Interesting quotes from this year’s guys.
From AJC last year:
“Hired from Appalachian State following Ted Roof’s up-and-down five-year run directing Tech’s defense, Woody had a few objectives for spring practice. One was to establish a two-deep depth chart, though he was careful to clarify that he hasn’t chosen starters. (The players on the two-deep can compete for starting jobs in the preseason.) Another was to teach the base defense against an offense with the quarterback under center, and another was to get a good feel for his players’ strengths and weaknesses.”
I, along with others have long believed the option offense may have limited the defense (including in terms of 1 v 1 reps). The premise of this thread, however, was that CPJ limited the defense, not just by running the option, but by being over controlling and forcing the D coaches to be less aggressive. Not sure any of the recent quotes from this year’s players relates to that and I still think those assertions are a load of crap.
With respect to aggressiveness, CPJ did say this after last year’s spring game: “You’ve got a good nucleus back,” Johnson said. “I mean, we’ve got nine starters coming back on offense. Defensively, if we can create some negative plays and get some sacks, get off the field, who knows?”
Also this:
“We blitzed like crazy (Friday),” Mitchell said with a smile. “We had (cornerbacks coach Joe Speed) on the calls, so, yeah, he sent the linebackers a lot, and we were doing a lot of slanting up front, so I think that helped us to get some negative yardage plays.”
The hire of defensive coordinator Nate Woody from Appalachian State brought the hope of a defense that would create more negative plays than the one led by former defensive coordinator Ted Roof. Friday, it looked the part.
“That’s what we’re looking for, is some negative plays,” Paul Johnson said. “They popped the linebackers a lot.”