Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Continuity brings productive camp for Blue Raider defense
8/28/2021 5:00:00 PM | Football
Returning nine starters and the same multiple front has paid dividends in the preseason
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Defensive coordinator Scott Shafer waited all summer to see.
He'd heard good things about his guys in the weight room from strength coach Matt Hickmann. He'd seen his guys show up in the Murphy Center, day in and day out, prepping for workouts he wasn't allowed to work on. But you never know until that first day of camp what kind of leadership your team has shown when you aren't looking.
From the first whistle on August 6, though? The commitment was apparent.
"I start teaching the DBs the drills, and they're like 'Coach, we got it,'" Shafer said early in fall camp. "I said, 'Ok, show me!' Bam! and they did. So they put the work in when nobody was looking. They were damn near running practices alone without us this summer."
The Blue Raider defense returns nine of its starters from a season ago, and almost all of their production (84 percent of its tackles, 90 percent of its tackles for loss, 92 percent of its sacks and 80 percent of its pass breakups return from a season ago). Of course, returning production isn't everything, particularly when its on a defense that struggled to stop opposing offenses a season ago (the 2020 Blue Raiders finished 11th in C-USA in points allowed per game and 12th in yards allowed per game).
But when you combine that returning production with the fact the defense was often one of the youngest in the country on the field, particularly on the defensive line and at cornerback, it's not hard to see the potential for growth as the players' knowledge of Shafer's multiple front scheme grows.
"At first, guys like Quincy Riley, he's just an athletic kid, fast as light, so he's just playing fast," cornerbacks coach Kenneth Gilstrap said. "Or Decorian Patterson can be aggressive, or Teldrick Ross can be aggressive, just because they're natural ballplayers. But now, they're understanding the ins and outs of the coverage."
In the case of those young cornerbacks, 'Puppies' as Shafer called them when pointing out their youth a season ago, it helps to have two all-conference safeties behind you that can also help with coverage, while also teaching you the ins and outs, in Reed Blankenship and Gregory Grate.
With the front seven, a similar dynamic exists between the linebackers and the defensive line. Led by the trio DQ Thomas, Cody Smith and Johnathan Butler, who combined for 147 total tackles and 16.5 TFL a season ago, the linebacker core offers Shafer both depth and versatility for attacking opposing offenses.
"We've got depth for the first time in a while," Smith said. "I feel like we've got a two-deep that can actually play. We're competing, we keep changing rotations, seeing who can fit where. But I'm excited for the season for sure."
Up front, the defensive line has the same two-deep strength, albeit with a group that looks much younger on paper than the linebackers, with redshirt freshmen like Richard Kinley, Zaylin Wood and Marley Cook expected to make an impact alongside veterans like redshirt juniors Jordan Ferguson and Ja'Kerrius Wyatt.
Of course, those redshirt freshmen would be redshirt sophomores any other year thanks to the free year of eligibility granted to all student-athletes in football due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. And a few might even potentially be true juniors had the NCAA redshirt rules not been modified in 2018 to permit student-athletes to compete in up to four games and still redshirt. So you have a core of defensive linemen entering their third year of college football, but with four years of eligibility remaining.
"The first year it's always learning what to do, and now they're starting to understand what it is they have to do against linemen, the assignment key, and technique so they can play fast," defensive line coach Dustin Royston said. "A lot of those guys got to play special teams four games and still redshirted. And then last year with COVID, they got to play a good amount."
Taken together, the 2021 Blue Raider defense is a group that's finally starting to turn the corner from a young defense to an experienced one. And unlike their teammates on offense, who are learning coordinator Brent Dearmon's playbook for the first time, that experience can be utilized to its fullest extent earlier in season due to the team's familiarity with Shafer's multiple front.
The results have been clear. More forced turnovers in practice and in scrimmages, better open field tackling, a better job reading keys and holding serve, and often better, on first and second down to lead to a more open playbook on third down, and thus greater pressure on the quarterback.
Sure, it's still only camp, and against a team still getting comfortable with a new scheme. But, it's an RPO-tempo scheme with concepts very similar to a lot of the Blue Raiders' C-USA opponents. Which only helps reinforce what's going to be key for defensive success come game day.
"The thing with Coach Dearmon, he does a lot of similar things that people do in conference, which is good for us," linebacker coach Siriki Diabate said. "You just want to preach doing your job. Whatever my keys tell me to do, that's what I've got to do. I can't go in and try to make every play. I can't go in and try to guess and figure out what they're trying to do. Read your keys, your keys are going to tell you what the next thing is, and you react off of that, we're going to be fine. But when guys start trying to do their own thing, that's when you get into trouble."
Reading your keys, putting in the work when no one's looking, building depth and competition. All success stories for the 2021 Blue Raider defense thus far. And with the chip on their shoulder from a year ago, a trend of success they know they can continue.
The COVID year was really fortunate for us," DQ Thomas said. "You've got a lot of guys coming back that are not even supposed to be here. So we're just being grateful and just trying to get the young guys be grateful for these moments."
He'd heard good things about his guys in the weight room from strength coach Matt Hickmann. He'd seen his guys show up in the Murphy Center, day in and day out, prepping for workouts he wasn't allowed to work on. But you never know until that first day of camp what kind of leadership your team has shown when you aren't looking.
