Improving the Gophers’ defense starts in the trenches

DanielHouse

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By: Daniel House

Tough defensive line play is needed to compete in a physical conference like the Big Ten.

If you can’t develop up front, it will be a tough day at the office.

Last year, the Gophers didn’t have necessary personnel to deploy a competitive defensive scheme. Creativity was hindered and opposing offenses wore Minnesota down, one hand-off at a time.

As the Gophers embark on a new season, spring practice will be a time to evaluate players and how they will fit in the scheme. Defensively, the Gophers are trying to improve a run defense which ranked 68th among FBS programs and a pass rush with just 23 sacks.

In 2017, the inability to be creative defensively was shaped by the overall talent available on defense. In a 4-3 defensive scheme, the need for length and size both inside and on the edge is critical. Minnesota often ran a hybrid defensive package with linebacker Carter Coughlin playing the “R” spot. It’s a versatile position requiring a stand-up rusher with unique athleticism to rush the passer or drop into coverage. Coughlin improved with additional reps at the “R” spot as he worked within a new role. Understanding pass rushing angles and how to set up his moves based upon opponent tendencies are a few obstacles he faced. Essentially, Coughlin serves as a 3-4 style outside linebacker tasked with using his athleticism to make plays.

On the other side, the 5-technique defensive end suits players with length, size and power on the edge. Many of the issues related to the Gophers struggling to stop the run were due to the lack of size or mass on the edge. Minnesota also didn’t have a dominant 1 or 0 technique defensive tackle inside with massive size. Steven Richardson was more of a pure three-technique defensive tackle than a powerful presence. The 0 technique’s job is to defend both A-gaps, while occasionally garnering attention from the guard in double teams.

To better illustrate the alignments I’m discussing, I created a graphic. It won't embed here, but you can check it out, via this link. The way these are used depend upon the specific defensive package a team is playing within. Alignments can also be tweaked to suit the skill-set of specific players.

Ultimately, the problem Minnesota faced last year was the fact they didn’t have strong defensive line personnel, specifically on the edge, to unleash a full arsenal of creativity. If they can develop defensive line talent, they could send more pressure (stunts, twists, double A-gap blitzes, etc.). Defensive coordinator Robb Smith was limited by low depth across positional groups. More importantly, an already depleted secondary was forced to cover longer down the field.

Good news, though. Minnesota has improved their personnel, specifically within the interior defensive line. They might be young, but P.J. Fleck is starting to notice.

“One thing I’ll say about our D-line, I’m really excited about those guys,” head coach P.J. Fleck said. “I love that five to six guys interiorly.”

The Gophers used transfers to immediately bolster the interior spots last year. Alabama transfer O.J. Smith joins the Gophers after spending time with a National Championship program at Alabama. Junior college transfer Royal Silver also provides an option within the interior techniques. Smith measures in at 6-foot-2, 309 pounds and Silver sits at 6-foot-3, 292 pounds. Their size can be used to take on double teams, which in turn will help edge players get after the quarterback.

With Gary Moore, Malcolm Robinson, Noah Hickcox and Nate Umlor on the depth chart, the Gophers suddenly have young options inside to create favorable matchups. More importantly, at the five-technique end spot, Esezi Otomewo has size, athleticism and mass needed to help tame down off tackle runs. Minnesota couldn’t handle the physicality of Big Ten offensive lines and wore down as opponents started to control the line of scrimmage. This year, much of the success up front will come down to improve the body types of the current players, something P.J. Fleck is starting to see.

“We improved in every area of the weight room. A lot of it had to do with our O-line and D-Line getting that much stronger,” Fleck said. “We are a stronger football team. We are more developed football team than we’ve ever been.”

Otomewo is 6-foot-6, 240 pounds and has the measurables to fit well in the scheme. The Gophers will still need to continue building their defensive line and the additions of freshman Elijah Teague, Mayan Ahanotu and Alex Reigelsperger help craft necessary depth moving into 2019 and 2020.

