2011 Texas Longhorn Defense in Review

Very nice summary.
 
Baylor was embarrassing, but I just tipped my hat because we were outplayed, out-coached, outgunned, and had terrible match-ups across the board. Baylor is the team you design on a cocktail napkin to give us fits and we won’t see the likes of RGIII for some time.
 
The DL and LBs disappointed me a little early, but we locked in during the bye week. Conversely, I thought our young corners were outstanding given their experience and Byndom was borderline dominant for much of the year.
 
We solved DT with numbers and roles and another year should be sufficient to field a pretty solid two deep of role players – none of them complete, but each with an outstanding capability. And God only knows how good Chris Whaley, Ashton Dorsey, or Des Jackson could end up being. The pipeline looks good here and I like Bo Davis’ tutelage.
 
I’m putting a lot of faith in the continued development of Byndom, Phillips, Diggs as the core of our secondary – I think they’re fully capable of achieving Ross, Huff, Griffin status – and I think a 4th and 5th guy will step up from the talented freshman classes. I’m not confident Kenny returns, little bro or not.
 
At LB, we’ll miss Robinson and Acho – particularly the Robinson and Acho of the last half of the season – but we’ve got ballers behind them and I expect Hicks to grow at a more natural position. We’ll also be in a base 4-2-5 75% of the time.
 
Okafor should return and, along with Jeffcoat, and guys like Reed and Wilson, DE we’ll be A level.
 
As for Diaz, I like what he’s doing philosophically for the most part and it’s clear that the team is getting it, but I’m curious to see what degree individual player learning curve played a role in some of our deficiencies vs. schematic issues arising from not being totally sound. Diaz understands the macro stuff, I want to see it make it down the micro level with the position coaches.

Hicks was designated as Sam/adjustment backer and then it became clear that we were going to actually play a defensive back there and not just a fast young LB who can’t beat out an NFL-bound senior for a starting spot inside.

I’m really curious to see how Diaz deploys Cobbs next year. On paper we look like a Cover-2 team designed in a lab but neither our coordinator nor DB-coach received their degrees from Kiffin-Dungy U. I wonder if Venables and Diaz would be interested in trading rosters next year.

Should have said it became clear that we were going to need to play a DB 4-2-5 nickel most of the time and not ask Hicks to stay on the field against spread looks. I think he could play either inside backer spot in the 4-2-5 next year. Obviously he’ll probably be on the weakside.

Nice analysis. Having digested the change from Will to Manny, the team can spend practice time focusing on details instead of learning the basics of the new defense.
Too bad we have to wait so long to see the improvement.
Couple this with the exodus of Weeden, Landry (probably), Griffin (probably) aggy , Missouri and opportunity is there to dominate.

Mighty Texas: That’s a really good point. Manny’s disguises and blitzes are going to be really nasty for the less experienced QB’s in the league next year.

Nickel,
I know. Thanks!

Really excited about the fix on the DL. DE has 2 great starters. We need a little depth to develop. DT is just an unbelievable transformation. It so deep and diverse. Guy I am looking forward to seeing is Whaley. I think he has so much potential. DT do not move like that. He made plays this yr from time to time and he had little understanding of the position. I can not wait until he has some serious coaching under his belt. I think if he starts to understand it, he will be a 1st rnd guy

What about “Machete” to LB (if he stays)? Too lite?

hey. you guys are awesome at this stuff.

This may have been a year-in-the-rearview piece, NR, but it has me jazzed for the years that lie in front of our Bevomobile grill. Authoritative write-up, as always.

Great stuff, guys — thanks much.

Curious what you see for Edmond. Obviously exciting player, but where does he fit?

How out-the-door is Vaccaro? How high do you think he’d have to be projected in the draft in order to declare?

Codaxx: I really like Whaley, like everyone else. I have no idea what his ceiling looks like without paying better attention to his play over the year. It seems like most of his production comes from athleticism, and not any real skillset. Without knowing which skills he is more adept at (and it could be zero) he’s like a blank slate that can be projected to any level of dominance against the pass or run. We’ll find out.

Thor’s Brother: If that’s Vaccaro you’re talking about (I lost track of his nicknames after my own preference, Kenny the Maccabee, didn’t catch) he’s already basically playing linebacker for us. He does the things that the strongside linebacker would do in a base defense. Since that position is lined up against slot receivers he’s plenty big enough. More than big enough.

mattdubya: thanks dude.

Oldtimehorn: we should catch some games together next year. You should meet Mrs. Nickel Rover sometime anyways.

