Coach Neal Brown Pleased With Recent Defensive Staff Additions
March 09, 2021 07:00 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Neal Brown believes the No. 4-ranked defense in the country last year can maintain its lofty status this fall with the recent hirings of ShaDon Brown and Andrew "A.J." Jackson.
ShaDon Brown has extensive Power 5 experience, working most recently at Louisville where he helped the Cardinals rank first in the ACC and 17th nationally in pass defense.
The co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach has also has had coaching stops at Colorado, Army and Wofford after getting his start in the coaching profession in the Kentucky high school ranks.
Jackson, who goes by A.J., grew up in Middletown, New York, just north of New York City. He most recently worked on Blake Seiler's defensive staff at Old Dominion.
Jackson's coaching resume also includes stops at James Madison on Curt Cignetti's staff, at Mississippi State, as Joe Moorhead's quality control coach, and at Fordham.
Prior to that, he was a defensive graduate assistant on James Franklin's Penn State staff, as well as Stony Brook, and his alma mater, Long Island University.
"I really like our defensive staff," Neal Brown said last Thursday. "It was important for me during this transition to get a defensive line coach because (defensive coordinator) Jordan Lesley wore both hats last year calling the defense and coaching the defensive line, and I think that's a lot. This needed to be done last year."
Jackson will take over the defensive line with Lesley focusing on West Virginia's outside linebackers and overall defensive strategy.
Brown will take over the corners, handled by Jahmile Addae last year, while the remainder of the defensive staff will remain the same. Jeff Koonz will work with the inside linebackers and oversee special teams and Donate Wright will coach the safeties.
This year's defensive staff is made up of coaches who have worked with multiple position groups while also possessing prior coordinator experience.
"When Jahmile left, what we wanted to do is we wanted to bring in someone who had some coordinating experience and had been at the Power 5 level, and we were fortunate that ShaDon joined us," Neal Brown explained. "If you look at it, Dontae has been a coordinator in the past, Jeff Koonz has coordinated and called defenses in the past, Jordan, and now ShaDon.
"There is a lot of versatility on that side of the ball. What that does is it allows for some really good discussions, and that's what you want," Brown added.
ShaDon said he's known Neal Brown for more than 20 years dating back to their high school days at rival schools in Danville, Kentucky. He said Neal's father, Tom, was instrumental in him breaking into the high school coaching ranks more than a decade ago.
The Campbellsville University graduate said he's worked with 3-4 defenses his entire coaching career and is eager to learn something new with West Virginia's unique schemes.
"This is an opportunity to learn a different defense and put my spin on the secondary," he said. "This defense is very complex, and it's got a lot of moving parts.
"I think it's very conducive for kids to play in because it allows them to be free and run around and make plays," he added. "I'm learning terminology as we go, and obviously, we're tweaking some things I'm more comfortable with, but last year defensively was a really good so there doesn't need to be wholesale changes in what we're doing here."
Jackson is much more familiar with West Virginia's scheme, having worked with Seiler last year at Old Dominion. Seiler, of course, spent a year at WVU in 2019 after working for years in the Big 12 at Kansas State.
The Wildcats also ran a similar version of West Virginia's defense.
"I've been with blitz-heavy guys, I've been with guys who didn't like to pressure and drop back into coverage, I've been with coaches who like to move around a lot, so I've been with a lot of guys who run the 4-2-5 multiple ways like we do here," Jackson said.
Ironically, Jackson played collegiately at Long Island, which will be in Morgantown on Saturday, Sept. 11.
"When I played there, they were Division II, and I never thought they would get on the field with a program from the Big 12, so it's definitely strange to not only play against your alma mater, but also the guys who gave me the opportunity to play college football," he said. "It will be stressful but also exciting at the same time."
The two will take over some pretty vital recruiting areas. Brown's territories include the state's Eastern Panhandle moving over to the National Capital region. He will also take over North Florida, South Georgia and spot-recruit Kentucky.