For now, the goal should be to build the defense from the inside out. O.J. Smith has the chance to be a dominating player because of his skill-set and scheme fit. The Gophers will continue recruiting young options who can play the five technique with length, size and developmental frames. In order to compete in the Big Ten, the Gophers must improve in the trenches on both sides of the ball. O.J. Smith can be the anchor for one year as younger players continue to develop. P.J. Fleck believes Smith’s presence will not only provide value on the field, but to the culture he’s continuing to build.

“A lot of players on our team, we’re the only program they’ve seen, we’re the only culture they’ve seen or it’s the second culture they’ve seen,” Fleck said. “But when you bring in people from the outside at times, I like that because there’s times they have a different perspective.”

Many eyes will be on the trenches this spring with plenty of new faces entering the program. If the Gophers want to be competitive, they’ll need to take a major step forward up front on both sides of the ball.

With two transfers stepping in, one can assume the interior defensive line should be better, but on-field evaluations will tell us more.


 

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It is interesting how in one year, Gophs rush defense and pass yards allowed rankings basically flipped.
 

“A lot of players on our team, we’re the only program they’ve seen, we’re the only culture they’ve seen or it’s the second culture they’ve seen,” Fleck said. “But when you bring in people from the outside at times, I like that because there’s times they have a different perspective.”

What does that mean? "I like the transfers that were brought in"?
 

Let's see the goods in the Spring practices and Spring Scrimmage.

If PJ Fleck can recruit two more classes that will equal or top this first full recruiting class under him, we will be in good hands defensively.
 

Nice report as always Daniel, thanks.

Personally I don't think anyone in that group will be an upgrade over Richardson, at least not this year. That leaves the other spot. I think Jackson was big enough but perhaps not athletic enough compared to the other potential starters in Smith and Silvia. Edge should be a little bigger and that will help. I think they are a year away from being what people want but that's just me. Looking forward to seeing the squad and what Coach puts out!
 


This is not a complaint about the decision to play this defense, but we would have been more effective last season in Sawvel's defense which is what most of these guys were recruited to play. SR was never meant to be a nose tackle, he was meant to penetrate and disrupt which was exactly what he had been used to do in prior seasons. People who thought SR had a bad year just did not understand his role had changed from something he was great at (penetration) to a role where he was undersized and his quickness was used less. Gap control was not a concept Claeys utilized SR to play. CC also would have been better in Claey's Wide 9 D configuration because he would not have lined up directly on an OT. He would have been moving in space by the time the OT got a chance to maul him.
I understand coaching the defense you know, but I also believe in transition years it can make the personnel look worse than they are, which is what happened last season. Despite my whining about the decision to play CC at DE, the problem was no better at the other DEnd position where Winston was also outmanned vs OTs from power running teams. I think Claeys/Sawvel would have struggled scheming around our DE talent problems last year as well, but some things would have been easier.
 

Just off the top of my head - the Gophers have had very few really dominant DL since the Golden days of Bobby Bell and Carl Eller.

They've had good DL like Schlecht, but more often than not, the Gophers' DL types have been the "gritty over-achiever" type, not a truly dominant DL.

So help my feeble memory - outside of Ra'shede Hageman (2nd round NFL draft choice), who were some of the best DL for the gophers? I guess Karon Riley and Lamanzer Williams come to mind. Anthony Montgomery was one of those guys who had potential, but never seemed to play as well as people hoped.

Thoughts? Who am I forgetting?
 

Just off the top of my head - the Gophers have had very few really dominant DL since the Golden days of Bobby Bell and Carl Eller.

They've had good DL like Schlecht, but more often than not, the Gophers' DL types have been the "gritty over-achiever" type, not a truly dominant DL.

So help my feeble memory - outside of Ra'shede Hageman (2nd round NFL draft choice), who were some of the best DL for the gophers? I guess Karon Riley and Lamanzer Williams come to mind. Anthony Montgomery was one of those guys who had potential, but never seemed to play as well as people hoped.

Thoughts? Who am I forgetting?