Tearaway20: I think Vaccaro is gone if he gets a 2nd round grade or better. I continue to not hear about him much in draft talk but I will be shocked if he isn’t a 2nd round grade already. Even if he’s not I’m ready to believe my own eyes over the opinions of NFL scouts, he should be considered a lock to be an NFL starter.

Edmond is an interesting player and him and Cobbs present some interesting questions for us next year. Edmond is a classic Middle Linebacker. He can blow up offensive lineman and destroy the finesse interior run games that teams in this conference employ. He might present opportunities to totally disrespect other teams’ run games with our alignments and gang up on the passing game.

On the other hand, where do we use him in pass coverage? Drop him into zone? He might be adequate there but we don’t teach zone for crap. Have him in man coverage and assigned to cover the RB? Heuple and Gundy would love that. I don’t really know how someone his size is going to do in space against Big 12 skill players and I don’t think we have enough of a sample size to know.

Cobbs is another similar example. He looks like a nickel/linebacker like what Vaccaro did this year but he isn’t going to be able to play man coverage on Big 12 slot receivers. He could be great in zone…but we don’t teach zone well.

We o not teach zone well. Does this not fly in the face of what Diaz likes to do? I like Akina and he is one of the best teachers in the business, but does his lack of zone coaching eventually lead to issues with Diaz? It seems like an uneasy marriage

Codaxx: Yeah…we did zone okay in Fire Zones but overall weren’t great. Akina and Diaz blended man-coverages with Cover-3 and Fire Zones really well this year but that was made possible by playing Vaccaro in the nickel and the great coverage abilities of Acho and Robinson.

What happens if Cobbs and Edmond are 2 of our best linebackers and among the best 11 defenders we can put on the field, but they don’t hold up in man like Vaccaro, Rob, and Acho? We’ll see how the Akina-Diaz marriage works this year.

Nickel,
I understand the knock on Akina and zone. Do you have any sense on how a zone is taught to DBs? I would think the design and strategy would come from Diaz, but I am guessing that there is recognition and technique that also has to be taught and I would assume that is where Akina is supposed to work. Hopefully Akina will go and do one of those coaching exchange programs like we hear about and learn himself some zone teaching!

Scipio nailed the failings in Akina’s zone teachings in his Baylor post-mortem. Micro to Macro is where the breakdown occurs.
Zone defense requires communication between players and a lot of cohesion on the field. You need each player to understand his part in the system and what different routes and route combos call of him.
Akina seems to have trouble coordinating efforts between individuals.
Watch tape of OU defending a spread passing team and you’ll see what good team-zone defense looks like, or check out that INT of Ash that I broke down in screen shots earlier this year. Then watch some of the baylor tape again.

It’s worth remembering that Diaz, and Harsin for that matter, did not recruit a single kid they coached this year. I am hopeful they both stick around long enough to do so. I suspect we will like the results.

I doubt Diaz is complaining about what he inherited, but yeah. Agreed.

NR, I’m practically living at Verizon to get them into my neighborhood with LHN. We’ll be set then. Plus, I’m working on Mrs. OldTime for great seats at TCU. She’s got the connexions.

Nice. I somehow forgot that, in addition to all the Big 12 games played here in Big D, we now have a league school here. Pretty great.

Looking forward to our secondary next year. Assuming starting CBs- Diggs/Byndum, starting safeties-Vaccarro/Philips, who will be our nickel or at least who will be the 5th db? Dime db? Curious to see who of Scott, Evans, Turner, others(?) may get to play.

I seem to be alone in really liking what I have seen of Reed. Whaley’s size/speed ratio is comical. Dude looks like could go 300 plus by next year and still run a 4.8. It’s as if he breathes in weight and carries it well. Whoever looked at a 17 year old with his build and thought RB should probably keep his evaluations to himself and let someone else take care of those things. Maybe finding big, growing HS RBs with an eye toward turning them into DL is something we should proactively do. Looks like we are about to go 3 for 3 (Houston, Melton, Whaley) out of blind ass luck.

Thanks Nickel. I wondered to what point the coordination and film study fell on Akina vs. Diaz. It seems zones have to coordinate LBs and even DL so I started to wonder who actually tells everyone what their responsibilities are in game planning. Still hope that Akina can learn some new tricks and get his guys to play better zone.

Sometimes you recruit guys that are just athletes. You put them where they are recruited and see what happens. I am sure there were thoughts that all those players may grow out of the position. Same is being said about Edmond, who is highly likely to eat his way out of the LB position. Personally, I would recruit any 250 LB high school RB that can move. I am not saying Texas was dead on in their evaluations, but that perhaps they looked at these guys and said “These guys are great athletes, lets give them a shot at their chosen position and if it does not work it is Ok. They are just too athletic not to find another position to play at”

“Scipio nailed the failings in Akina’s zone teachings in his Baylor post-mortem. Micro to Macro is where the breakdown occurs.
Zone defense requires communication between players and a lot of cohesion on the field. You need each player to understand his part in the system and what different routes and route combos call of him.
Akina seems to have trouble coordinating efforts between individuals.”

