Causing disruption

The 2014 Longhorn defense featured a core group of Seniors that extended through every position group in the starting 11. For Charlie Strong and Vance Bedford, one of the priorities of Spring practices is finding new playmakers and leaders at those positions.

On Tuesday afternoon, Strong met with the media to provide an update on how the team has progressed in the first week of drills. Strong hit all the normal talking points on fundamentals, tackling, competition, and, of course, there was talk about Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard, but interspersed throughout the press conference were several clues about how the 2015 defense will look.

Before talking about specific players, Strong mentioned the defense during an update on the new up-tempo offense Texas is installing. According to the head coach, the pace of the offense is wearing down the defense. “By play 4, they’re shot,” Strong said.

Continuing to critique the defense, Strong said the offense was able to take the ball and, “smash it forward” during goal line drills – good news for the offensive line, but not a ringing endorsement of the defense. Continuing to talk from a high level perspective, Strong added, “Defensively I’d like to see us tackle better and not give up the big play.”

It wasn’t until Strong was asked a question about whether this year’s defense will favor a nickel (five defensive backs) formation that Strong started talking specific players, positions, and alignments. With respect to how the defense will line up, Strong said, “We can play three and four down [linemen]. Naashon [Hughes] is standing up so we can always move to a four down because he’s a ‘backer and can become your 4th rusher.”

Strong continued talking about the defensive fronts, saying, “Three going to four; Four going to three – we’re just trying to confuse the offense. When you show three down, you want those ‘backers that move around and make sure it’s causing disruption for the offense.”

As for the three down linemen that are seeing first-team repetitions, Hassan Ridgeway, Bryce Cottrell and Shiro Davis all drew praise from Strong, “Ridgeway is doing a great job for us. Cottrell has really taken a step up. Shiro is…the most surprising right now – just how hard he’s working. Every time you look up he’s making a play.” Strong also mentioned that Caleb Bluiett is working hard.

At linebacker, it’s clear that Peter Jinkens and Dalton Santos are the first option. Beyond those two players, Strong only mentioned Edwin Freeman, Tim Cole and “some bodies”. Freeman drew praise as being a sure tackler, explosive, and athletic.

Whether it’s as a third linebacker or fourth d-lineman, Strong preached the need for flexibility in the position, “When you have an athletic guy like Naashon [Hughes] and Malik [Jefferson], because Malik can play that position also, when you have two guys like that who can rush, but they’re also athletic enough where they can drop into coverage.”

At cornerback, Strong confirmed that Sheroid Evans sustained a non-contact knee injury. Evans will miss the remainder of Spring practice, and there is no timetable for his return.

With Duke Thomas anchoring one cornerback spot, the absence of Evans is an opportunity for several players to gain the coaching staff’s attention. Strong said competition at the spot has been solid and Bryson Echols was the first player he named at the position. Competing with Echols are John Bonney, Antwaun Davis, and Jermaine Roberts.

As for leadership on the defensive side of the ball, Strong specifically mentioned Duke Thomas and Dalton Santos as players stepping into bigger vocal roles on the team.