Doperbo
25+ Posts
As I tentatively emerge from my usual state of fuzzy single malt summer BBS sloth and look around at the upcoming season, one topic out of many looming questions seems to have caught my interest, as well as a few of the other regulars around here it would seem from the occasional topics that arise on the subject.The only major coaching change so far in Mack's era (simmer down there dfl, that neuro-limbic cut-out switch somewhere deep in your mid-brain's pontine reticular formation that disengages with the neural trigger of threads involving the words coach and change may be premature in this case, give me a minute)... to date has been the addition of defensive coach Duane Akina from the University of Arizona- to fill the spot vacated by Everett Withers when he moved on to coach for the Titans.
There are several reasons this interests me. One- Simple. It's the only new addition to the staff to ponder. Other than Mad Dog buying the occasional new big *** gold chain to FLEX for the ladies {work it Dog} there really hasn't been anything new in the armamentarium to comment on for the last three years. Two- Duane Akina helped run a fairly esoteric, very complicated defense that initially I knew almost nothing about- pac10 football being just that, at least as far as I am generally concerned. [warning- potential rpongett unwinnable side argument eject switch enabled- status set to DEFCON 3]. Third- This group has the potential to be one of the best defensive secondaries ever to roam the proverbial flat in DKR- and any addition that might bring a new twist to the rabid de-cleating frenzy I expect out there next season is worth commenting on. Finally- There are some subtle reasons that this choice of coaches may tie in to the blood feud on October 6th- on it's own a factually shaky premise that I will attempt to bolster.
Initial Questions:
1. Who is Duane Akina.
2. What is the flex defense. What formations does it utilize and what are it's strengths and weaknesses.
3. What version of the flex does Arizona- and therefore by proxy Akina- employ and what does that mean to any offense which faces the aformentioned D.
4. What- if any- effect will this have on the UT secondary- and for that matter the defense as a whole- by far the most important yet most difficult question to answer.
5. What might this entail for our upcoming opponents this season- most notably the strongest and most hated rivals on our shedule. [note to 92agconfuseddentist- this is not you]
I will attempt to answer each in turn from my tireless scouring and indexing {read- at least three beers worth} of various internet and print sources, as well as filling in any nebulous information completely from my own questionable- at best- knowledge of all things football. Forewarned.
1. Duane Akina-
Akina was hired in March of this year to coach the secondary following Withers departure. He is 44 years old and previously coached for 14 years at the University of Arizona. He was primarily involved as a defensive assistant, though he did spend 4 years as the offensive coordinator from 91-94, a fact which I found surprising. He had two stints as a defensive backs coach, and by all reports, was instrumental in running the Desert Swarm defense that keyed around a version of the Flex created by Ellerson and MacDuff. So much so that he was elevated to Defensive Coordinator prior to leaving for Texas- due in no small part to his knowledge of said defense. He was the only assistant to stay at UA throughout Dick Tomey's entire controversial regime, and coached some of the best talent in that conference- most notably Darryl Lewis- recipient of the 1990 Jim Thorpe Award and Chris McCallister- 1998 Finalist for the same award. He also is known from several sources for being a very vocal and active coach, both on the practice field and sidelines, some of which was previewed in Spring Practice this year. He left Arizona after being named the defensive coordinator under, savor the irony, John Mackovic, which leads me to believe he is, if nothing else, a very smart man. My deductions from the above data, as well as some other observations gleaned from various bbs and clippings.
1. Akina is loyal, turning down all other offers- including one from his former home- Hawaii, while at Arizona for 14 years.
2. He is versatile- being instrumental in a very complicated defense that underwent several shades of change under several different coordinators.
3. He is agressive and motivated, and very vocal, and by several sources has a true rapport with his players.
4. He has coached or groomed some -very- talented players, and helped them reach the next level, a potential boon at Texas this season given our deep and talented secondary.
5. His players have been known, on many occasions, to hit like a pissed off rhino.
BTW- anybody who cares to revive the issue of Akina leaving Mackovic in the lurch can shut up and grip as far as I am concerned- Mackovic just re-hired MacDuff- the originator of the whole damn defense- so Arizona's suckage factor next season should not , and will not be if anyone has any sense, be aimed at Akina. A certain offensive genius however..... but I digress.
2. The History of the Flex Defense-
The flex defense itself was originally designed, according to some sources, merely improved upon or perfected according to others, by a true Texas legend, Tom Landry. It is so named because it was originally intended to utilize engineering principles that roughly correlate with pressure and flow- namely defensive personnel pressure and offensive, i.e. ball carrier, flow.