From the first whistle on August 6, though? The commitment was apparent.
"I start teaching the DBs the drills, and they're like 'Coach, we got it,'" Shafer said early in fall camp. "I said, 'Ok, show me!' Bam! and they did. So they put the work in when nobody was looking. They were damn near running practices alone without us this summer."
The Blue Raider defense returns nine of its starters from a season ago, and almost all of their production (84 percent of its tackles, 90 percent of its tackles for loss, 92 percent of its sacks and 80 percent of its pass breakups return from a season ago). Of course, returning production isn't everything, particularly when its on a defense that struggled to stop opposing offenses a season ago (the 2020 Blue Raiders finished 11th in C-USA in points allowed per game and 12th in yards allowed per game).
But when you combine that returning production with the fact the defense was often one of the youngest in the country on the field, particularly on the defensive line and at cornerback, it's not hard to see the potential for growth as the players' knowledge of Shafer's multiple front scheme grows.
"At first, guys like Quincy Riley, he's just an athletic kid, fast as light, so he's just playing fast," cornerbacks coach Kenneth Gilstrap said. "Or Decorian Patterson can be aggressive, or Teldrick Ross can be aggressive, just because they're natural ballplayers. But now, they're understanding the ins and outs of the coverage."
In the case of those young cornerbacks, 'Puppies' as Shafer called them when pointing out their youth a season ago, it helps to have two all-conference safeties behind you that can also help with coverage, while also teaching you the ins and outs, in Reed Blankenship and Gregory Grate.
DB appreciation post #BlueRaiders | #EATT pic.twitter.com/ktoJgEIPcu
— Middle Tennessee FB (@MT_FB) August 16, 2021
With the front seven, a similar dynamic exists between the linebackers and the defensive line. Led by the trio DQ Thomas, Cody Smith and Johnathan Butler, who combined for 147 total tackles and 16.5 TFL a season ago, the linebacker core offers Shafer both depth and versatility for attacking opposing offenses.
"We've got depth for the first time in a while," Smith said. "I feel like we've got a two-deep that can actually play. We're competing, we keep changing rotations, seeing who can fit where. But I'm excited for the season for sure."
Wrap up and 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚. 👊#BlueRaiders | #EATT pic.twitter.com/0ljnV6nEha
— Middle Tennessee FB (@MT_FB) August 10, 2021
Up front, the defensive line has the same two-deep strength, albeit with a group that looks much younger on paper than the linebackers, with redshirt freshmen like Richard Kinley, Zaylin Wood and Marley Cook expected to make an impact alongside veterans like redshirt juniors Jordan Ferguson and Ja'Kerrius Wyatt.
Of course, those redshirt freshmen would be redshirt sophomores any other year thanks to the free year of eligibility granted to all student-athletes in football due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. And a few might even potentially be true juniors had the NCAA redshirt rules not been modified in 2018 to permit student-athletes to compete in up to four games and still redshirt. So you have a core of defensive linemen entering their third year of college football, but with four years of eligibility remaining.
"The first year it's always learning what to do, and now they're starting to understand what it is they have to do against linemen, the assignment key, and technique so they can play fast," defensive line coach Dustin Royston said. "A lot of those guys got to play special teams four games and still redshirted. And then last year with COVID, they got to play a good amount."
Objective: Get in the backfield.
— Middle Tennessee FB (@MT_FB) August 8, 2021
𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙.#BlueRaiders | #EATT pic.twitter.com/IOJ2t6ta7h
Taken together, the 2021 Blue Raider defense is a group that's finally starting to turn the corner from a young defense to an experienced one. And unlike their teammates on offense, who are learning coordinator Brent Dearmon's playbook for the first time, that experience can be utilized to its fullest extent earlier in season due to the team's familiarity with Shafer's multiple front.
The results have been clear. More forced turnovers in practice and in scrimmages, better open field tackling, a better job reading keys and holding serve, and often better, on first and second down to lead to a more open playbook on third down, and thus greater pressure on the quarterback.
Sure, it's still only camp, and against a team still getting comfortable with a new scheme. But, it's an RPO-tempo scheme with concepts very similar to a lot of the Blue Raiders' C-USA opponents. Which only helps reinforce what's going to be key for defensive success come game day.
"The thing with Coach Dearmon, he does a lot of similar things that people do in conference, which is good for us," linebacker coach Siriki Diabate said. "You just want to preach doing your job. Whatever my keys tell me to do, that's what I've got to do. I can't go in and try to make every play. I can't go in and try to guess and figure out what they're trying to do. Read your keys, your keys are going to tell you what the next thing is, and you react off of that, we're going to be fine. But when guys start trying to do their own thing, that's when you get into trouble."
Reading your keys, putting in the work when no one's looking, building depth and competition. All success stories for the 2021 Blue Raider defense thus far. And with the chip on their shoulder from a year ago, a trend of success they know they can continue.
The COVID year was really fortunate for us," DQ Thomas said. "You've got a lot of guys coming back that are not even supposed to be here. So we're just being grateful and just trying to get the young guys be grateful for these moments."
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