It's a difficult position to recruit (the elite programs tend to gobble up the really good athletes over 275 lbs).

VandeSteeg had two great years for the Gophers.
 

Just off the top of my head - the Gophers have had very few really dominant DL since the Golden days of Bobby Bell and Carl Eller.

They've had good DL like Schlecht, but more often than not, the Gophers' DL types have been the "gritty over-achiever" type, not a truly dominant DL.

So help my feeble memory - outside of Ra'shede Hageman (2nd round NFL draft choice), who were some of the best DL for the gophers? I guess Karon Riley and Lamanzer Williams come to mind. Anthony Montgomery was one of those guys who had potential, but never seemed to play as well as people hoped.

Thoughts? Who am I forgetting?

I was always a fan of Cameron Botticelli. He seemed to make big plays when the Gophers needed it and earned himself a spot on the Chargers' roster for a short period of time. Gophers would benefit from having another DT like him.
 



Just off the top of my head - the Gophers have had very few really dominant DL since the Golden days of Bobby Bell and Carl Eller.

They've had good DL like Schlecht, but more often than not, the Gophers' DL types have been the "gritty over-achiever" type, not a truly dominant DL.

So help my feeble memory - outside of Ra'shede Hageman (2nd round NFL draft choice), who were some of the best DL for the gophers? I guess Karon Riley and Lamanzer Williams come to mind. Anthony Montgomery was one of those guys who had potential, but never seemed to play as well as people hoped.

Thoughts? Who am I forgetting?

Karl Mecklenburg.
 

This is not a complaint about the decision to play this defense, but we would have been more effective last season in Sawvel's defense which is what most of these guys were recruited to play. SR was never meant to be a nose tackle, he was meant to penetrate and disrupt which was exactly what he had been used to do in prior seasons. People who thought SR had a bad year just did not understand his role had changed from something he was great at (penetration) to a role where he was undersized and his quickness was used less. Gap control was not a concept Claeys utilized SR to play. CC also would have been better in Claey's Wide 9 D configuration because he would not have lined up directly on an OT. He would have been moving in space by the time the OT got a chance to maul him.
I understand coaching the defense you know, but I also believe in transition years it can make the personnel look worse than they are, which is what happened last season. Despite my whining about the decision to play CC at DE, the problem was no better at the other DEnd position where Winston was also outmanned vs OTs from power running teams. I think Claeys/Sawvel would have struggled scheming around our DE talent problems last year as well, but some things would have been easier.

Good take Corcoran, I agree with your points. I saw on one of the draft websites that Richardson was listed as a 3rd pick and a poor man's Aaron Donaldson which I've always thought him to be like. But we should have all expected this with changing schemes, it really is tough when you have some talented players that play out of position. I'm a little nervous as I'm not sold on Robb Smith. I hope he proves me wrong.
 

Good take Corcoran, I agree with your points. I saw on one of the draft websites that Richardson was listed as a 3rd pick and a poor man's Aaron Donaldson which I've always thought him to be like. But we should have all expected this with changing schemes, it really is tough when you have some talented players that play out of position. I'm a little nervous as I'm not sold on Robb Smith. I hope he proves me wrong.

I'm with you there. Nobody in Arkansas was standing on the side of the road weeping when he left Fayetteville.
 

Just off the top of my head - the Gophers have had very few really dominant DL since the Golden days of Bobby Bell and Carl Eller.

They've had good DL like Schlecht, but more often than not, the Gophers' DL types have been the "gritty over-achiever" type, not a truly dominant DL.

So help my feeble memory - outside of Ra'shede Hageman (2nd round NFL draft choice), who were some of the best DL for the gophers? I guess Karon Riley and Lamanzer Williams come to mind. Anthony Montgomery was one of those guys who had potential, but never seemed to play as well as people hoped.

Thoughts? Who am I forgetting?

Tracy Claeys said that there are VERY few good High School DL who you know will perform well. They're all almost sure to go to the top programs because as soon as someone shows promise every blue blood program shows up. I've seen other coaches make similar comments. There's just very few to go around.

