Physical Defense

By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
April 26, 2004


	Casteel

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s hard for West Virginia University defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel to pick out one particular strength in his defense, but he does admit it made considerable improvement by the end of spring practice.

“I think we can run. I think we’ve got a physical group; we were more physical this spring … more so than the first three groups we’ve had,” he said.

Having a more physical defense is something Casteel says is important in any defense, “Hopefully that’s something that will continue and that’s something we’re going to stress.”

Before the start of spring drills an area the coach said he wanted to take a close look at was the linebacker position where ideally he would like to have five or six players ready to rotate at three spots this season.

“I don’t know if we have five or six guys yet,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to settle in on who those guys are going to be until a week into fall camp. There’s going to be some room for some young guys to come in and compete also.”

The development of redshirt freshman Marc Magro at inside linebacker during senior Adam Lehnortt’s absence was an encouraging development, as was the continued progress of sophomore Jay Henry. Lehnortt, sidelined for the entire spring with off season shoulder surgery, is a proven commodity in the middle with sophomore Boo McLee and Scott Gyorko on the flanks. Casteel says having Lehnortt on the sidelines gave Magro a chance to get his feet wet.

“Obviously we’d rather have (Lehnortt) out there taking reps but he wasn’t and he was helping coach it and taking mental reps,” said Casteel. “That has really helped with Marc (Magro) getting more reps than he would have really gotten.”

The same goes for free safety where Jahmile Addae was held out of contact work while his shoulder continues to heal following surgery. Addae being limited forced Casteel to take a hard look at two quality youngsters in Vince Beamer and Ridwan Malik.

“The blessing this spring was that Jahmile has gotten reps both mentally and physically … he just didn’t hit anybody,” said Casteel. “Then when we got into contact we’ve had the chance to rep Vince Beamer and Ridwan Malik. Those guys really had great springs and that has helped us coaching wise by getting a chance to see those guys.”

Addae comes into the fall as West Virginia’s top free safety but Casteel admits he’s still got concerns about Jahmile’s tender shoulder.

“We’re assured that he’s going to be fully recovered but in the back of your mind until he basically goes through two or three weeks of contact and he has no issues then we’ll breathe a little easier,” he said.

The coach was pleased with the switch made at safety where they moved Mike Lorello closer to the line of scrimmage and placed Lawrence Audena out in the open field.

“Coming out of the spring I think that is where Mike is going to be best suited for him and for us,” said Casteel. “I think Lawrence is going to be fine over there at the open side … we’ve just got to find some depth behind those guys. There have been a lot of guys playing there but I don’t know if we’ve found anybody behind them yet.”

Audena came on strong at the end of last season, picking off a pass against Pitt and finishing the year with 25 total tackles, “We didn’t rep him a lot early in the year because he was kind of up and down,” said Casteel. “He’s a great athlete and a good kid and then we started playing him in the latter part of the year and he started making plays. I think it’s more of a thing where we’ve got to let him know we have confidence in him.”

Experiments aside, Casteel says the most pleasing aspect for him this spring was the physical nature his defense developed.

“From one group to the second group to the third group as a whole they played pretty physical,” he said. “Our young guys stepped up and got better … they progressed. We weren’t making the same mistakes either. You could see on film they did what we wanted them to do.

“We’ve got a good group of kids and we’ve just got to keep them all healthy and we’re going to have to play a lot of guys because I don’t think we’re overly talented,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of tough guys and we as coaches are going to have to find out what they’re strengths are and what they do best. The more we get them in the fall the more we’ll be able to tell that.”

Notebook:


	Jason Hardee has been labeled a surprise this spring by West Virginia's defensive coaches. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks)

Casteel singled out Craig Wilson, Jay Henry, Mike Lorello and Jahmile Addae as some of the “tough guys” on this year’s defense, “I think we’ve got a lot of them. We’ve got to continue to rep them and get better,” he said.

The defensive coaches were pleased with the progress senior Jason Hardee made at defensive end this spring. Hardee came to WVU initially as a tight end, “He doesn’t always do exactly what we want him to do but he makes plays: He’s a guy who has a knack for doing that,” said Casteel.

Defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich is in his second spring coaching West Virginia’s 3-3 stack defensive alignment preferred by head coach Rich Rodriguez. Kirelawich spent the first two seasons as player development coordinator before returning to the field last spring. The veteran coach believes his unit is a great deal ahead of where it was last year, “We should have a decent defensive line with more depth and I think the quality will be better,” he said. “We’re more experienced and beyond that, time will tell.”

Asked if he noticed any surprises along the defensive line Kirelawich mentioned several, “There were a few guys who were surprises,” he said. “I thought (Jason) Hardee was a nice surprise. I thought he came along pretty good in the spring. (Ben) Lynch is probably better now at nose than he was at the end of last season. Craig Wilson came along and I think Warren Young did pretty well. So did Aundrae Wright as far as surprises go. Wright is going to be a good football player. I don’t know if it’s going to be next year … early or late in the year or down the road but he’s going to be good at some point.”

An area Kirelawich admits West Virginia has to improve is its pass rush. The Mountaineers managed only 17 sacks last season. “Are they good enough to get 50 a year? I don’t know about that,” he said. “But I think they’re good enough to get more than they did last year. Much of that is about effort and these are the kind of guys who aren’t afraid to expend a little bit of effort.”

With the semester coming to a close, Kirelawich says it is important for West Virginia players to continue to make strides in the off season, “Basically what I tell them is they need to take everything and improve it by 10 percent. Just be a 10 percent overall better football player between now and the first game. If they can do that as a team we’ve got something going for ourselves.”

Season tickets for the 2004 Mountaineer football campaign are now on sale. They can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com

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