The Football Brainiacs

Image via Soonersports.com

I was out of town over the weekend so I didn’t get a chance to watch the spring game. I finally managed to watch some of it late last night. I wanted to highlight a few things I noted about the defense.

Firstly, as coach Stoops mentioned in his post spring game presser, the personnel on the two deep will be very different come fall than it is right now. I know there are some concerned about the depth. OU obviously doesn’t have the depth they’d like. But I really wouldn’t sweat that at the moment. If you had a chance to see the 2nd team’s that some major programs in the country are fielding right now…it’s similar…if not worse. You’ll just have to take my word on that. What I really wanted to look at what was the overall defensive alignment and techniques, particularly in the secondary.

I came away impressed.

Defensive Line: Most of you probably noted that while OU did run some of their odd front alignment, for the most part they ran an even front alignment. I’ve been calling it a 4 man front throughout the spring because I name it based on alignment and assignment as opposed to personnel. Bottom line is, whatever you call it, it’s a single gap under front alignment similar to what the Stoops brothers always ran. I think it’s preferable because:

1) From this alignment OU will be able to attack the gaps up front and hopefully we will see a more aggressive front on the edges and inside.

2) This is a front that the Stoops brothers have always taught and know like the back of their hands.

3) It allows OU to be multiple in their fronts. They can run both their odd and even front alignments. One of the reasons I like this is because it not only allows you to play to the weakness of the offense, down and distance or alignment but it also allows the defensive line to attack from a different departure point. In other words, shifting a technique means that even if the offensive linemen is expected to block the same defender, he’s being attacked with a slightly different degree of quickness and a slightly different angle just based on the alignment.

4) It doesn’t put as much pressure on the nose guard, as he doesn’t have to man both A gaps. It also keeps one of the linebackers covered so any lack of physicality can be somewhat masked.

From a personnel stand point, I didn’t come away super impressed with the way the defensive line played. But again, there is so little depth right now. I did expect to see a little more out of certain guys but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about at the moment.

Linebackers: The two single biggest things I came away with from the linebacker core was:

1) Playing through the zone! Last year Oklahoma’s linebackers allowed receivers to run through zones without pattern matching. In the spring game you could tell there had been an emphasis on playing your man through the zone and recognizing the possible route combinations as the play develops. At one point I saw a linebacker play through the zone so much that he actually took himself too far and wasn’t able to sustain leverage against the run. While that may sound like a bad thing. It’s going to be corrected. I’m just glad to see that matching through the zone is an emphasis.

2) Reacting quicker. Great linebackers, know what’s coming before it comes. They aren’t don’t appear to be reading. They’re reacting. The thing that I’d like to see corrected was at times we were seeing some guys react immediately and then try to break down as opposed to flying down hill and hitting the offensive player or striking the opposing blocker with bad intentions to spill the play or whatever the assignment requires. What I mean by this, if, for example, I want to force a runner back inside and I see a blocker, I’m going to attack the blockers outside shoulder. I can do that by breaking down and trying to force the play back inside with some deliberation or, assuming I recognize the play, I can make that blocker never want to block me again.

In general I like the way Oklahoma is aligning their LBs in a way to keep guys available in the run game but also giving them pass coverage assignments. It’ll put pressure on the OLB/nickel but it’ll be worth it when OU is able to better squeeze the spread looks in both the run and the pass.

Secondary: I love love love what coach Kerry Cooks and the defensive staff have done here. Here is why:

1) Cornerback technique and alignment has significantly changed. The cornerbacks have freedom to play press or off. And you’ll note that many of them opt for a press technique. It all starts with the stance. It’s obvious that coach Cooks started from the very beginning with these guys. They all begin the play with a respectable and consistent stance that displays a clear defensive back mannerism. Just looking at those boys in their stance indicated right away that they are being taught details.

We saw some guys hard press, we saw others use a motor mirror or inch back technique where they play square to the receiver and just stay in front of him giving a few steps at the snap. Guys were transitioning well, were cleaner in the backpedal, were stabbing, etc. They looked like real deal cornerbacks. Obviously once the freshman get in, it’s going to be about finding the hardest working and most talented athletes to put on the field at that position. But it’s nice to know that if the corners are going to get beat this year, they’ll get beat because they were just outclassed and not because they weren’t given the tools or put in the position to succeed.

2) The overall secondary alignment reminded me a lot of Michigan State’s alignment. Particularly, because the safety alignments were so tight. I don’t recall seeing Oklahoma stagger their safeties or play two high safeties that low. I love it personally. It’s clear though why coach Cooks has placed such an emphasis on speed in his recruiting. When the alignment is that aggressive it can really suffocate a defense because you’re able to keep two high safeties and either rotate to a cover 3/cover 1 or stay in your quarters coverage/2 man under and have better leverage against the run. The downside of that alignment is that you don’t have the same cushion against receiver threats. I personally don’t care though. I think you’ve got to play that aggressive alignment, squeeze the offense and if it doesn’t work just keep recruiting guys that can play that way until the formula does work. In my estimation, it’s proven that it’s the best way to play against the various spread and pro attacks.

Conclusion: I came away very pleased with what I saw and with a renewed sense of respect for the defensive staff. I like what I see Oklahoma doing. Now it’s just a matter of getting the excellent freshman class in, getting guys healthy, and getting some healthy competition going so that Oklahoma has the best possible athletes/football players at each position. I’m quite confident that just based on the way they are running the defense now, it’ll be better than last year. But I think more importantly, they’ve hopefully found a formula they can believe in and they can recruit the right athletes to.