Everyone else has to pick up prospects and hope to coach them up / some luck.
 




Defensive line play will be a key, and I am skeptical of the "R" position and how it will translate in the B1G. I got the impression it was a one year thing to cover for the lack of depth on the Dline, but it's back again this year. That's going to require the other 3 lineman to be really stout against the run while hopefully at least one of those 3 can also generate some pass rush (in other words an NFL prospect). It's good that Coach Fleck is excited about the guys he has o the DL, because there isn't much production coming back.
 

I'm with you there. Nobody in Arkansas was standing on the side of the road weeping when he left Fayetteville.

Yeah, I didn't love the defensive play calling.

I spent a lot of time last year defending the play calling on the offensive side of the ball last year under the premise that your hands are tied when you get so little out of the QB. You really can't afford to call a lot of trick plays and those trick plays are not set up by a successful base offense. Most of the "suggestions" wouldn't have been super successful against a defense that felt comfortable sitting in a base defense and stopping us (like most teams did last year). If you can't execute the bare minimum, you can't really open up the offense.

I'm hoping that same logic applies to Robb Smith and I was just not seeing something. I did not like how far back our corners played on just about every down (I think it made our edge rush defense that much worse). But I'm sure he knows way more about football than I do, and maybe some of his strategies will make more sense when he has a few more weapons and depth on defense.
 

In my book, a really good coach can take almost any team and get more out of them. The old "he can take your'n and beat his'n" routine.

I'm always a little concerned when coaches say something like "we've got a great scheme, and you'll see it when we get the players we want in here."

In other words, our system works with the right players. But, what happens if you don't have the right players? that is why I would prefer to have a coaching staff that is willing and able to adjust and adapt to make the best use of the existing players. It's the old Tom Kelly philosophy - put players in a situation where they have the best chance of success and the lowest chance of failure.

And I second what Bob said - for all the hand-wringing about the offense last year, the Gophers allowed 30 points or more in a game 6 times last year. Their record in those games: 0-6. Their record in all other games: 5-1. If you're not set up to win shootouts, you need to hold the other team down. The Gophers need to do a better job of that this year.
 

Yeah, I didn't love the defensive play calling.

I spent a lot of time last year defending the play calling on the offensive side of the ball last year under the premise that your hands are tied when you get so little out of the QB. You really can't afford to call a lot of trick plays and those trick plays are not set up by a successful base offense. Most of the "suggestions" wouldn't have been super successful against a defense that felt comfortable sitting in a base defense and stopping us (like most teams did last year). If you can't execute the bare minimum, you can't really open up the offense.

I'm hoping that same logic applies to Robb Smith and I was just not seeing something. I did not like how far back our corners played on just about every down (I think it made our edge rush defense that much worse). But I'm sure he knows way more about football than I do, and maybe some of his strategies will make more sense when he has a few more weapons and depth on defense.
I hope you are correct. I know they did not want to burn red shirts, but the idea they could survive a year with Winston D. as a strong side DE against rushing teams was ridiculous, and CC and Devers as anything more than third and long Rush Ends was ridiculous. At least they finally put Umlor out there. He tried hard and did not get blown up on every running play.
As far as good DL from the past, not mentioned yet, .Mike Sunvold, Garrett Brown, George Washington (the best 230 lb nose guard you'll ever see), Tom McCleod and a lot more I cant remember off hand. But we seldom had a bunch of them at the same time. Mason had one team with Schlect, a good DE, I forget which and TC at Safety if I remember right. If he had D's like that consistently we would have gone to the Rose Bowl, but he never had that kind of D again.
 

I hope you are correct. I know they did not want to burn red shirts, but the idea they could survive a year with Winston D. as a strong side DE against rushing teams was ridiculous, and CC and Devers as anything more than third and long Rush Ends was ridiculous. At least they finally put Umlor out there. He tried hard and did not get blown up on every running play.
As far as good DL from the past, not mentioned yet, .Mike Sunvold, Garrett Brown, George Washington (the best 230 lb nose guard you'll ever see), Tom McCleod and a lot more I cant remember off hand. But we seldom had a bunch of them at the same time. Mason had one team with Schlect, a good DE, I forget which and TC at Safety if I remember right. If he had D's like that consistently we would have gone to the Rose Bowl, but he never had that kind of D again.