At it's heart was a 4-3 base set in which 2 of the 4 down linemen were set 1 yard off the LOS. In addition, six of the front seven defenders were then responsible for 1 gap each, leaving a Mike LB to read various offensive and defensive keys and employ several algorithms, hopefully to reach the ball-carrier. There are several facets of the Flex which made it intitially difficult to employ, but eventually made it very difficult to stop.
1. It takes away the natural instincts of the front seven for ball pursuit. Not an easy thing to do. All but one defender is designed to enter and control a gap- which leads directly to...
2. Linemen now control an area of the field, not a particular man.
You can see why this requires discipline. Lining up on a down lineman and beating him one on one is a talent and/or technique issue and is easily settled, holding an area of ground and being aggressive yet patient regardless of who lines up across from you or what they do takes discipline, and a fair amount of sack if you really think about it. I played against some of the best of Texas AA HS football talent of the late eighties and early nineties (got drug 8 yards downfield "tackling" Rodney Thomas in the Area finals one time- different story altogether) and by far the hardest thing I ever had to do was momentarily hold up or play contain on a football field. Every time I look back on that I got either badly beaten or had my bell severely rung was either momentarily standing still while reversing direction and adjusting to the O or moving slowly while shading a pulling guard or covering a zone. It's a lot easier mentally to rush in crying havoc and smell around for the ball than it is to hold a gap.
3. The MLB left over to read the keys has to have an inordinate amount of football talent/saavy/presence to get to the right place and nail the right guy.
Anyway- the short version of the story is that Landry found the man to anchor this defense- Bob Lilly, and Lilly, along with Renfro, Jordan and Pugh became the core of the vaunted Doomsday Defense which led to nine consecutive play off appearances and two superbowls.
Various versions of the flex have been utilized ever since, which leads us to question 3-3. Arizona's Flex Defense-
Arizona uses a version affectionately called the Double Eagle Flex Defense- named after a charismaticIndian Chief with Parkinson's Disease who frequented every Arizona game from 1972-1989. [editor's note- Doperbo is lying]. Arizona, as a base set, drops one of five lineman off the LOS putting him on either side- or in the middle- while the remaining linemen run stunts and the LB's either blitz or drop back into coverage, wreaking havoc on blocking assignments and offensive schemes.
It is, more than anything else, an adjustment style defensive set that relies upon heavy motion on the Dline, which confuses the Oline and the blocking backs such that they fondly remember their TASP tests back in high school. An example:
- If a train leaves from Albequerque with 14 Aggie Running Backs and 12 pounds of Hemp traveling northwest at a base rate of consumption of 0.5 pounds of hemp per hour per Aggie Running Back at an initial ground speed of 63 miles per hour, adjusting for a southwest wind sheer of 14 miles per hour and a coeficient of sliding friction on each rail averaging 4 minus pi, how long does it take for a 2000 Cadillac to be pulled over in Longview Texas while blasting the latest Lil 'Kim album over 4 Jensen sub woofers and three 6 X 9 tweeters mounted in the dash?
A- B but not C
B- C but not A
C- 7
D- some of the above
E- Where is Longview Texas?
You could see how this could be confusing.
A quote from an unnamed RB facing this defense [this is true] "You could line up against a defensive lineman, but he really could be a safety, You could block who you think is a safety but they're really a down lineman, it's a total mind game." According to a recent Ohio State Offensive Coordinator, "it looks like a storm from the defense because they come from all kinds of angles and all kinds of sets, it's difficult to establish a rhythm or gain any confidence early on..."
The upshot of all of this is that the defense constantly keep the offense, particularly the quarterback, guessing as to what it's formation and stunts are designed to do on any given down. This is in sharp contrast to some of the stunts and blitzes we have seen in on the 40 acres in the last few seasons, which even the most football illiterate of us have been able to predict and lament about while jumping around yelling and spilling beer on our comrades, resulting in several occasions in which we were accused of "bringing down the mood" or "ruining the game for everyone else"... but I digress once again. Perhaps I have shared too much.
