An important question surrounding each UT position group (defense)

If you’re reading this, congratulations on surviving yet another offseason. 

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Steve Sarkisian just finished his press conference and it appears he likes, but doesn’t love this team. It sounds like progress has been made, with one quote in particular offering hope for improved defense. Sark said the defense is “playing as one. We’re not playing as 11 individuals but we’re actually playing as one.” Steve Sarkisian’s first press conference of the 2022 season (from earlier today)

If the defense is improved, and our sourcing has corroborated Sark throughout camp, it will relieve pressure from the offense to out-gun opponents week in and week out. 

Last week we talked about questions for each offensive position. Today we’ll discuss the defense. If UT improves each aspect, Pete Kwiatkowski’s somewhat tarnished reputation will return much of its shine.

Can the edges (Jack, Buck) consistently box in the run?

Much of the offseason was spent discussing lack of pass rush, and of course that’s a valid concern, but this unit is not likely to excel in that regard therefore it needs to play to its strengths. The personnel should be much improved setting a hard edge, and if that’s the case, the defense is nearly guaranteed to be better than last year. Barryn Sorrell, Justice Finkley, Ovie Oghoufo, and Ethan Burke have all played the run well in August. That needs to continue when they’re far less familiar with the offense they’re playing.

If you do want to discuss pass rush, Oghoufo, Burke, and J’Mond Tapp have the best traits to get after the quarterback. But first thing’s first, stopping the run.

Can Bo Davis maximize Alfred Collins and T’Vondre Sweat?

The highest upside position group on defense is defensive tackle, yet the starters are not the highest upside players. Moro Ojomo is a steady, technical veteran, and Byron Murphy is a promising pit bull on an NFL trend-line, but neither possess desired NFL measurables like Collins and Sweat. Collins and Sweat have enough raw talent to be quality college players, but they should be two of the best defensive players in the conference. The program sorely needs them to play more consistently, and also help generate an interior pass rush.

How much will the defense be in base?

This is a schematic question as much as it is positional, but it directly effects linebacker. The addition of Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey should allow Kwiatkowski to get creative with his deployment of DeMarvion Overshown. This could end up being the best way to address the lack of pass rush. Tucker-Dorsey is everything Overshown has not been to this point — an in-the-box thumper who wins snaps thanks to his ability to find the ball carrier in traffic. This is no slight to Overshown, he clearly has his own set of unique gifts. A grouping of Jaylan Ford, Tucker-Dorsey, and Overshown is quite complementary. That means they can be played to their strengths, and in the case of Overshown, that being put in position to win with his athleticism and length.

In the absence of a pass rush, how long can the corners hold up?

Invariably a corner will give up a pass after the quarterback had all day to drop back and survey the field. Fans will decry the corner when the real culprit is lack of pressure on the QB. Given concerns over the ability to generate pressure on the passer, the corners have a tall task this season. Being in ‘man’ coverage should help the corners disrupt timing with receivers and hopefully buy time for the defensive line to get in the back field and put the QB in a scramble drill. Selecting for athletes with more corner traits should also help at Star (nickel). Jahdae Barron might be the best cover-man in the program. Promising Jaylon Guilbeau is also a corner-first athlete at Star.

How improved are the safeties at providing run support from depth?

I think the safeties will cover pretty well this season. They may have a busted assignment here or there, but as far as owning the athletic traits to cover deep they have the feet, hips, and initial quickness to stick with threats over the middle of the field. Speed/range as a help defender may not be great, but overall they should be okay in coverage. How fast this grouping triggers downhill to help with the run is a concern dating back to last season, where they were poor to abysmal. In their defense they didn’t have a lot of help in front of them. Rarely did the safeties have a predictable route to the ball carrier. Assuming that improves, this group will need to get ball carriers down on the ground as close to the line of scrimmage as reasonably possible. 

The biggest question of course, is what Sark mentioned in his press conference. Just how improved are they playing as an 11 man unit? We know communication is night and day from last season. Sark’s comments offer further hope we’ll see demonstrable improvement this season.