Jackson will also work D.C. down the I-95 corridor to Richmond. He will recruit the northeast tip of Pennsylvania into central New Jersey and up to New York City.
Suffice to say, there are a lot of really good football players in the areas Brown and Jackson are taking over.
Brown said he's recruited many parts of the country through the years, including California, Texas and Arizona, and he's big on developing relationships. He said the two best pieces of advice he's had in coaching came during his early years coaching high school football.
One is "the players don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" and the other is "take what you do very seriously but don't take yourself too seriously."
Brown said he always tries to apply both in his coaching.
"No. 1, it's all about the players and treating them like they're your sons and trying to develop them not only as a player, but also as a person. No. 2, don't think as a coach or a player what's best for you, it's what's best for the team and the group," he explained. "I think those things are important, and I try to live by those things."
Jackson said he was attracted to West Virginia's family atmosphere after talking to Seiler and Bill Legg, who spent last season working as Brown's main off-the-field assistant. Legg told Jackson about Brown taking the team up to Wisp Resort for an outing before the Liberty Bowl when the players were not going to be able to enjoy a normal bowl experience this year because of the pandemic.
That left a big impression on Jackson, as did Seiler explaining how enjoyable it was working for one year with Brown.
"It was a place he loved having his wife and kids around," Jackson said. "Coach Brown does a great job of making everyone feel welcomed and taking care of everyone."
Despite losing consensus All-American Darius Stills, Jackson will be working with a strong position group that includes talented holdovers Dante Stills, Ahkeem Mesidor and Jeffery Pooler Jr.
"I think, top to bottom, we could be one of the best (defensive lines) in the country if they continue to work hard and develop," Jackson said.
ShaDon Brown's cornerbacks room is not quite as deep, but he does believe there is talent in there. He said he will go into spring practice with a clean slate and an open mind.
Jackson said he will do the same with his defensive linemen.
"I'm going to let the guys do their talking with the pads and make decisions based off of that," he explained.
Neal Brown has not announced a start date yet for spring work, but he did say last Thursday that spring practice will conclude with the annual Gold-Blue Spring Game on Saturday, April 24.
ShaDon Brown has extensive Power 5 experience, working most recently at Louisville where he helped the Cardinals rank first in the ACC and 17th nationally in pass defense.
The co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach has also has had coaching stops at Colorado, Army and Wofford after getting his start in the coaching profession in the Kentucky high school ranks.
Jackson, who goes by A.J., grew up in Middletown, New York, just north of New York City. He most recently worked on Blake Seiler's defensive staff at Old Dominion.
Jackson's coaching resume also includes stops at James Madison on Curt Cignetti's staff, at Mississippi State, as Joe Moorhead's quality control coach, and at Fordham.
Prior to that, he was a defensive graduate assistant on James Franklin's Penn State staff, as well as Stony Brook, and his alma mater, Long Island University.
"I really like our defensive staff," Neal Brown said last Thursday. "It was important for me during this transition to get a defensive line coach because (defensive coordinator) Jordan Lesley wore both hats last year calling the defense and coaching the defensive line, and I think that's a lot. This needed to be done last year."Jackson will take over the defensive line with Lesley focusing on West Virginia's outside linebackers and overall defensive strategy.
Brown will take over the corners, handled by Jahmile Addae last year, while the remainder of the defensive staff will remain the same. Jeff Koonz will work with the inside linebackers and oversee special teams and Donate Wright will coach the safeties.
This year's defensive staff is made up of coaches who have worked with multiple position groups while also possessing prior coordinator experience.
"When Jahmile left, what we wanted to do is we wanted to bring in someone who had some coordinating experience and had been at the Power 5 level, and we were fortunate that ShaDon joined us," Neal Brown explained. "If you look at it, Dontae has been a coordinator in the past, Jeff Koonz has coordinated and called defenses in the past, Jordan, and now ShaDon.
"There is a lot of versatility on that side of the ball. What that does is it allows for some really good discussions, and that's what you want," Brown added.
