The Football Brainiacs

Image via Soonersports.com

Up until recently I hadn’t watched much of Tennessee under coach Butch Jones, but I recently watched some film from their first two games. I also spoke to SEC/Tennessee writer, Dan Harralson (https://twitter.com/danharralson) from football.com to share some notes and get a little better understand of Tennessee’s team.

In this first preview piece, I want to talk a little bit about Tennessee’s passing game versus OU’s secondary.

– OFFENSE: Based on what I’ve seen on film, they like to be in 11 personnel (1 running back, 1 TE) a lot. Their starting TE, freshman Ethan Wolf, is an excellent receiving target, and they like to flex him out a lot. Their QB isn’t the best runner, but they do run some zone read. However, as Dan noted and I saw, they will almost exclusively hand the ball off to their RB. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, to see their QB keep the ball a couple times early on to slow down some of OU’s backside pursuit.

– RECEIVERS: In watching Tennessee I see a really deep and talented receiver core. They’ve got some size on the outside and they’ve got a number of receivers that have great body control and can go up and grab the ball, even against tight coverage. Their two most dangerous targets are Wolf (TE I mentioned earlier) and Von Pearson. But here’s the deal, Pearson is out for this game. He suffered an injury in the Arkansas State game last week. Wolf is also questionable at this point. Dan was at practice yesterday and let us know that Ethan went through warm-ups, but didn’t practice in pads. We should know more later today as to whether he’ll be available or not.

Dan tells us that the two TEs behind Wolf aren’t nearly the receiving threats and, in fact, are probably more of your traditional in-line blocking TEs.

But despite the loss of Pearson on the outside, Tennessee still has some nice receiving threats. Guys like Marquez North and even young Josh Malone could give the Vols some nice options. Dan tells us to expect North to be Tennessee’s real deep threat now that Pearson is out. He also told us that Malone has great feet and runs good routes, but as a freshman he’s still learning the offense.

Bottom line for me is they’ve got some big, athletic receiving threats that can absolutely make plays against tight coverage. However if their TE Wolf isn’t able to go, I think he’s a bigger loss for Tennessee than Pearson. Wolf isn’t replaceable.

– QUARTERBACK: Senior Justin Worley is Tennessee’s starting QB. This is his third year seeing action. He got a little playing time a couple years ago. Dan described Worley as a “prototypical game manager” but I told him that what I’ve seen on film is a kid who is starting to become a real play-maker. He (Dan) actually walked his original comment back and agreed. He also said, “people underestimate his legs and his ability to read defenses.”

Worley made some great great throws in the Arkansas State game, dropped some absolute dimes. He’s also a guy who isn’t afraid of contact or getting hit, so he’ll step up and throw a bullet even if he’s about to take a blow. That’s going to be big for him against OU’s dogs. He does get caught holding on to the ball a little bit too long on occasion, and that’s something he’s NOT going to want to do against OU.

Overall though I think Worley has a nice arm and good accuracy. I also expect to see him make a few plays with his legs just to try and keep OU’s defense honest.

– THROWING AGAINST OU’s DEFENSE: You can’t talk about the ability of Tennessee to throw against OU without talking about their OLine’s ability to give Worley time to throw. This is going to be the big question. If Tennessee can protect Worley, he’ll complete passes and could even make this a game.

For those who weren’t aware, Tennessee lost their starting left tackle in the first game of the season. It sounds like JUCO OT Dontavious Blair and Jr. Kyler Kerbyson will hold down the tackle spots heading into Saturday night. However, the Vols don’t have a single offensive lineman that started last year. And while athleticism may be an issue in terms of handling OU’s pass rush, I think the more relevant question is whether they can pick up OU’s various blitzes. These guys haven’t played together for very long, and they are going to have to be ready for a lot of different pressure points. Look at this blitz that OU showed against Tulsa:

In the image above you see Jordan Evans and Hatari Byrd (circled in red) showing a double eagle look right over both A-gaps, and you’ve got Obo (circled in blue) looking like he’s about to blitz the edge. One of the things you don’t see in this image is the nickel back lined up over the inside receiver on the offense’s right. The pre-snap read is going to look like man-free coverage, but right before the snap the nickel is going to blitz and Ahmad Thomas, the safety, is going to rotate over to pick up the inside receiver in man-coverage. Hatari Byrd is also going to drop as is Obo. As a result, this play almost results in a pick by Byrd.

It’s bad enough trying to defend against edge rushers like Obo and Striker even when you know they’re coming, but the way OU can and will blitz — and disguise those blitzes — is going to make it that much harder for Tennessee’s inexperienced OLine to protect their QB.

