Texas A&M Kevin Sumlin Julien Obioha Mike Matthews – Gigem247 – 247Sports – 247Sports
-Texas A&M’s theme at SEC Media Days this week in Birmingham was the same thing we’ve been discussing throughout the off season….the Aggies are aiming toward becoming a more physical team that can run the ball and play defense.
Senior defensive lineman Julien Obioha said that he learned Texas A&M’s new defense in just three days
That theme was hammered home again and again by the two major hires of head coach Kevin Sumlin….defensive coordinator John Chavis and offensive line coach Dave Christensen. In addition, as one commentator noted, the Aggies didn’t bring skill position players to the media days to meet with the ink stained wretches that cover the SEC….they brought three linemen from both sides of the ball to Hoover, Alabama.
Nonetheless, a large part of the reason that the Aggies brought offensive linemen Germain Ifedi and Mike Matthews as well as defensive lineman Julien Obioha has nothing to do with sending a signal. All three players are upperclassmen and Sumlin likes to trot out upperclassmen before the media whenever he can. In addition, they’ve been around the media for three years and are used to dealing with them, particularly at weekly press conferences and in the spring post practice media sessions.
Ironically enough, Matthews is A&M’s smallest offensive lineman and Obioha was probably A&M’s lightest defensive tackle back in the spring.
-Sumlin reiterated something that we’ve heard before at A&M press conferences over the years about the SEC being a line of scrimmage league and a depth league. In the off season and after a 2014 campaign in which the Aggies had trouble running the ball against the league’s better defenses and were one of the SEC’s worst run defenses, it’s apparent that Sumlin is trying to bring life to his comments. In fact Sumlin borrowed a line that I’ve used quite often on the boards that I in turn borrowed from former NFL head coach Bill Parcells….running the ball when you want to.
The Aggies have got to be able to run the ball in short yardage situations, in the red zone, and when trying to protect a lead late in the game….in other words, when everyone in the stadium knows its coming. It’s imperative they do those things because even as the spread offense opens up the field most of the time, there’s times when that’s not possible because it’s either compressed or the defense sells out on the line of scrimmage in order to get the ball back. In addition, it doesn’t mean that the Aggies are going to stop throwing the ball…Sumlin has never referenced a particular run/pass split in terms of play calling nor has Christensen or offensive coordinator Jake Spavital.
-Offensive line coach Dave Christensen was another name that Sumlin discussed quite a bit on Tuesday. Although Sumlin indicated that A&M will be using more of a zone blocking scheme, the most interesting point that he made about Christensen was something that some of us have discussed for a couple of years now….that A&M had to change the way it practiced.
“So for us, one of our biggest goals in the off-season was to become a tougher team physically and mentally” Sumlin said. “In order to do that, you’ve got to practice a certain way. The presentation of the offense to the defense has to be one that has a physical aspect to it.”
By running the ball more in practice, the Aggies will get better at it in games but more importantly the defense will get used to facing a physical running game before going out and taking on the Alabamas and Arkansas of this world. In turn, that should make the run defense much better because they’ll be used to taking on people, shedding blocks, and tackling when they’re in scrimmage situations.
-Obioha was one of the most discussed players at media days primarily because it’s pretty clear that after getting up to 280 pounds he’s not making a move back to end. Although it’s apparent that A&M will have probably the best combination of edge defenders in the conference in ends Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall, they also have some depth at the position with the likes of sophomore Qualen Cunningham. More importantly, Obioha lacked the burst of Hall and Garrett and it looked like that they are going to be counted on to play quite a few downs in Chavis’ scheme in both three and four man fronts.
In contrast, at defensive tackle the Aggies lost Jay Arnold retired due to injuries during the off season, Justin Manning missed all of spring practice, and junior Hardreck Walker has had an up and down career. With Chavis running the defense, the Aggies now lack a true three technique tackle that get upfield although unlike most even front coaches Chavis does not use dedicated players for the one and three technique spots (although five star freshman Daylon Mack has great get off at even at 330 pounds and could handle either one).
