AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > June > 24 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDarryl Richard sings — but not blues — in Macon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Time moves so slowly at this time of year, and after little sleep last night and more driving today than I felt reasonable, I’m in the mood to beat a dead horse some more. So … not for the first time will I invoke and marvel over Tech’s refusal to adequately adjust defensively last season (and beyond). Can we make a song of this?
A look back still boggles my mind, much as nuclear fusion scrambles my gray matter (does it yours?), or the way it baffles to see an extra large, morbidly obese person stuff his/her face in public with no regard for appearance let alone effect.
Twas satisfying this morning when I was at the Peachstate Pigskin Preview in Macon, speaking with Tech DT Darryl Richard — a wizened young man — about upcoming changes to the Jackets’ defense. It was glorious, in fact, when he circled round to my favorite example of this problem without my even asking about it. He was smiling and smiling, clearly delighted at the prospect of what lies ahead, the realization before even playing a game that Tech will be more multiple defensively than in years.
Richard will tell you he loves music nearly as he does football. Tuesday, he seemed at times to sing.
Read on, and you’ll see:
The Jackets haven’t practiced for two months, but forget the layoff and believe me when I say that while the offense may have a way to go before players comfortably grasp what will be expected of them (does that make them comfortably numb?), the defense has a good grip on what’s going on in the mind of new coordinator Dave Wommack. Especially the D-line.
And they like it.
If you were there — and you didn’t expire in frustration — last fall when Boston College and QB Matt Ryan melted Tech’s defense like butter that defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta refused to take out of the sun, then you remember.
As usual, Tech blitzed, and blitzed, and blitzed. And Ryan kept completing pass after pass after pass. He got knocked around a little, but when he didn’t, he just speared the Jackets. It was a clinic. But on what? What to do offensively, or not to do defensively? On pass protection? How to pass your way to being a top 5 pick in the NFL draft? Or sheer bullheadedness? (Multiple choice; pick two)
Two ways generally, in my opinion, to slow a passing attack: throw the quarterback out of rhythm or defend the ball at the target. That night, Tenuta kept throwing the kitchen sink, and BC kept shutting them off, completing passes even though the Eagles were only sending two or three out per play in most instances.
It blew my mind last fall when I asked coach Gailey if he ever would call upstairs to his coordinator and insist on a philosophical change defensively in a game going poorly. He said no because Tenuta had too much experience and he didn’t want to meddle with his DC.
I’ve asked Johnson about this, and he has answered differently, as you know if you read some of the interview I did a couple months ago. In sum, he doesn’t want to meddle either, but if the defense is wetting the bed and it’s obvious part of the problem is schematic, somebody’s going to get an earful on the headphones.
So Richard is talking about the pure joy of change, the unburdening of souls (I’ve heard of similar sentiments in coaches’ offices), etc. “Our front four has been freed up to make plays,” he said, almost singing. “In the past, we pressured by scheme, not by winning personal battles.”
So he’s tickled at the prospect of challenge, apparently relieved that the new schemes count on d-linemen to do more than chew up blockers and space: “I think when you have a unit that has three seniors who have played a lot of football (Michael Johnson, Darryl and Vance Walker), you can show these younger guys how to play the game. It’s almost an expectation. It’s not, can you get it done?”
And then it just came out:
“In the past, you had teams that set up their blocking schemes for that [hells bells pressure, non-stop]. When you have a Boston College — and we took a lot of criticism for this — that said, ‘Let’s do some max protection, and hold in seven or eight guys, and run two-man or three-man routes … that doesn’t happen a lot in college football.’ Now, we’re going to tell a team if you do that to us, we’re going to have five or six guys back there waiting on you to throw the ball.”
Ah, the summation, the freeing of a songbird: “Now, instead of only offenses attacking us different ways, changing to see what works or doesn’t, we’re going to change what we do, change the way we attack you as we go.”
Tech’s linebackers will be OK. The secondary has questions I can’t answer, but I bet they double their interceptions. And the D-line is going to rock.
Bet they all have more fun, too, freebirds of a sort.
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Comments
By I Bleed White and Gold
June 25, 2008 1:34 AM | Link to this
Nuclear fusion isn’t so tough. It’s fission that makes me think twice!
