Mountaineer Spurs Benefiting From Vic Cabral’s Influence
August 21, 2024 04:13 PM | Football, Blog
Share:
By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – New outside linebackers coach Vic Cabral was hired last January to help enhance West Virginia's outside pass rushers.
Not that anything was really wrong with the Mountaineers' pass rush in the first place.
Among the 16 teams in this year's new Big 12 Conference, West Virginia's 21 sacks from a four-man rush tied Utah last year for the most of any returning defense. WVU's 36 quarterback knockdowns were second only to Utah's 37, while its 116 quarterback hurries and 2½ sacks per game ranked third.
Just Arizona (126) and Iowa State (120) had more hurries than the Mountaineers, while Utah (2.8) and Arizona (2.6) averaged slightly more sacks per game.
This year, Cabral thinks he's got two really good edge players to work with at spur linebacker in seniors Tyrin Bradley and Ty French - one who played here last season while the other was breaking pass rushing records at the FCS level.
Most fans remember Bradley for his athletic, one-handed interception and return against North Carolina in last year's Dukes Mayo Bowl, but he also generated five tackles for losses and 2½ sacks in 324 defensive snaps following his transfer from Abilene Christian.
Last winter, French was considered a big get in the transfer portal after generating a school-record 34½ sacks in 41 career games at Gardner-Webb, where he was a two-time finalist for the FCS National Defensive Player of the Year Award.
The two are playing a position at WVU under Cabral tailor-made for their talents and skills. The spur in West Virginia's defense lines up to the boundary side opposite the spear and is responsible for setting the edge in run support and rushing the passer in passing situations.
In the old days, when West Virginia used a 3-4 scheme under coach Don Nehlen, the rush linebacker that Canute Curtis and Gary Stills once played closely resembles today's spur linebacker, while the spear, with its hybrid athletes, is somewhat similar to the old sam linebacker position.
Bradley, standing 6-feet-2 and weighing 257 pounds, is a dead ringer for Curtis, size-wise, while French, at 6-foot-1 and now 234 pounds, is probably closer to Stills or even former Oklahoma edge rusher Eric Striker, who used to spend a lot of time in West Virginia's backfield a decade ago.
"The thing I really respect and love about those two is how much they compete against each other in a great way," Cabral said last week. "That's what we are always trying to hunt are those alphas, and they come out and compete every day - I'm talking about basic get-offs to how many sacks they had that day."
Bradley is equally pleased to be coached by the high-energy Cabral, who also brings a cerebral approach to their meeting room. For Cabral, pass rushing is an artform as much as it is an exercise in brute force.
Bradley explains.
"Ever since he's gotten here, he's changed the trajectory of our room," he admits. "He's allowed me to be (freer) and kind of be myself out there. He gives us the comfortability to try new things.
"He was brought here to increase our pass rush and ever since he's gotten here, he's taught me things and helped me hone up on some skills I may have already had and allows me to go out there and be free and play my game," he said.
Bradley likens pass rushing to playing chess. Sometimes, you've got to be thinking two or three moves ahead.
"We've got to set the tackle up just kind of like how receivers set up DBs, and they give them moves and releases off the line.," he said. "We might work a move, and the ball comes out quickly, but we get it in the tackle's mind that we might come off and do this. Throughout the game, sacks come in bunches, so when you get one you are likely to get another one."
Cabral chuckled when Bradley's reference to chess was mentioned.
"We talk all the time about pass rushing is patience," he said. "It's about the set up move at the right time in the right situation. During the course of a game, yeah, a team might throw the ball 40 times, but there might only be 10 true drop-back passes to be able to get back to the quarterback.
"You are working that one-on-one battle with the offensive tackle and that setup move, that special alignment or that certain tempo that you will be attacking that guy with, it all plays within that game within the game. I think (Bradley has) really stepped up his game in understanding that."
Bradley is becoming the energy guy on West Virginia's defense willing to speak his mind when he feels he must. He's also been helpful to French, the guy he's battling each day for a starting job. Senior spur linebacker Ty French is one of five Mountaineer players named to this year's Reese's Senior Bowl Watch List (WVU Athletic Communications).
French, one of five Mountaineer players named to the Reese's Senior Bowl Watch List, is certainly on the radar screen of pro scouts and Bradley has patiently taken the time to help him understand the differences between FCS and power conference football - the things he can and can't get away with at this level.
"We're going against a lot bigger guys, so I'm helping him understand he has to use his leverage and speed a lot. He wants to learn. He's a sponge, and I love to help him," Bradley explained.
"We've got a lot of different guys who can rush the passer," he continued. "(Defensive end) Sean Martin is a freak, however tall he is, extremely long and strong. We've got Eddie Vesterinen, with an extremely high motor, and then we've got a guy like TJ (Jackson), who is short, more compact and explosive.
"Asani Redwood coming back brings a lot for us so that's a lot of different skill sets. Coach (Jordan) Lesley does a great job calling different fronts and twists and moves to work off each other, and we even got the freedom to call some of our own games," Bradley said. "I might flip to three-technique if I want to or if I see a matchup I like and move Sean to outside, just whatever we like. We've got the freedom to do that because we've got a lot more depth and better pass rushers as well."
The Mountaineers have a third spur in converted defensive lineman Taurus Simmons, now a senior. Simmons more closely resembles Bradley size-wise, standing 6-feet-2 and weighing 250 pounds. Freshman Obinna Onwuka, a 6-foot-4, 234-pounder from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has shown promise in preseason camp as well.
Bradley said going up against Preseason All-Big 12 offensive tackle Wyatt Milum has been a blessing because the senior ranks among the best left tackles WVU's spurs are going to face all season long.
"When we go at it against each other it's just learning and understanding when he gives me certain sets or certain drop-back looks, what can I do in certain situations to maybe get more pressure?" Bradley noted. "Not every tackle I'm going to face is going to be as good as him. I'm really just trying to pick his brain and see what he does and what he's looking for and just being able to apply that and put it all into play."
For his part, Cabral is eager to see what his guys can do out on the football field when the scoreboard is turned on and people fill up the stands.
"I just can't wait to see those guys under the lights, and see how they go," he concluded.
West Virginia wraps up fall camp following today's mock game inside the stadium. Full Penn State preparation starts Thursday and Friday and continues with game week on Sunday.
Season tickets remain on sale and can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