4. What does this mean for the Texas Defense?
Who the hell knows. I stated earlier that this is the hardest question to answer. I have no qualifications or illusions to the Inner Circle of Texas football with which to discuss this particular aspect. A lot of this depends on how much leeway Akina is given in determining defensive sets and alignments. Arizona keyed off a mobile and confusing Dline. We have had, for the last several years, a Dline which simply lined up and pounded the snot out of most opposing offensive lineman. Rogers and Hampton were the backbone of the D, and to what extent Akina will be able to shape this D is hard for me to guage. I do not think we will see any version of the Double Eagle Flex, based primarily on the observations at Spring Practice and the posts of several bbs regulars whom I respect. The primary impact that I see is the use of better and more varied Zone Blitzes, as opposed to the all out hell bent for leather attack that Bull is wont to throw out on third down and long. There are, though, several immediate benefits to a true Zone Blitz that are readily apparent and which should make no small impact on our defensive acumen next season. To whit:
1. It creates a difficult pre-snap read for the opposing QB, which requires a quick post snap read and therefore a much lower percentage of successful short to medium range passes.2. It becomes more difficult to employ adequate pass protection, as the lineman must now primarily adjust post snap- a condition which we have been on the wrong end of many times and which Phx has lamented in this forum often.
3. It is more conservative than bringing the house, in that it leaves at the minimum one safety behind all other defenders in the event that they are beaten. If that safety is Dakari Pearson then this is a very good thing.
4. It puts the pass defenders eye to eye with the QB in case of a screen or a draw- or any other misdirection play with which we have been beaten mercilessly in the past.
5. Linemen dropping back into coverage disrupt the hot routes and quick dump offs that proved our undoing in several key games last year.
There are also some downsides to the Zone Blitz- but this post is long enough and I should wrap this up.
5. Is Akina the OU Killer?
This is the question. Truthfully I don't know. I do know that Mack- being able to recruit from many capable assistants across the country, and ever mindfull of the embarassment we suffered in Dallas, did not bring this man into the fold on a whim. My best interpolation of the data would suggest that the coverage packages and disguised blitz packages that such a coach could bring into the equation seem preeminantly suited to stopping a spread offense which relies on misdirection and overpursuit such as OU employed last season. We may still see a certain LB stunting from the outside every down needlessly, and a certain blitzing LB chasing dead soldiers as Texas Football so accurately described last season. He is a secondary coach after all, so what really do we expect to change in the front seven? My inclination is, however, whatever package is in place for OU will not be displayed until Oct. 6, given the competition we face until that point. At the very least, there should be several new wrinkles to the defense, that, if my hunch is correct, will serve to allow Hybl to klep out of 3 hours of Turf Management and Soil Testing via direct salivary analysis before the dust settles in Dallas.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Doperbo
-----------------------
Don't play me close... I' ll have this mic up in your midsection...
-Phife- A Tribe Called Quest
There are several reasons this interests me. One- Simple. It's the only new addition to the staff to ponder. Other than Mad Dog buying the occasional new big *** gold chain to FLEX for the ladies {work it Dog} there really hasn't been anything new in the armamentarium to comment on for the last three years. Two- Duane Akina helped run a fairly esoteric, very complicated defense that initially I knew almost nothing about- pac10 football being just that, at least as far as I am generally concerned. [warning- potential rpongett unwinnable side argument eject switch enabled- status set to DEFCON 3]. Third- This group has the potential to be one of the best defensive secondaries ever to roam the proverbial flat in DKR- and any addition that might bring a new twist to the rabid de-cleating frenzy I expect out there next season is worth commenting on. Finally- There are some subtle reasons that this choice of coaches may tie in to the blood feud on October 6th- on it's own a factually shaky premise that I will attempt to bolster.
Initial Questions:
1. Who is Duane Akina.
2. What is the flex defense. What formations does it utilize and what are it's strengths and weaknesses.
3. What version of the flex does Arizona- and therefore by proxy Akina- employ and what does that mean to any offense which faces the aformentioned D.
4. What- if any- effect will this have on the UT secondary- and for that matter the defense as a whole- by far the most important yet most difficult question to answer.
5. What might this entail for our upcoming opponents this season- most notably the strongest and most hated rivals on our shedule. [note to 92agconfuseddentist- this is not you]
I will attempt to answer each in turn from my tireless scouring and indexing {read- at least three beers worth} of various internet and print sources, as well as filling in any nebulous information completely from my own questionable- at best- knowledge of all things football. Forewarned.