By Observer
June 25, 2008 8:08 AM | Link to this
I certainly hope I’m wrong but this sounds a lot like the “read and react” defenses that preceded Tenuta. That type of defensive philosophy doesn’t usually yield many big plays but it gives up a LOT of 5-10 yard gains. I hope that’s not what we’re going to see.
Here’s hoping that I’m pleasantly surprised.
By An honest prediction...
June 25, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this
Tech will be competitive in alot of games this year but I think its expecting too much to think they’ll do much better than 7-5. That’s the good news. The bad news is 5-7 or 4-8 isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility either. Be patient Tech fans. You lost alot of experience and Johnson doesn’t have much to work with this year.
An honest prediction: 6-6
By gtNC
June 25, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this
Matt - nice blog (I’ll pretend you care what I think). If fans like myself were itching for a change, I can only imagine how the players felt. As I understand it, Wommack still runs an aggressive D, but it’s great to hear that they’ll change it up a little. Especially this year where our D-line is probably the strongest part of our team, it’s good to let those guys make some things happen.
By cv
June 25, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this
I like the obese person comment… that’s funny right there.
By Matt Winkeljohn
June 25, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
I’m no more clear with fission than fusion. Reverse a process I don’t really get, and I still don’t get it.
Matt
By m
June 25, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this
First of all, Chan Gailey is the WORST coach in the history of the NCAA. Second, Jon Tenuta, although a billion times better than Gailey, was stubborn as a mule, and absolutely would not adapt if his scheme was not working. So Tech evolved into a team that either sacked the QB, or got burned…no in between. And since Gailey was so clueless, he just sat back and allowed it to happen. Thank GOD and GREYHOUND that they are BOTH gone. We now have a REAL college football coach. Hallleeeedamloooyah!!!!
By SanDiegoJacket
June 25, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this
Matt
Nuclear fission is easy for this nuclear engineer…..just fill a basketball court with mouse traps loaded with ping pong balls. Then just throw one ping pong ball onto the court and watch what happens….that’s fission!!
By vamosjackets
June 25, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this
You can criticize Tenuta in specific examples, but it’s tough to criticize his overall results: a consistently top 25 defense with normally not top tier recruiting classes. Under Tenuta we shut down some very powerful offenses, especially in the running game. Every defense has a weakness and Tenuta picked his poison wisely. He dictated to the offense what they would have to do to move the ball - low percentage, precision passing while under INTENSE pressure from everywhere. Most teams couldn’t do much against us. Defense was not our problem the last 7 seasons - Duh! Johnson wanted to keep Tenuta, but he went on to other things.
I will certainly give our new DC the benefit of the doubt for a couple of seasons, and the changes sound reasonable. But, will we be able to shut down good running games like we did in the past? That’s what makes a good college defense. Most of our blitzes were designed to shut down the run then pressure the pass. Sure, it sounds good to say that now we’re relying more on winning personal battles than on scheme to provide pressure, but can we (GT) count on that year in and year out. We are never going to be able to have top tier recruiting every year because of academics, so it makes sense to me to base our success off of scheme rather than winning personal battles. We won’t always have the luxury of Richard, Walker, and Johnson on the D-Line. What then?
I believe Johnson’s offense has a chance to be great, but to get to where we want to be we have to have greatness on both sides of the ball. We had that consistently top 25 defense already, but now, it’s not so certain. Defense has been what has kept our program respectable in recent years and I believe in the Johnson era, that defense will be the difference in good and great. I remain extremely hopeful with a touch of apprehension.
By Zeke
June 25, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this
Hmmm. Last year was it not here in this blog that the cry was long and loud to fire Gailey and hire Tenuta “immediately”? A prime example of bandwagon Tech fans. From hero to goat at the speed of light. Typical and indicative of why Tech will always be a loser.
By exNFLplayer
June 25, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
In a nutshell, Tech’s issues on defense will be the same issues from last year. One word. Depth. Tenuta’s defenses were gassed to many times in the 4th quarter. Why? He could play only 15 players. This year the problem will be the same. Tech will have a hard time winning personal battles into the 4th quarter again this year against teams that go 2 and 3 deep. Until Tech manages to figure out how to develop depth it is not foreseeable that they can win more than 6 or 7 games per year for quite some time.