But let’s look at a possible weakness in the OU secondary that could give Tennessee some opportunities, if they are able to stay in third and shorts and/or protect their QB.

In the same play pictured above, let’s watch first year starter Ahmad Thomas in man coverage. OU’s ability to be diverse is all about the diversity of each individual player’s ability. For example, in that same blitz above, let’s assume that Evans drops instead of Byrd. Most LBs aren’t going to get deep enough in their drop, but Evans absolutely can. In fact, in the Tulsa game OU ran a Tampa-2 defense. In the Tampa-2, your ILB is going to drop deep and almost give you a sort of 3-deep look. Evans gets really, really deep in his drop and does it in a hurry.

But OU also needs to be able to play man-coverage with every player in the secondary. Watch what happens to Thomas when he rolls over the inside WR to play man in place of the nickel:

In the image above you can see Thomas’ feet are just planted into the ground.

Once he tries to turn and run, Thomas is going to turn outside (see the red arrow). The receiver, however, breaks inside. Now obviously he may have done this because by now, as you can see in the image above and below Hatari has dropped deep middle, he’s got inside safety help.

But look at the separation the WR is able to get against Thomas. Have to say though, it’s amazing how quickly Hatari is able to get deep on this play.

After watching film from the first two games, it’s pretty clear that the two best cover safeties are Steven Parker and Q.Hayes. No question.

THROWING AGAINST ZONE COVERAGE: In watching Oklahoma’s secondary and the way Worley is able to read coverages, I think OU is going to really need to tighten up their zones. They typically look good in man-coverage. They also look good in their ‘banjo’ coverages where you’re really playing man, but you’re taking a man within a particular zone. ‘Banjo’ coverage is more obvious in it’s man principles and it’s a good way of avoiding pick routes. But in their Cover-2 and Cover-3 coverages, you often see a lot of space and the back seven are still learning to play through zones and understanding their spacing as it relates to other players on the field. In zone coverage, you still need to play with man principles. You need to be able to match route patterns and understand what can happen based on the route combinations.

There are a number of examples from the Tulsa game but I wanted to look at one in particular. I referred to this early in talking about Jordan Evans’ ability to get deep in a Tampa-2 technique.

As you can see in the image below, Evans in the center (circled in blue) is dropping deep middle giving OU a three-deep look. Byrd, on the near side (circled in blue), is going to drop into a deep zone and Q.Hayes on the other side will do the same. Sanchez and Wilson (circled in red) are going to have those curl/flat zones. Focus on what’s happening on the near side. Perhaps, more importantly, focus on what CAN happen. You have a single receiver on the near side, and you have a running back and potential QB run. The outside receiver is going to go out of frame, but the bottom line is he is going to release up the field, then come inside and stop right around where you see that white arrow end. The running back is going to stay short, so we can immediately negate a wheel route. And the inside receiver on the far side is going to run a simple out route, while the QB will end up rolling away from the pressure. What does that mean?

1. That Byrd can now feel comfortable that he’s not going to get anything in his deep zone.

2. That Sanchez is free to cover the flat or force the QB run inside. That should tell Dom Alexander (who I haven’t circled but you can see between Sanchez and Evans) that he’s going to be able to stay in his zone and close the throwing window a little longer. Additionally, with OU’s defensive line speed, Dom is going to have help stopping any QB run from Striker and others.

But as you can see below, what actually happens is a pass completed by a single out receiver with a ton of white jerseys available to make the play. Why? In my estimation Dom comes out of his zone too early to pursue the QB. Additionally, Byrd and Evans don’t break towards the route quick enough.

Notice that Q.Hayes (circled in blue) has already come from ALL the way over on the other side of the field and is closer to the receiver than the near side zone defenders! But you’ll understand why if you watch the route combinations and possibilities on the far side. Hayes understands there is nothing for him to do in his zone, so he comes play side. He knows that a QB isn’t going to roll out and throw the ball all the way across his body to the far side of the field. So instead of sitting in his zone, he looks to make the only play that’s there for the QB.

FINAL NOTE: In general, I think Tennessee’s ability to make consistent plays in the passing game is going to depend on (1) how well they can run the ball against OU and 92) how well they can protect their QB. If they can run just enough and give their QB just enough time, they’ll be able to make some plays in the passing game. If I’m OU, I am going to continue to disguise coverage (something they do a lot) and I’m playing a lot of man/’banjo’ coverage. And I’m going to pressure, a lot.

Something to watch for as a pressure point will be up the middle with big Jordan Phillips. I’m not convinced the interior part of the UT line is big or strong enough to hold him with any consistency. If OU starts getting that inside pressure, it could be a long night for the Tennessee offense regardless of how tight the coverage is in the secondary.