New Look Defense builds for 2024 season 1/11th at a time

8/24/2024 11:11:00 AM | Football

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Returning just two starters from a season ago, MTSU’s defense will look different on the field in 2024.

By: Sam Doughton, MTSU Athletic Communications

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The messaging from the coaching staff had clearly sunk in for Brandon Buckner and De'Arre McDonald coming off the field from the team's scrimmage this past Saturday.

"We all play as one," Buckner said when asked about how the defensive front got pressure early in the scrimmage. "Everybody's doing their 1/11th and that's all you need. Everybody just do their job and then the rush and the coverage works together."

His fellow returning Blue Raider, McDonald, echoed those statements independently.

"The plan that they have for us from the start of camp is do your job, do your 1/1th," McDonald said. "It came in full motion today, do your job from the D-Line, to the DBs to the secondary."

And those two statements, of course, matched exactly what their head coach, Derek Mason, said at the start of media availability.

"This is going to be a defense that has to stand up," Mason said. "It starts up front and then our backers to our secondary, guys have got to make the one-on-ones, whether it's the tackles or defending and getting the ball out of the air, everybody's got to do their 1/11th."

In a year of transition everywhere for Blue Raider football, but particularly on defense, where MTSU returns just two starters from the 2023 season, it's clear the defense has found a purpose in ensuring each individual player does their job, thus ensuring the collective unit's success. It's a formula that should pay dividends given the depth that's been developed at all three levels — in the defensive line, the linebackers and the secondary — since camp started this August.

Philosophically, defensive coordinator Brain Stewart wants to stop the run first. And his scheme, which one could consider a base 3-4 with perhaps more of a 4-3 look in personnel given who is on the roster, does that in variety of ways, from bringing pressure from multiple angles to being able to disguise coverages.

"You realize that teams run to control the tempo of the game," Stewart said. "If we can stop them from running and the only opportunity they have to advance the ball is the pass, now we can let loose. Now I can blitz, now I can do a four-man rush and do flood coverages."

With so much newness, both in experience level and in chemistry, Stewart is pleased with how his team has picked up the playbook through camp. The final practices before the start of the season, he said, would be focused on refining the little details in how to execute those plays that the staff wants, a much easier task to be said than done.

"We're at the point where we know what to do," Stewart said. "We're still, as a defensive staff, trying to push them the way that we want to do it, the way we ask them to do it...I'm happy where we are as far as being able to handle the install and knowing what to do. How to do it exactly, that's where we're a little behind."

"Until you go out there and feel that football for the first time, there's nothing like it."

Like nearly every defense, things will start up front for the Blue Raiders, who return some rotational pieces from a season ago, but also welcomed a plethora of new faces into the defensive line room for the 2024 season. What returners like Damonte Smith and Brandon Buckner have in common with newcomers like James Gillespie and Felix Hixon, defensive line coach Vernon Hargreaves noted, is that everyone is looking to get their first bit of major playing time in 2024.

"They've bought in, now they're trying to do it the way we want it to get it done," Hargreaves said. "We come from different types of techniques and fundamentals and different schemes, so sometimes it takes a little while for guys to kind of get acclimated to what you're trying to do."

That acclimation process has gone well, Hargreaves said, with each player bringing something to the table from their past stops. While one of the edge positions in the defensive front is being treated a bit more like an outside linebacker in Stewart's scheme, Hargreaves said their responsibility isn't so different from the more typical defensive end the scheme will use as well. It's more a difference in body type and stature than how the edges will work together to rush the passer or stop the run.

The veteran assistant hopes to play as many as six guys in the rotation on the defensive line, particularly given the youth of the room. Smith brings veteran experience, but the South Carolina transfer Hixon and the junior college transfer Gillespie have stepped up in the interior defensive line as well, while redshirt freshman Shakai Woods has taken big steps that the coaching staff is pleased with and looks to contribute early at defensive tackle.

Off the edge, Buckner has looked strong in addition to Stony Brook transfer Andy Nwaoko, forming a nice one-two punch at one end that can both rush and drop coverage as a change-up to confuse opposing offenses. Hargreaves also highlighted Anthony Bynum as a young player who will play a lot early, particularly with Vanderbilt transfer Alex Williams, the biggest guy in the room at 6-7, 291 pounds, still reacclimating to college football after getting his seventh year of eligibility approved well into fall camp. Hargreaves also hopes to work in some of the talented freshmen the staff have brought in this recruiting class as needed throughout the year.

Mostly, however, Hargreaves was ready for the games to kickoff so his green room could understand the nuances one can only learn from getting on the field in a real game at the FBS level.

"I've coached 1000 games, I can talk about it for hours on end," Hargreaves said. "But until you go out there and feel that football for the first time, there's nothing like it. There's no substitute for you going out there and doing it. I'm trying to prepare them mentally as much as I can, but the physical part is what we're going to need."

"We've got a very old crew and a very young crew."

