Spring Scrimmage: Defense

I had to take a basketball break between writing up my reviews, but now I'm ready for more thought spewing.

 

Pom Girls: I feel that these girls are an integral part of every single sports success the University of Texas enjoys. I wonder if opposing teams practice ignoring our sirens? While I was taking notes on the scrimmage I wrote down "Pom Girls are hot" at least three times. Let's just say that if there was a cheerleader Final Four, they would be perennial contenders.  

Defense

Line: I noted before that Texas needs to make some moves on the defensive line to be successful next year, specifically a couple of our defensive ends need to be moved to tackle. The skill of our defensive tackle starters was apparent as they harassed both our running backs and quarterbacks all game long. The second team defensive tackles got pushed around with ease and looked like they were wearing roller skates at times. Roy Miller and Ben Alexander looked really solid and got to the quarterback more than once each. At defensive end the rotation varied greatly but the extreme level of talent was apparent. Senior Brian Orakpo is undoubtedly going to be a starter in the fall, but the coaches made an effort to give other players an opportunity to shine. Big Henry Melton started today, and it should be noted that he is no longer the fleet footed running back-slash-defensive end he used to be. He has clearly put on an immense amount of weight, and isn't nearly as agile as he was two seasons ago. Based on what I saw today, our best players all play defensive end. 

Linebackers:  My personal favorite (for no real reason) linebacker, Sergio Kindle, watched from the sideline today, but he wasn't missed much. Coach Muschamp had the defense in a Nickel formation most of the time, starting Rashad Bobino and Roddrick Muckelroy. Jared Norton and Keenan Robinson both split time between the first and second team defenses. I cannot express how much better our linebacker corps looks now than the one featured in last year's lackluster defense. I think Coach Boom has already, and will continue to make an incredible impact on our defense's performance. Specifically, the blitzing schemes I saw at this scrimmage were interesting, stunning, and actually variable. I noted blitzes from the cornerbacks, any or all of the linebackers, a safety or two, and sometimes none at all. The "sometimes not at all" is what made all the difference for me. The offense clearly had a much harder time adjusting to the blitz when they weren't 100% sure that it was coming every single time. 

Cornerbacks: Chykie Brown, Curtis Brown, Deon Beasley, and Brandon Foster all saw time with the first and second team defense. I was most impressed with Deon Beasley, who had the diving pass deflection, not Curtis Brown like I said earlier. The cornerbacks' experience was most easily spotted in their confidence in zone coverage. They played aggressively and purposefully not only in the zone, but in man coverage too. Most impressively of all, they allowed only 99 yards through the air in all. I said before that the aerial coverage would be paramount to a successful 2008 campaign, and I think today was a step in the right direction.

Safeties: Surprise! It's Blake Gideon! At one point, a guy sitting behind me said "I don't think that white safety has been out of the game yet," and he was right. Blake "the caucasian invasion" Gideon wins my most surprising player of the game award. At strong safety, this guy was in on literally 60% of the tackles, whether he was just support or not. What really struck me was his ability to sniff out the play before it even came to fruition. The best player on the defensive end of the field, however, was Earl Thomas by a long shot. He led the team in tackles with 6, played superior pass coverage, and just about never stopped charging. He was lined up at cornerback most of the day, but he is listed as a safety, so that's why I'm mentioning him here. Thomas also managed to be really disruptive in the backfield as Coach Boom's number one blitzer. My least favorite defensive player of the game was free safety Christian Scott. If Scott wants to make an impact next year he absolutely has to get more comfortable in zone defense. Just about every receiver was able to get open on him when the defense was in the zone. I can't imagine the panic he felt as he watched from 20 yards down field as his man, Jordan Shipley, dove at a deep pass he was supposed to be at the very least in the neighborhood of.