By wes
June 25, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this
Tenuta was an amazing DC.
He got lit up ONCE by one of the top picks in the NFL draft? So what?
How many points did Tech score in that game? I remember ZERO in the 1st half.
Having gailey gone and a competent guy like Wommack should be a recipe for success…just didn’t think Tenuta was the reason for MEDIOCRITY.
Gailey was mediocre. I wonder if Tenuta ever felt like “meddling” with Chan’s sorry offense?
By MC
June 25, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
Wes check your facts. Tenuta’s D got lit up a multitude of times. Go back and check scores from lets say the past 3 years and then come back and say he only got lit up ONCE. I think exNFLplayer in his post above gave you the reason for it as well. Let me give you a starting point wes. Clemson 31-7 and VT 51-7. You will find alot more than that if you look.
By vamosjackets
June 25, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this
MC, you might want to check your facts as well. Every defense has games like those - even the best ones like USC, LSU, Rutgers, etc. No matter how good the offense or defense is there are gonna be games where they have trouble, that’s why you’ve got to have both sides of the ball in the top tier, so that when the offense struggles, the defense gives you a chance to win and vice versa. You can win the 10-7 games and the 42-38 games. Tenuta’s defense had a few bad games but he obviously had less of those and did better overall than 90% of other defenses out there and with less than top tier recruiting classes.
By yellowblood
June 25, 2008 12:15 PM | Link to this
fission is what happens to me when I engage in a great Sanford Stadium ticklepile with my Bulldog breathren. Sigh….
By ATL GT
June 25, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this
I agree with both MC and exNFLplayer…..Tenuta’s defense got lit up multiple times in the past 3 years. The BC game last season was simply a prime example. Va Tech last season essentially did the same thing in their win over us. Glennon went 22 for 33 and had a little 300 yards with 2 TDs. Not quite as good as Ryan’s stats, but more than enough to win the game comfortably. As many have mentioned before, it was about feast or famine with JT. Tenuta brought GT defense some great stats and held down some darn good teams, but he was inflexibile in his scheme. Even if it wasn’t working, he kept with it. This absolutely killed us in several games.
Also, I personally believe that many teams we play on a regular basis started to catch on in how to defend Tenuta’s scheme. If you make Chris Turner from Maryland look like an all-star, you’ve got defensive issues. More and more we saw teams throw that 10 yard out that is ALWAYS OPEN in a Tenuta scheme. If you were playing Tenuta’s scheme, as long as you were comfortable getting hit 7-10 times a game and you could stay calm in the pocket, you could put up some points on this defense. Now I’m not saying that Wommack is the answer because no one knows. People still need to remember that we aren’t going to some passive, four man rush only type defense like what BC employs. Wommack has stated that he will still be very aggressive in his play calling. However, the key here is FLEXIBILITY. If the blitz isn’t working, then back off and drop 6-7 in coverage. Mix zone blitzes with bump-and-run coverage. Send seven on one play, but drop seven or even eight on the next. A great D-Line can hide alot of weaknesses in a defense, plus it gives a defense alot of options on how to attack an offense.
As for the depth issue, this is most apparent in ALL of the UGA games in the past three years, as well as the ND game of ‘06. In all of these games, we went toe to toe with a bigger and better school for three quarters, only to tire out in the fourth. UGA had their game winning drives in the ‘05 and ‘06 games late in the fourth. ND in ‘06 also won the game in the fourth by wearing down a run defense that had held down Dairus Walker all night. We simply did not have the depth, especially in comparison to UGA, to sub out defensive players of compariable talent to the staters.
However, I think the issue of depth will become somewhat of a lesser issue with CPJ. One the big reasons why this lack of depth killed us so often was because our offense was many times just putrid at converting third down. It was common, even with Calvin and Choice, to see a 2 for 13 on third down conversions stat for the game. No team can have sustained success when it’s defense is on the field as much as we were. Now with CPJ, once his offense is will intergrated with the team, is built upon the ground attack and ball control. This will limit the time the defense has to spend on the field, and will thereby lessen the possibility that the lack of depth will hurt us late in fourth quarters of big games.