ShaDon said he's known Neal Brown for more than 20 years dating back to their high school days at rival schools in Danville, Kentucky. He said Neal's father, Tom, was instrumental in him breaking into the high school coaching ranks more than a decade ago.
The Campbellsville University graduate said he's worked with 3-4 defenses his entire coaching career and is eager to learn something new with West Virginia's unique schemes.
"This is an opportunity to learn a different defense and put my spin on the secondary," he said. "This defense is very complex, and it's got a lot of moving parts.
"I think it's very conducive for kids to play in because it allows them to be free and run around and make plays," he added. "I'm learning terminology as we go, and obviously, we're tweaking some things I'm more comfortable with, but last year defensively was a really good so there doesn't need to be wholesale changes in what we're doing here."
Jackson is much more familiar with West Virginia's scheme, having worked with Seiler last year at Old Dominion. Seiler, of course, spent a year at WVU in 2019 after working for years in the Big 12 at Kansas State.
The Wildcats also ran a similar version of West Virginia's defense.
"I've been with blitz-heavy guys, I've been with guys who didn't like to pressure and drop back into coverage, I've been with coaches who like to move around a lot, so I've been with a lot of guys who run the 4-2-5 multiple ways like we do here," Jackson said.
Ironically, Jackson played collegiately at Long Island, which will be in Morgantown on Saturday, Sept. 11.
"When I played there, they were Division II, and I never thought they would get on the field with a program from the Big 12, so it's definitely strange to not only play against your alma mater, but also the guys who gave me the opportunity to play college football," he said. "It will be stressful but also exciting at the same time."
The two will take over some pretty vital recruiting areas. Brown's territories include the state's Eastern Panhandle moving over to the National Capital region. He will also take over North Florida, South Georgia and spot-recruit Kentucky.
Jackson will also work D.C. down the I-95 corridor to Richmond. He will recruit the northeast tip of Pennsylvania into central New Jersey and up to New York City.
Suffice to say, there are a lot of really good football players in the areas Brown and Jackson are taking over.
Brown said he's recruited many parts of the country through the years, including California, Texas and Arizona, and he's big on developing relationships. He said the two best pieces of advice he's had in coaching came during his early years coaching high school football.
One is "the players don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" and the other is "take what you do very seriously but don't take yourself too seriously."
Brown said he always tries to apply both in his coaching.
"No. 1, it's all about the players and treating them like they're your sons and trying to develop them not only as a player, but also as a person. No. 2, don't think as a coach or a player what's best for you, it's what's best for the team and the group," he explained. "I think those things are important, and I try to live by those things."
Jackson said he was attracted to West Virginia's family atmosphere after talking to Seiler and Bill Legg, who spent last season working as Brown's main off-the-field assistant. Legg told Jackson about Brown taking the team up to Wisp Resort for an outing before the Liberty Bowl when the players were not going to be able to enjoy a normal bowl experience this year because of the pandemic.
That left a big impression on Jackson, as did Seiler explaining how enjoyable it was working for one year with Brown.
"It was a place he loved having his wife and kids around," Jackson said. "Coach Brown does a great job of making everyone feel welcomed and taking care of everyone."
Despite losing consensus All-American Darius Stills, Jackson will be working with a strong position group that includes talented holdovers Dante Stills, Ahkeem Mesidor and Jeffery Pooler Jr.
"I think, top to bottom, we could be one of the best (defensive lines) in the country if they continue to work hard and develop," Jackson said.
ShaDon Brown's cornerbacks room is not quite as deep, but he does believe there is talent in there. He said he will go into spring practice with a clean slate and an open mind.
Jackson said he will do the same with his defensive linemen.
"I'm going to let the guys do their talking with the pads and make decisions based off of that," he explained.
Neal Brown has not announced a start date yet for spring work, but he did say last Thursday that spring practice will conclude with the annual Gold-Blue Spring Game on Saturday, April 24.
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