1. Duane Akina-
Akina was hired in March of this year to coach the secondary following Withers departure. He is 44 years old and previously coached for 14 years at the University of Arizona. He was primarily involved as a defensive assistant, though he did spend 4 years as the offensive coordinator from 91-94, a fact which I found surprising. He had two stints as a defensive backs coach, and by all reports, was instrumental in running the Desert Swarm defense that keyed around a version of the Flex created by Ellerson and MacDuff. So much so that he was elevated to Defensive Coordinator prior to leaving for Texas- due in no small part to his knowledge of said defense. He was the only assistant to stay at UA throughout Dick Tomey's entire controversial regime, and coached some of the best talent in that conference- most notably Darryl Lewis- recipient of the 1990 Jim Thorpe Award and Chris McCallister- 1998 Finalist for the same award. He also is known from several sources for being a very vocal and active coach, both on the practice field and sidelines, some of which was previewed in Spring Practice this year. He left Arizona after being named the defensive coordinator under, savor the irony, John Mackovic, which leads me to believe he is, if nothing else, a very smart man. My deductions from the above data, as well as some other observations gleaned from various bbs and clippings.
1. Akina is loyal, turning down all other offers- including one from his former home- Hawaii, while at Arizona for 14 years.
2. He is versatile- being instrumental in a very complicated defense that underwent several shades of change under several different coordinators.
3. He is agressive and motivated, and very vocal, and by several sources has a true rapport with his players.
4. He has coached or groomed some -very- talented players, and helped them reach the next level, a potential boon at Texas this season given our deep and talented secondary.
5. His players have been known, on many occasions, to hit like a pissed off rhino.
BTW- anybody who cares to revive the issue of Akina leaving Mackovic in the lurch can shut up and grip as far as I am concerned- Mackovic just re-hired MacDuff- the originator of the whole damn defense- so Arizona's suckage factor next season should not , and will not be if anyone has any sense, be aimed at Akina. A certain offensive genius however..... but I digress.
2. The History of the Flex Defense-
The flex defense itself was originally designed, according to some sources, merely improved upon or perfected according to others, by a true Texas legend, Tom Landry. It is so named because it was originally intended to utilize engineering principles that roughly correlate with pressure and flow- namely defensive personnel pressure and offensive, i.e. ball carrier, flow.
At it's heart was a 4-3 base set in which 2 of the 4 down linemen were set 1 yard off the LOS. In addition, six of the front seven defenders were then responsible for 1 gap each, leaving a Mike LB to read various offensive and defensive keys and employ several algorithms, hopefully to reach the ball-carrier. There are several facets of the Flex which made it intitially difficult to employ, but eventually made it very difficult to stop.
1. It takes away the natural instincts of the front seven for ball pursuit. Not an easy thing to do. All but one defender is designed to enter and control a gap- which leads directly to...
2. Linemen now control an area of the field, not a particular man.
You can see why this requires discipline. Lining up on a down lineman and beating him one on one is a talent and/or technique issue and is easily settled, holding an area of ground and being aggressive yet patient regardless of who lines up across from you or what they do takes discipline, and a fair amount of sack if you really think about it. I played against some of the best of Texas AA HS football talent of the late eighties and early nineties (got drug 8 yards downfield "tackling" Rodney Thomas in the Area finals one time- different story altogether) and by far the hardest thing I ever had to do was momentarily hold up or play contain on a football field. Every time I look back on that I got either badly beaten or had my bell severely rung was either momentarily standing still while reversing direction and adjusting to the O or moving slowly while shading a pulling guard or covering a zone. It's a lot easier mentally to rush in crying havoc and smell around for the ball than it is to hold a gap.
3. The MLB left over to read the keys has to have an inordinate amount of football talent/saavy/presence to get to the right place and nail the right guy.
Anyway- the short version of the story is that Landry found the man to anchor this defense- Bob Lilly, and Lilly, along with Renfro, Jordan and Pugh became the core of the vaunted Doomsday Defense which led to nine consecutive play off appearances and two superbowls.
Various versions of the flex have been utilized ever since, which leads us to question 3-3. Arizona's Flex Defense-
Arizona uses a version affectionately called the Double Eagle Flex Defense- named after a charismaticIndian Chief with Parkinson's Disease who frequented every Arizona game from 1972-1989. [editor's note- Doperbo is lying]. Arizona, as a base set, drops one of five lineman off the LOS putting him on either side- or in the middle- while the remaining linemen run stunts and the LB's either blitz or drop back into coverage, wreaking havoc on blocking assignments and offensive schemes.