By MC
June 25, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this
ATTENTION…………Terence Moore has a front page article saying Whites shouldnt side with Don Imus, and that Al Sharpton is a good man. Comments of protest to Mr Moores site are being deleted. Please go to AJC Conact infoand send a letter of protest for Mr Moores dispicable attitude.
By mem
June 25, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this
Agree with you wholeheartedly vamos. Defense wasn’t the problem over the last 7 years as a whole, and all this talk about change on the defense just makes we a little wary - change isn’t always a good thing, and your point about personal battles vs. scheme was dead-on in my opinion.
I’m not saying Womack won’t do good things as well - I’m just saying I don’t know. Just don’t assume that change means things will necessarily be better. Since the previous regime was consistently top 25 in defense, I personally didn’t think change was necessary!
Just one man’s opinion.
By stephonmarbury
June 25, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this
Me like fission.
By vamosjackets
June 25, 2008 2:49 PM | Link to this
Well said mem.
Name a defense that hasn’t gotten lit up in a few games. Like I said, we have a chance to have an offense that can win games like that.
Biggest question to me: Will we be able to shut down the run?
By mem
June 25, 2008 3:02 PM | Link to this
Terence Moore is a N**** that looks like Buckwheat, now Pick that Cotton, Boy.
By Casey-Tiffany
June 25, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this
Hello my fans, Just made up the cutest cheer for our team, ready…..Jackets, Jackets….Black and Gold…Jackets, Jackets,..We wont fold….Jackets, Jackets, Hanky Panky…Jackets, Jackets, Win and Spank Me,…tee.
By yellowblood
June 25, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this
Darryl is a great kid and very bright. I have participated in several Tickle Piles with him and he always comes up big.THWG!!!
By Matty Ice
June 25, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this
I was successful completing passes vs. GT last season becasue my OL held on most every play and the refs never called it.
By surfrider
June 25, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this
This kind of sounds like Randy Edsall’s defense of 1998 or O’leary’s of 1989-1991 (pre late 90’s O’leary style). Where the defense relied on talent and some matchup’s and played an attacking, agressive D that looked for momentum game changers..Ie..big play/turnovers and even scoring opportunities. In my opinion at first look Tenuta did’nt have the talent some of those D’s had. Tenuta did well with what he had plus he developed talent well.
By TenutaTorched
June 25, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
Tenuta Torched: 34-17 UGA 31-17 UGA 40-28 Fresno 34-13 UNC 27-3 Miami 34-20 VT 30-10 UVA 39-3 Clemson 41-17 DUKE (LMAO) 29-17 UVA 38-10 Emerald Nut Bowl (LMAO redoux) 51-7 VT 31-7 Clemson 38-35 WV 24-10 BC 28-23 UVA 28-26 UM 27-3 VT
I rest my case.
By MC
June 25, 2008 5:40 PM | Link to this
By vamosjackets
June 25, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this
MC, you might want to check your facts as well. Every defense has games like those - even the best ones like USC, LSU, Rutgers, etc.
vamosjackets, see TenutaTorched at 5:15. Those are the facts. And if you want to take it farther look at the games Tech won where their D gave up an excessive number of points.
By Outsider
June 25, 2008 5:43 PM | Link to this
Tenuta’s defenses could never come up big in games that mattered. That’s what stands out to me.
By vamosjackets
June 25, 2008 11:43 PM | Link to this
I never said some teams didn’t get the best of his defense. One thing I know I said that you ignored with good reason is “name a defense that hasn’t gotten torched in a few games” There isn’t one … anywhere. He held Ugagme to low scores in 4 out of 7 games - all games we should’ve won that the offense was the culprit. Again, there are going to be a few games where even a good defense gets lit up or even a good offense gets shut down. You’ve got to have both in the top 25 in order to be a top 10 team.
By vamosjackets
June 25, 2008 11:48 PM | Link to this
With Tenuta, I always felt that no matter the opponent or the OC on the other sideline, our defense would give us a chance to win the game.
I know there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I am pulling hard for Wommack to keep our defense in the upper echelon and maybe make it even better. I also will not be judging him based on this year’s results.
By Glenn
June 26, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this
Matt, I think you misused the word “wizened” to describe Darryl Richard—unless there’s been some change in his appearance that we should know about. Here’s the definition of “wizen”: to become dry, shrunken, and wrinkled often as a result of aging or of failing vitality.