Yeah, Winston really did struggle. He was forced to play out of position. I was actually really impressed with Umlor for a true FR. Am I crazy, did I read somewhere that we were moving him inside to DT?

Yeah, it was Schlect and Karon Riley. That team also had Willie Middlebrooks.
 

Yeah, Winston really did struggle. He was forced to play out of position. I was actually really impressed with Umlor for a true FR. Am I crazy, did I read somewhere that we were moving him inside to DT?

Yeah, it was Schlect and Karon Riley. That team also had Willie Middlebrooks.

That is correct. I believe that was reported in an earlier PJ interview that SON transcribed.
I think that the staff feels that Otomewo and some others will be an upgrade at that spot. Not sure who the others will be.
 

In my book, a really good coach can take almost any team and get more out of them. The old "he can take your'n and beat his'n" routine.

I'm always a little concerned when coaches say something like "we've got a great scheme, and you'll see it when we get the players we want in here."

In other words, our system works with the right players. But, what happens if you don't have the right players? that is why I would prefer to have a coaching staff that is willing and able to adjust and adapt to make the best use of the existing players. It's the old Tom Kelly philosophy - put players in a situation where they have the best chance of success and the lowest chance of failure.

And I second what Bob said - for all the hand-wringing about the offense last year, the Gophers allowed 30 points or more in a game 6 times last year. Their record in those games: 0-6. Their record in all other games: 5-1. If you're not set up to win shootouts, you need to hold the other team down. The Gophers need to do a better job of that this year.

Great post. I share your thoughts! This is why I think Aranda(Sp?) and others like him (Gary Patterson, Claeys, Sawvel,...) were very smart in realizing that if they couldn't get four to six DT's in that 6'2" or taller and 300 plus pound range with athletic ability, then they needed develop alternate schemes utilizing the talent they had and put a sound defense on the field.
 

Yeah, Winston really did struggle. He was forced to play out of position. I was actually really impressed with Umlor for a true FR. Am I crazy, did I read somewhere that we were moving him inside to DT?

Yeah, it was Schlect and Karon Riley. That team also had Willie Middlebrooks.

IIRC You are refering to the 1999 team. DL: Dyron Russ, Schlect, Jon Michals, Karon Riley, with T.C., Jimmy Wyrick, Jack Brewer, and Michael Lehan in the secondary. Russ and Michals were beasts.
 

IIRC You are refering to the 1999 team. DL: Dyron Russ, Schlect, Jon Michals, Karon Riley, with T.C., Jimmy Wyrick, Jack Brewer, and Michael Lehan in the secondary. Russ and Michals were beasts.

Thanks for the rest of that D, there were more good players on that defense than I remembered. As long as I am spinning off topic, the other issue Mase had was he never grasped how much offensive football had changed to more passing.
When he had a really good DE, we had a decent D, when we did not we could not keep enough fresh dbacks on the field to finish the game
 


Just off the top of my head - the Gophers have had very few really dominant DL since the Golden days of Bobby Bell and Carl Eller.

They've had good DL like Schlecht, but more often than not, the Gophers' DL types have been the "gritty over-achiever" type, not a truly dominant DL.

So help my feeble memory - outside of Ra'shede Hageman (2nd round NFL draft choice), who were some of the best DL for the gophers? I guess Karon Riley and Lamanzer Williams come to mind. Anthony Montgomery was one of those guys who had potential, but never seemed to play as well as people hoped.

Thoughts? Who am I forgetting?

I agree about Bell and Eller (you could throw in Outland winner Tom Brown as well). How about Willie VanDeSteeg? Karl Mecklenburg was second-team All-Big Ten but really got better when he moved to the NFL.
 




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