The linebackers for the Blue Raiders in 2024, linebacker coach A.J. Reisig noted, has two groups with polar opposite experience. On one hand, you have a very veteran group with players like Devyn Curtis, Parker Hughes, Drew Francis and Jalen Davis that all have multiple varsity letters to their names and over two dozen starts between them during their time in Murfreesboro. On the other hand, it's also a room with a lot of freshmen beside those backers that are looking to get experience and make their mark.

"We've got a very old crew and a very young crew," Reisig said. "We don't really have any sophomores and juniors. The seniors who have come back, they've done a good job teaching up the young guys, making sure we're ready to go when we get out there."

The veteran reps have been limited in camp this August, an acknowledgment that the team needs them in Week 1 and Week 2 more than they need them to take reps in camp, Reisig said, which has allowed younger guys to get an extended look in practice this fall, something Curtis echoed.

"The experience speaks volumes not only on the field, but off the field as well, being able to help the young guys learn and progress," Curtis said. "We've got a good group of young guys as well, which makes it even better."

Korey Smith, who was just put on scholarship after walking on as a true freshman, and Amarrien Bailey have flashed early as young guys that will contribute, but redshirt freshman Jordan Thompson has made the strongest impression on the staff.

"Jordan Thompson should be a starter, depending on how everything plays out," Reisig said. "He's earned the right to take the field and play a lot of snaps on Saturday. He's been a leader, on and off the field, in and out of the meeting rooms. He communicates well on the field, and he loves to run and hit."

At outside backer, a position group Reisig thanks analyst and former Vanderbilt OLB Joshua Smith for taking the lead on, James Stewart has found some early success, with Muaaz Byard also playing his way into the rotation for the start of the season at press time.

"We always say competitive, never combative."

At corner, cornerbacks coach Bryce Lewis has been impressed with the level of competition his guys have had this fall, which was the goal when putting together a room that's again a mix of old and new.

"I needed guys to push other guys," Lewis said. "Right now, it's very, very competitive. We always say competitive, never combative. They play up to the line, but there's also support in the room."

Returning corner Tyrell Raby is one of the two starters back in 2024 from a season ago, but De'Arre McDonald got a ton of reps a season ago as the team's primary nickel corner as well. The former Oakland High School standout has been moved back outside this fall and, after a brief adjustment period, has flashed nearly every day on tape.

"I tell De'Arre all the time, he probably has the most God-given talent out of a kid that I've seen in a long time," Lewis said. "The biggest thing I'm trying to hone in with him is you have the league body, the league makeup. You just have to have the league mentality and the league mindset as far as our process goes, repeatability."

Behind those two veterans, junior college transfer Abdul Muhammad has made securing a starting spot for either player not easy, with his length (6-2, 175) giving Blue Raider wideouts trouble in one-on-one drills all fall. Jalen Jackson, who missed nearly all of last season due to injury but has 14 starts in his MTSU career, is another option with length for Lewis on the outside.

At nickel, Indiana transfer James Monds has been as advertised since coming into the team with a quick twitch and good instincts, but the fastest riser has been redshirt sophomore Trevon Ferrell, who switched over to cornerback from wide receiver midway through last season. He was still picking up the nuances of the position in the spring, Lewis said, but has attacked the job with a dogmatic mentality that helped him earn a scholarship late in camp and is expected to be a big part of both the team's nickel and dime packages this fall.

"I think we'll be really dominant on the back end."

Perhaps the room with the most depth anywhere on the field this fall for the Blue Raiders is the safeties, where competition for the starting jobs has been intense all August. With returning players like Rickey Smith and Marvae Myers impressing alongside incoming transfers like John Howse IV (Vanderbilt), Jared Douglas (El Camino) and Brendon Harris (Wake Forest), picking just two to start hasn't been easy for Brian Stewart, who leads the safeties room in addition to being the defensive coordinator.

"We're a pretty veteran group and I think we'll be really dominant on the back end," Harris said. "We're able to communicate well, get aligned really well. I think we'll be able to make some plays this season."

Harris, having been recruited by Mason to Vanderbilt at the start of his career, has earned a lot of trust early as one might expect, while Howse maybe has the slightest edge for the other safety spot opposite Harris come August 31 against Tennessee Tech. Blue Raider fans should also know the name of freshman Jordan Beasley, who's been an active force in practice from the safety position and will likely see the field sooner rather than later in the MTSU secondary.

One added area of coaching for this group has come with the addition of coach-to-player radio communication this offseason, which resides with the safeties in the Blue Raider defense. Stewart said he picked this group because they're likely to never leave the field regardless of personnel, while a linebacker might need to leave the field for a nickel or dime look depending on the situation. Stewart said making best use of the radio is a process of communication between the player and coach on the sideline before the games start.

"I can't give him too much information, and he has to know what's too much information for him," Stewart said. "He's going to have to communicate so I know what he can handle. In a game, if it's third and long, I want to say 'hey, it's third and long, alert the corner on the under route'. Or is it just better to say, 'alert the corner on the under'?"