Blue White Illustrated

>>> I always say that opportunity is the key to life, and they're certainly going to get an opportunity. You know, Kline didn't go through spring ball, either, and he had limited reps from last year. It's truly unfortunate, because he's one of the good guys. He makes coaching very re- warding. He stands for all that's right in college football. He's a good person who's very involved in community serv- ice. He's an excellent student. So yeah, it's a challenge. But rather than recruit players to 5t a scheme, we'll tailor our schemes to 5t what our players can do. So in addition to getting Jason Cabinda and Troy Reeder in a position to be ready, there are things we can do with that 5eld linebacker position, that Sam or "star." Koa Farmer is a guy we've talked about trying to get ready at that position. The plan going into camp is that Mike Hull is the Mike linebacker. He's the quarterback of the defense and is the centerpiece of the whole thing. Other than that, we're excited about Nyeem [Wartman] and Brandon Bell. Brandon went through all 15 practices. Nyeem was injured early in practice and wasn't able to 5nish spring ball. But he's 5ne. I would suggest to you that both of those guys have an incomplete grade. We're trying to identify what their strengths and weaknesses are, but we do know they're good players. Gary Wooten went through the spring and did a nice job backing up Mike. But Jason and Troy are in a position where honestly they have a great oppor- tunity at either the Mike or the Will, what we call the "box" or inside 'back- ers. And we're really going to cross-train Koa Farmer in many ways at strong safe- ty and at that 5eld linebacker position, along with Von Walker, who played out there during the spring as well. What kind of attributes are you looking for from the guys who play the star position? It could be a lot of things. The game is changing with all these spread o6enses and three- and four-wide receiver sets. You try to put as much athletic ability and speed on the 5eld as you possibly can. At Vanderbilt for us, that guy was Karl Butler, who was recruited as a free safety or strong safety and kind of evolved into that position. It's a hybrid outside linebacker-strong safety. He's got to be able to defend the wide 5eld, got to be able to blitz o6 the edge. If his skill set lends itself to this, he's in some ways like a nickel who can cover a slot receiver. Depending on the game, that star po- sition can be a three-way rotation. He can be a linebacker body-type, like a Brandon Bell, he can be a safety body type – a Koa Farmer – and a lot of times we use a corner in that particular posi- tion – a Jordan Lucas or Adrian Amos. Those guys were trained at the star posi- tion in the spring. It depends on what the situation calls for. Given the way the game is evolving, with o enses getting better and bet- ter, do you see defenses ever regaining the upper hand? Or is this just the new normal? I don't know if you'll see a lot of 10-7 games again, but a lot of times, it's about rede5ning what having the upper hand means. Maybe you reassess what quality defense is. Maybe instead of looking at yards per game, you look at yards per play. Instead of points per game, you look at points per series, because the number of snaps is going up. If the num- ber of snaps grows, it's natural that there are going to be more yards and more points. So there's really nothing you can do about that because of the number of snaps that occur. I do think it's an ever-evolving chess match between o6ensive coaches and defensive coaches. Whether it was the wishbone of Texas in the '70s, whether it was the run-and-shoot of Houston in the '90s, the defenses eventually catch up, and then the o6enses continue to evolve and the defenses continue to evolve. We've reassessed what we de5ne as good defense. Good defense is scoring one more point than your opponent. ■ don't get those type of guys together at this position – or at least not everybody does. You see more spread o6enses with more receivers these days than you do with tight ends. So that's a luxury to have, because those guys can play di6erent positions. They can be in tight or they can be out wide. Pretty much they can be all over the 5eld. Not only do they have the physical abilities in order to be able to do that, they have the mental capability. They're all smart, they all learned a lot this spring, and hopefully they'll be able to keep that ball rolling. Running back is another deep po- sition with Zach Zwinak and Bill Belton returning. What have you seen from them during the spring and throughout summer workouts, and what do you expect from them going into preseason camp? Just to be leaders of the team. They have a lot of experience and they have a lot of talent, but you have to be able to count on our seniors to lead the way. The experience that they've had, they can lean on that and can show other guys that they've been in those spots before and lead by voice or lead by example. That's what they can take from that. But they've got talent, too. That's a position right now where you think, "You know what? We should be OK there, because those guys have seen a lot of ball and they've played a lot and they've made a lot of big plays in big games." It looks as though wide receiver could be a spot where some true freshmen could make an impact. What is the outlook there? We've got a good number of [fresh- men] coming in who will be able to provide depth, for one, and then two, challenge [returning players]. Once you are challenged for spots, it makes you better. May the best man win. ■ DONOVAN CONTINUED FROM 29

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