Obioha had a good final spring scrimmage and he’s going to have to maintain what burst he had at 260 pounds in order to be effective inside at 280 pounds.
-Sumlin also addressed the Aggies’ youth last season and all of the attendant issues that flow from having to play young players before their time. While it’s exciting in terms of watching them perform and looking forward to them mature, it’s painful in the interim. They’re often physically not up to the demands of taking on older, bigger upperclassmen and they’re learning both scheme and technique on a weekly basis. You could see this last season as there were many times that A&M wasn’t lined up correctly or had trouble getting off blocks. Freshman Mike linebacker Josh Walker had never even played the middle prior to his arrival on the A&M campus. In addition, those younger players (especially at linebacker) found themselves getting injured because they were getting hit by bigger people or attacked from unseen angles and most of the linebacking corps that had starting experience sat out the spring.
The Aggies have had quite a bit of attrition from the 2013 class which should be juniors or no worse than redshirt sophomores this season. In addition, they’ve also lost a number of offensive linemen who should be third, fourth, and even fifth year players by now. For all of the talk about the number of returnees in the program and the fact that the Aggies can trot out upperclassmen at virtually every starting offensive and defensive line position, there’s not a lot of proven depth behind the starters and even some of the projected starters don’t have much (if any experience) at their positions.
For all of the talk about the promise of youth, A&M really needs to be able to retain people and have them grow physically, emotionally, and mentally within their two deep.
-A&M offensive lineman Germain Ifedi addressed some the things that that new offensive line coach Dave Christensen changed up during the spring and there were a couple of particular points of emphasis for the big senior.
One was regarding technique, particularly regarding the hands and feet. A&M has been less than stellar in terms of offensive line technique the past few years with players not working to get their hands inside where they can maintain leverage on defenders, taking the correct steps coming off of the ball to take proper angles, and not getting their feet underneath their shoulders in order to generate the maximum amount of power. Ifedi indicated that Christensen has made those items a point of focus during the spring which should make A&M better equipped to do what they need to up front, particularly in the types of blocks they have to execute in the running game.
However, Ifedi also noted that Christensen has gotten the offensive line to use bigger splits than they were using in the past. This is something that former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was best known for back in the day and there’s advantages and disadvantages to both wider and tighter alignments. The biggest advantages to wider splits are that they naturally create wider running lanes and gives pass rushers farther to go to get to the quarterback. The disadvantage is that defenders have wider gaps to shoot through and that offensive linemen must have the footwork to close off penetrations (particularly on the interior).
For A&M, the move to wider splits comes as the Aggies are getting bigger on the offensive line but don’t quite have the athleticism that they’ve had in past seasons via first round draft picks Luke Joeckel, Jake Matthews, and Cedric Ogbeuhi. In addition, wider splits probably won’t come in handy down on the goal line or in short yardage situations.
-Finally, Obioha made the comment that it took him all of three days for him to learn the defense. In contrast, it took him about three weeks to learn A&M’s defense when arrived as a freshman three years ago….and Obioha is an engineering major.
Defensive coordinator John Chavis’ defense is about getting upfield. If you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to make them on the move. That’s important for a unit that played a scheme designed to bend and not break over the past few years. But in addition, the Aggies still have something of a young unit on that side of the ball….Garrett is a sophomore, freshman Daylon Mack is expected to make an impact, linebackers Josh Walker and Otaro Alaka are sophomores, and safeties Justin Evans and Armani Watts weren’t on campus even 15 months ago.
If A&M is going to make significant improvement on defense, the young guys in that unit have to be able to play fast and they can’t do that while they’re worrying where they’re supposed to be. The linemen will be getting upfield, the linebackers be looking at down, distance, and alignment, and the secondary will be focused on receivers and routes rather than coverages. A&M’s changes on that side of the ball are probably exactly what’s needed given the experience level of the personnel in the unit.
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