Given that Diaz can change the defense seconds before the snap (in response to a QB audible to a different play seconds before the snap), it seems zone could put a lot of mental pressure on our back 7. Regarding communication & coordination between our DBs/LBs, perhaps this is what is meant by needing a “general on the field”?

Great job – have never been more excited about a Horns D. Still – we were not a championship level defense. Against the most potent offenses, we basically wilted. I am disappointed we did not show better against Baylor and OU. I think Manny should take the “soft zone” approach and throw it out the window. These CBs are thoroughbreds that you have to let challenge the WRs no matter how good they are. Their entire body language of the secondary changes when they start with a backpedal. They get disengaged and the safeties were not fast enough or aware enough to fill the gaps.

Barton: I’ve noticed that Patterson and Stoops have had some success converting RB’s into other positions. A lot of HS teams take their best athlete and put him at RB or QB where he can do the most damage in their respective system. See Diggs or Y2K at QB.
While we obviously recognize that, I think with Whaley and Melton Mack was looking for another Ricky Williams. A big bruising RB who can carry a 30 load game and get stronger. He’s always looking for one of those and can never seem to find one. Go figure ;).

I really like Reed also, I think he looks good. If Vaccaro comes back next year, I think you’re looking at a back seven that goes Vaccaro-Edmond-Hicks (Vaccaro at nickel), Diggs and Byndom, and Phillips and Thompson at safety. Cobbs would be the dime back, like Scott this year.

PoofyBevo: Our guys do get a lot of freedom to make adjustments on the field, which necessitates that someone back there can make the right calls, but the way Diaz teaches his Fire Zones makes it pretty easy to handle those assignments once they’re called.
It’s not the Fire Zones where we are getting into trouble, it’s when we play normal zones. With Fire Zones you expect there to be a few gaps but the 5 man blitz cures a lot of that.

realmccoy: We were pretty aggressive with our corners, didn’t give people too much cushion on the sideline. OU got us a few times when we just made mistakes while playing thick coverages and then Baylor got us because RGIII buys time and guys get open.
Diaz’s philosophy is to take away the deep pass and the line of scrimmage simultaneously though because he’s least afraid of teams beating us with short-intermediate passes consistently enough to win. That’s not going to change, I don’t think.

CBs are not the issue with man. How would you feel about edmonds going man to man with a rb? Can our safties handle it? In a league with 3-4 wrs sets your LBs and Safties will be tested.

codaxx,

I think Whaley was recruited with the promise that he would be the only RB taken that year. I think that cost us Christine Michael and expanded a hole in our RB recruiting. Or so I’ve read around here; I have no special knowledge. Of note, it is apparent this year that the hole made by recruiting was made worse by the failure to properly strengthen Fozzy who might have suffered fewer injuries and made our poor running schemes more effective with his presence.

considering we were a spread team with and ineffective line at the time was it a disaster? i understand the issues, but in the end it would not have changed the landscape much. There is no exercise I know of that can strengthen the ACL. The knee is the weakest joint in the human body, it is simple poor design. 3 RBs getting hurt are simply bad luck, playing 2 in blow outs was a worse decision. Blaming the staff for a knee injury is simply lashing out. We had 3 solid RBs this yr. You really can not ask more from a program. After the first month of play RB was our strongest position on the team (LBs werent playing that well then), so the complaints about RB recruiting are simply revisionist history. If Whaley develops into an all-conference performer that he is capable of it will be one of our best signings.

Great analysis, Nickel!

Really good read as always, Nickel. I was extremely impressed with Diaz’s ability to fit square pegs into round holes, so to speak. There were plenty of question marks prior to and at the beginning of the year, and it seemed like Diaz had an answer to all. Young corners…second DT…no true MLB…masking Gideon…anemic pass rush…

I’ll be plenty interested to see what Diaz has in store f or year 2. From a starting experience standpoint, we’re playing sideline in. The corners (especially if Vaccaro returns) are money, as are the pass rushers. Beyond that, it gets interesting. Hicks and Phillips probably get tagged with the “part-time to stardom” label like Vaccaro, Jeffcoat, Okafor this year. Then the “where’d that come from” Carrington Byndom award has candidates like Edmond, Thompson, Whaley, etc. Then hopefully MB2 steps into the Diggs Day 1 Starter role. Bottom line: Top 10 D a very real expectation.