Comfort Zone
April 28, 2008 09:10 AM | General
April 28, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Comfort is a big deal for football players. It’s not the comfort that a plush couch or a hammock in the backyard might afford, but rather the ability to be comfortable in one’s actions - to react rather than to think on the football field. That is just as important as any physical tool a player might possess.
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| Pat Lazear makes the move from sam to mike linebacker this fall.
Pete Emerson photo |
That read-and-react ability is more essential to playing linebacker than perhaps any other position on the field. Take a second too long to think and a lineman is on you. Pause to take in a situation and a running back blows by you. Anticipate a play as it develops - or perhaps even before - and you have a chance to be successful.
Sophomore linebacker Pat Lazear has made that transition from dazed and confused to fully comfortable this spring. The Bethesda, Md., native made 13 tackles last year, mainly as a special team standout, but he did appear in several games playing sam linebacker. He will be the first to tell you that he was anything but comfortable in his first year playing in the Mountaineers’ 3-3-5 scheme.
“Last year I wouldn’t even consider myself part of the defense. I didn’t know anything to be honest. I was just running around playing like I did in high school,” Lazear said. “Now I’m starting to understand it a little bit more. I have improved by leaps and bounds compared to last year.”
This spring Mortty Ivy made the move over to the sam (strongside LB) spot while J.T. Thomas is handling the duties on the other side at the will (weakside LB). That moved Lazear inside to the mike (middle LB) spot where he split time with Anthony Leonard taking reps with the first team in place of the injured Reed Williams, who sat out the spring with a shoulder injury.
Lazear believes that the move inside will allow him to react quicker and be more disruptive to opposing offenses.
“I’m really just learning this defense now so I’m beginning to understand the mike. I didn’t even know the sam very well last year,” Lazear said. “The mike is a more instinctive position so I think I fit better there and I’m hoping to be really successful.”
Now that he is on the inside of the defense, Lazear is trying to get past guards and centers coming right at him for the first time in his career.
“Personally, I need to work on getting off linemen now that I’m in the middle,” Lazear said. “I’ve never really dealt with that before. I need to just use the drills that we do to get better at that and fine tune some things.”
The next step in his progression will be to understand every position’s responsibility on the defense and to develop a better grasp of what the unit is trying to accomplish as a whole – getting a better handle on the big picture.
“I need to understand the defense and everyone’s role a little more. Now I know all the linebacker’s positions,” Lazear said. “I would like to know everyone’s position and what they are supposed to do.”
To gain that understanding Lazear has relied on the film room, a place where he has studied the game since his days in high school.
“I watched a lot of film in high school. I probably averaged about 10 hours a week so I’m pretty good at being able to pick up on stuff like that,” Lazear said. “I’m pretty good at reading the lineman’s eyes.”
As spring turns to summer and fall camp looms on the horizon, Lazear hopes to develop into a force among a deep group of Mountaineer linebackers.
“I’m playing with a lot more confidence now. I’ve probably grown 200 percent as a linebacker from last season,” Lazear said. “I’m a lot more comfortable.”
Pat Lazear’s newfound comfort could make opposing offenses very uncomfortable next fall.
