Haines, Boyette focus on communication problems, defensive coaching
Dylan Haines. (Justin Wells/IT)
AUSTIN — Defensive coordinator Vance Bedford is currently in his third season at Texas. After fielding a defense in 2014 that stopped many of the prolific offenses of the Big 12, Bedford has seen his defense go from strong to porous. Even with a senior in Dylan Haines in his defensive backfield and Paul Boyette, Jr. on his front line, the Texas defense had multiple breakdowns in communication that lead to multiple Golden Bear scores.
For Haines, who has been the starting safety at Texas for three years, the explanation as to why Texas got beat so often is something he feels happens at every program.
“It happens at every team,” Haines said. “No matter how much experience you have, there’s going to be breakdowns. The other night was a few too many. There’s no right or wrong answer as to why that happened. It’s just something we’re going to have look at on film and see why certain people were thinking the way they were and the way that they should play the coverage and cover the certain people.”
As fans begin to ask more of their defense, Haines fielded questions about his defensive coordinator and his coaching style. Haines was quick to defend Bedford and the rest of the coaching staff
“I’ve played under him for three years now,” Haines said. “He’s always had us well-prepared each week. He gives us everything that we need to know. Like he says, each week is a test and he gives us all the answers. I truly believe that. We get all the tip sheets, favorite route combinations, favorite plays and everything. If you take the time to study that, you can come well prepared into every game.
For Boyette, the entire defense has something they need to work on.
“We’ve just got to have confidence, communication, and extreme focus,” Boyette said. “Preparation has got to be on point. People have got to go out there and communicate, go out there and compete.”
Boyette repeated his team’s need to communicate better in games. When asked where specifically improvement was needed, Boyette provided a broad answer. “I think it’s the whole defense in general,” Boyette said.
Although 2-1 is a start most on the team are happy with, the Cal defeat is not a step the Horns wanted to take.
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“You never want to backtrack,” Boyette said. “We understand that in this game we took a step back. We understand its still non-conference. We understand our season starts next week in Stillwater so that’s where our focus has to be.”
Strong hinted in his press conference that he could expand his own responsibilities in coaching the defense. According to Boyette, Strong already has his hands on parts of the defense.
“[Strong] coaches the defense,” Boyette said. “He piggybacks on all the coaches. Coach Strong is a defensive minded coach. He’s a head coach. He comes in, gives his opinion, and that’s about it.”
If Strong wanted to have even more of his hands on the defense, Haines says the defense would accept it.
“I’ve played under Coach Bedford for three years,” Haines said. “I think he’s doing a great job. Coach Strong, he’s the head coach. If he wants to get more involved in anything, he has the right to do that. We all trust all the coaches and they know what’s best for us.”