It is, more than anything else, an adjustment style defensive set that relies upon heavy motion on the Dline, which confuses the Oline and the blocking backs such that they fondly remember their TASP tests back in high school. An example:
- If a train leaves from Albequerque with 14 Aggie Running Backs and 12 pounds of Hemp traveling northwest at a base rate of consumption of 0.5 pounds of hemp per hour per Aggie Running Back at an initial ground speed of 63 miles per hour, adjusting for a southwest wind sheer of 14 miles per hour and a coeficient of sliding friction on each rail averaging 4 minus pi, how long does it take for a 2000 Cadillac to be pulled over in Longview Texas while blasting the latest Lil 'Kim album over 4 Jensen sub woofers and three 6 X 9 tweeters mounted in the dash?
A- B but not C
B- C but not A
C- 7
D- some of the above
E- Where is Longview Texas?
You could see how this could be confusing.
A quote from an unnamed RB facing this defense [this is true] "You could line up against a defensive lineman, but he really could be a safety, You could block who you think is a safety but they're really a down lineman, it's a total mind game." According to a recent Ohio State Offensive Coordinator, "it looks like a storm from the defense because they come from all kinds of angles and all kinds of sets, it's difficult to establish a rhythm or gain any confidence early on..."
The upshot of all of this is that the defense constantly keep the offense, particularly the quarterback, guessing as to what it's formation and stunts are designed to do on any given down. This is in sharp contrast to some of the stunts and blitzes we have seen in on the 40 acres in the last few seasons, which even the most football illiterate of us have been able to predict and lament about while jumping around yelling and spilling beer on our comrades, resulting in several occasions in which we were accused of "bringing down the mood" or "ruining the game for everyone else"... but I digress once again. Perhaps I have shared too much.
4. What does this mean for the Texas Defense?
Who the hell knows. I stated earlier that this is the hardest question to answer. I have no qualifications or illusions to the Inner Circle of Texas football with which to discuss this particular aspect. A lot of this depends on how much leeway Akina is given in determining defensive sets and alignments. Arizona keyed off a mobile and confusing Dline. We have had, for the last several years, a Dline which simply lined up and pounded the snot out of most opposing offensive lineman. Rogers and Hampton were the backbone of the D, and to what extent Akina will be able to shape this D is hard for me to guage. I do not think we will see any version of the Double Eagle Flex, based primarily on the observations at Spring Practice and the posts of several bbs regulars whom I respect. The primary impact that I see is the use of better and more varied Zone Blitzes, as opposed to the all out hell bent for leather attack that Bull is wont to throw out on third down and long. There are, though, several immediate benefits to a true Zone Blitz that are readily apparent and which should make no small impact on our defensive acumen next season. To whit:
1. It creates a difficult pre-snap read for the opposing QB, which requires a quick post snap read and therefore a much lower percentage of successful short to medium range passes.2. It becomes more difficult to employ adequate pass protection, as the lineman must now primarily adjust post snap- a condition which we have been on the wrong end of many times and which Phx has lamented in this forum often.
3. It is more conservative than bringing the house, in that it leaves at the minimum one safety behind all other defenders in the event that they are beaten. If that safety is Dakari Pearson then this is a very good thing.
4. It puts the pass defenders eye to eye with the QB in case of a screen or a draw- or any other misdirection play with which we have been beaten mercilessly in the past.
5. Linemen dropping back into coverage disrupt the hot routes and quick dump offs that proved our undoing in several key games last year.
There are also some downsides to the Zone Blitz- but this post is long enough and I should wrap this up.
5. Is Akina the OU Killer?
This is the question. Truthfully I don't know. I do know that Mack- being able to recruit from many capable assistants across the country, and ever mindfull of the embarassment we suffered in Dallas, did not bring this man into the fold on a whim. My best interpolation of the data would suggest that the coverage packages and disguised blitz packages that such a coach could bring into the equation seem preeminantly suited to stopping a spread offense which relies on misdirection and overpursuit such as OU employed last season. We may still see a certain LB stunting from the outside every down needlessly, and a certain blitzing LB chasing dead soldiers as Texas Football so accurately described last season. He is a secondary coach after all, so what really do we expect to change in the front seven? My inclination is, however, whatever package is in place for OU will not be displayed until Oct. 6, given the competition we face until that point. At the very least, there should be several new wrinkles to the defense, that, if my hunch is correct, will serve to allow Hybl to klep out of 3 hours of Turf Management and Soil Testing via direct salivary analysis before the dust settles in Dallas.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Doperbo
-----------------------
Don't play me close... I' ll have this mic up in your midsection...
-Phife- A Tribe Called Quest
