Bringing the Heat
July 30, 2009 11:51 AM | General
July 30, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It has been written many times here and in other places defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel's desire to bring more pressure this fall. A talented and more experienced defense in 2009 will enable him to do that.
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| David Lockwood said the Mountaineer defense must improve on third down.
Christie Kepner photo |
However, cornerbacks coach David Lockwood said blitzing can sometimes be a double-edged sword.
“The thing that people fail to realize is the people on the other side of the ball are good coaches, too, so they pick up a lot of those blitzes,” he said.
Lockwood, talking to reporters Wednesday morning at the Milan Puskar Center, said it is imperative that West Virginia improve on third down this year. Last season, opponents managed to convert 42 percent of their third down tries against West Virginia’s defense.
“First and second down we were pretty good (last year), and then when it becomes third down we have got to get off the field,” Lockwood said.
Making it easier for Casteel to dial up blitzes are the two corners Lockwood has to work with this fall in junior Brandon Hogan and sophomore Keith Tandy. Hogan showed consistent improvement as a sophomore and the coaches now believe that he has the instincts and the athletic ability to be a high-quality player in 2009.
Tandy acquitted himself in the second half of last year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl after having a tough go of it in the first half against first round draft pick Hakeem Nicks. Both Hogan and Tandy are former high school quarterbacks, meaning they have an advanced understanding of the passing game.
Lockwood is also excited about getting the opportunity to work with two outstanding freshman corners the Mountaineers signed last February in Pat Miller and Broderick Jenkins.
Miller played at Hoover High School in Birmingham, Ala. - one of the top prep programs in the state. He intercepted five passes as a senior to help Hoover to the Class 6A championship game. Miller was rated the 15th-best player in Alabama after his senior year by the Birmingham News.
Jenkins split time between defensive back and wide receiver at South Fort Myers High School, accumulating nearly 1,000 all-purpose yards on offense and making four interceptions and nine pass breakups on defense. He was named third team all-state, and was listed among the top 100 recruits in Florida.
“We know a lot about them,” Lockwood said. ‘We recruited them and evaluated them and we think they are very, very good kids that will both have a chance to help this program. From what I have heard from talking to some of the older guys, before it’s all said and done in three, four or five years these guys are going to help this program out.”
Like quarterback and offensive line, Lockwood said cornerback is a tough position for young players to come right in and master.
“If you ask a defensive coach what the toughest position to play is, I’m pretty sure they will tell you corner. It’s something where we can sit there as a coach and tell them a million times, ‘You’ve got to do this and you’ve got to do that’ – until they’ve actually been out there and got run by a couple of times and adjusted to the atmosphere, it’s tough for you to simulate that,” Lockwood explained. “That’s why kids in their third and fourth years all of the sudden get better because they have experience.”
What makes Lockwood’s job so interesting is that corners are so different. They develop, improve or regress at varying rates.
“The key there is finding out what they can and can’t do,” Lockwood said. “There are no crystal balls.”
If Miller and Jenkins show in training camp that they are good enough to play, Lockwood has no hesitation of putting them in there. And if they are not ready, Lockwood said the plan will be to get them prepared for the future. Sometimes, however, the best-made plans can go out of the window during the heat of battle.
“Injuries can happen,” said Lockwood. “Some guy goes down, you turn around and the next thing you know you’re throwing that guy into the game. Later you’re sitting on the plane and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh.’ We’ll take care of that by simply not taking the kids on the trips so we are not put into that situation.”
Lockwood is pleased with what he has been hearing from the strength coaches and some of the older players about the way the team has been working this summer. All indications are that the Mountaineer players are in terrific shape.
“I have heard nothing but great things – positive things, especially from the older guys,” he said “They have said this is the best summer since they’ve been here and as coaches that makes us feel real good. When you look at our season, and the length of our season, there is no doubt that will pay off some time during the year.”
Another big payoff for the Mountaineer program could come in late August if Ellis Lankster sticks with the Buffalo Bills. Lankster’s career was going nowhere at WVU until Lockwood arrived. Now it looks like he is going to be playing professional football this fall.
“What Ellis did from day one was he accepted me as a coach,” Lockwood said. “He believed in what I was telling him and what I was teaching him. He did it. I just told him what he needed to do.
“I didn’t go out there and tackle those guys. I didn’t go out there and do all of that extra running. That is one great thing that Ellis did.”
Lockwood said he can use what Lankster was able to accomplish for himself as a good example for the younger players.
“I think that will help some of our guys coming back … if they sit there and look at what Ellis did and say, ‘If I put myself in that situation there is no telling what I can do.’ That’s what I tell all of the guys. You look at Ellis two years before I got here and he was kind of out of the picture.
“Now look at him.”
