Gibson: Year Two Should be a Year Better
March 31, 2015 03:27 PM | General
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| Second-year defensive coordinator Tony Gibson expects his unit to be much improved this fall. | |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
“For the first time in four springs (the players) can go in and watch the film and say, ‘Oh, OK, here’s what we did right and here’s what we did wrong and here’s what we need to work on.’ This is the first time any of these kids on the roster have done that,” said Gibson.
Yes, the stack is back after three years in hibernation. Gibson said there may be some tweaks and there may be times when the Mountaineers jump into four-and-five-man fronts in certain situations, but the basis of this defense is a zero-nose with two 4-5-techniques lined up on the outside.
“We’re still going to play with three D-linemen, three linebackers and five DBs,” he said. “Where we’re going to change a few things is maybe add some stuff, some different pressures and maybe tweak a blitz here and there.”
(More on that later.)
Think about it, for years, players here were recruited to play a specific way of defense and were indoctrinated in that style of play from the moment they walked though the doors of the Puskar Center.
Carry over was seamless from year to year because the guys were taught a certain way, good habits were reinforced through film study, the rest of the guys on the team understood what was expected of them and the intricacies of the system were soon embedded in everyone.
It was more than just playing a specific scheme – it was an attitude and an identity – West Virginia’s way of playing defense.
And what they were doing was working, specifically here where five-star defensive linemen don’t grow on trees.
“They talk about all these great coaches out there,” said Gibson. “What makes great coaches are great players. That’s throughout the country. We’ve all heard it. ‘Whoa, this guy is unbelievable. This guy is a great coach.’ What makes you a good coach is your players. Scheme wise, a lot of people do a lot of different things and have a lot of success with a lot of it, but you better have the players to do it.”
Playing the way West Virginia does on defense helps them get those players. The Mountaineers play a scheme that only requires three defensive linemen because getting good D-linemen is a lot like hitting six numbers on your lottery ticket – it ain’t easy.
“People can use (the scheme) against you,” said Gibson. “Why are you going there? They don’t really play with true D-ends, which is false. What has helped us is now you look at the NFL and about 80 percent of the teams are playing three down guys. That’s what everybody’s doing now.
“Do we want those big guys out on the edge that can run 4.8s like they’ve got at Alabama? You bet, but everybody wants those guys. It’s hard,” said Gibson.
The way West Virginia has been able to get those guys is by developing them. Take a player who is long and lean and get him in the weight room. Then, two years later he’s 250-260 pounds and can still run. Now you are in business.
Do you remember players such as Keilen Dykes, Scooter Berry, Julian Miller and Johnny Dingle? These guys developed into outstanding college football players and the Mountaineers won a lot of games with them in the lineup.
“That’s our No. 1 key,” Gibson said. “You have to recruit, but our biggest job as coaches is to develop our players. How many five-star players have we had in the history of our school? One or two? How did that work out? What you better do is go and recruit a guy that wants to be here that’s going to fit into our system and then we better develop them as coaches. That’s our job.”
This way of doing things served West Virginia well for a long, long time and helped the Mountaineer program reach heights never before achieved.
From 2005 to 2011, when West Virginia won Sugar, Fiesta and Orange bowls, the Mountaineers ranked near the upper third of most team defensive categories during that period of time.
Specifically, four times from 2005 to 2010, West Virginia ranked among the nation’s top 20 in rushing defense. Four times the Mountaineers ranked among the top 20 in scoring defense and three times they ranked among the top 20 in total defense.
Since then, it’s been a long climb back to the top, but the defense finally took some positive strides last year, Gibson’s first running the defense.
The Mountaineers got back toward the middle of the pack in total defense and rushing defense while ranking fairly high in pass efficiency defense and third down conversion defense.
The two areas that were albatrosses for the Mountaineers, scoring defense and pass defense, also improved last season.
With basically 10 starters returning from last year’s defense when you add 2013 starting linebacker Jared Barber back into the equation, Gibson sees no reason why the Mountaineers can’t play even better in 2015.
“I’m not going to hide behind this: I think we should be great on defense and if we’re not then it’s directly on me,” he said. “I’ve told our defensive kids this. If we’re not really good, or among the best in this league, then I’m going to be disappointed.”
New defensive line coach Bruce Tall, who worked eight years with Gibson at West Virginia and Michigan, said Gibson has added a few of his own wrinkles to a scheme that has become synonymous with Mountaineer defense.
For one thing, Gibson is not afraid to come after people.
“Looking back at it I knew we pressured a lot; obviously you get caught up in a season and you’re going and things are rolling, but when you really go back and break it down and watch it Coach DeFo (DeForest) and Coach Mitchell, they had a lot harder job than I thought,” admitted Gibson.
You can blitz a lot when you’ve got experienced and talented players in the secondary, which Gibson believes he has this year.
“The one thing I’ve learned as defensive coordinator is you call a base front and base coverage and your kids play that way,” he said. “When you blitz, and I’ve been around teams and I’ve been a secondary guy, when you’re blitzing I was scared because I knew what was out there and I knew they were scared because they weren’t confident. When you have a bunch of guys that are confident and they’ve got an aggressive mentality when you call blitzes they get excited.”
More importantly than simply bringing pressure, says Gibson, is making sure it’s effective when it is used. There were times last year (think TCU and Texas A&M) when West Virginia blitzed and it didn’t work. There were times, too, when West Virginia sat back and kept everything in front of them with great success (think second half of the Iowa State game).
Gibson said having a year of tape to study how teams attacked his defense is going to help him make calls this fall.
“The thing that is so different and that people don’t understand and the question everyone asks: how are they going to attack you? What do you think? Well, we didn’t know because it was the first time for everybody in the Big 12 to see it.
“When we knew what they were going to do after about the first quarter then we had to make adjustments. At halftime we had to adjust and say, ‘OK guys, they are blocking a little bit differently because they don’t see what we do.’ Now, going into it and seeing what people do it’s a lot easier to game plan, too. We’ll be a year better with all of that (information) also.”
Actually, West Virginia should be a year better all-around on defense, which is good news for Mountaineer fans everywhere.
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