiased football expert break down the film, are you seriously telling me that Johnson would grade out higher than Bradley and that Tafuna and Fowler grade out better than Rich? I don’t buy it. Fans of other teams have watched games with me and wondered why the backups aren’t starting. I just wonder if the coaches base their personnel decisions on factors other than talent and performance on the field.
Are we a good team? yes. But I don’t think that we can be a great team without playing the best talent that we have.
Leave your response!
Categories
Good Info.
Archives
Meta
Tags
Most Commented