Aggie lineman getting defensive for upcoming season
Sean Enesi doesn’t like to sugarcoat the way Utah State’s defense played in 2009.
“We couldn’t stop the run,” said the senior defensive tackle. “That’s where our negatives were last year.”
Negatives might be putting it gently. Enesi – all 5-foot-11, 286 pounds of him – and his fellow USU linemen were statistically among the worst teams in stopping opponents’ ground games in 2009, allowing 205.5 rushing yards per game (the 10th worst mark in the country). In terms of overall defense, the Aggies didn’t fare any better, with their mark of 455 yards allowed per contest standing as the seventh worst mark among the 120 teams of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). With those kinds of numbers, it was no surprise when defensive coordinator Bill Busch made shoring up the line one of his personal goals heading into spring practice.
“You can’t be a great defense without having a great front,” explained Busch. “Defensive line was a major concern for us last season. It always starts up front, and it’s always the main thing for us.”
To be fair, the Aggies went into last year handicapped on the defensive line. Injuries played a role in reducing the unit’s effectiveness, but a change in defensive schemes from 2008 to 2009 also made adjusting to coach Gary Andersen’s new attack-oriented approach to defense a challenge. Already undersized by Division I standards, USU’s linemen were simply overwhelmed at times in 2009 and looked uncomfortable and disorganized when giving up massive amounts of rushing yards to Hawaii, Nevada and Boise State.
Yet ever since the season ended with a surprising 52-49 win on the road against Idaho, USU’s defenders have been hard at work in not only preparing for this coming season physically but mentally as well. Investing just as much time in the film room as in the weight room, the Aggie defensive linemen have come out with a chip on their shoulders this spring and are intent on proving that Utah State isn’t just another WAC team with a great offense but a porous defense.
“As defensive linemen, we have to come out with chips on our shoulders,” explained Enesi. “During the offseason, our defensive line worked really hard in studying the film and studying the playbook. All offseason we’ve been trying to get our technique right. As soon as spring ball came in, we just starting putting pieces together and polishing up our technique.”
Aside from working on getting their technique in order, USU’s defenders have taken the time to go back to square one of the defensive playcalls, gaining confidence in their ability to execute their jobs on the field as both individuals and as a unit. Getting the basics down has allowed the linemen to move ahead in their development, and guaranteed that there won’t be any wasted practice time during the few spring sessions this April.
“This offseason there has been a lot of focus on knowing our job, and not just knowing our job but knowing the whole defense,” said Aggie defensive end Levi Koskan, who led USU with three sacks in 2009 as a sophomore. “We’ve been putting in a lot of work and a lot of mental reps so we know our jobs.”
Koskan said one of the biggest changes from the end of last season to the start of spring practice has been the greater sense of familiarity USU’s linemen have with the scheme and with their position coaches. Saying that he personally felt “overwhelmed” at times last season, Koskan testified to the importance of being on the same page as the Aggie coaching staff in 2010.
“This year is completely different,” he said. “With a year under our belts, we know not only the plays but the technique. It allows the coaches to coach on what they actually need to coach on instead of the little technique kinds of things, and that has made a world of a difference.”
If the Aggie defensive line is to show dramatic improvement next season, it will likely have to come by way of speed and technique – as opposed to size and mass. Not only do projected starting interior linemen Daniel Gurrola and Sean Enesi hover around the 6-foot mark, but defensive end Nathan Royster looks more the part of a linebacker. USU defensive line coach Chad Kauha’aha’a is all too familiar with the challenges of playing with an undersized line, but said the unit can still be successful in 2010 if it executes to defensive gameplan properly.
“We need move around,” said Kauha’aha’a, who played linebacker at the University of Utah during the mind 1990s. “We don’t stay in one spot. Most teams, which have bigger and heavier defensive lineman, play a base defense. I think with us, with coach Andersen and coach Busch, what you see is a more aggressive scheme. Can we play a base defense? We can, but we want to take advantage of what we have, which is our speed.”
Enesi backed his coach up, saying, “We want to establish ourselves up front with our speed. The quicker we get – especially with an undersized defensive front – the quicker we can get to the running back and get to the play.”
Speed has been the name of the game this offseason for the Aggie defense, which posted a strong performance in USU’s first intrasquad scrimmage of the spring last Saturday. The Aggies notched five sacks overall during the scrimmage and were able to stifle USU’s second team offense on numerous occasions. According to Kauha’aha’a, the performance during the scrimmage was no fluke and is indicative of just how far USU’s defensive line has come in the span of the four months between the end of the season and the start of spring ball.
“I think we’ve made huge strides,” Kauha’aha’a said. “We’ve improved since the season ended, and improved in spring ball. I think our guys understand what it takes to get to where we want to be. Not only in the weight room but in off-the-field stuff as well. We’re making strides, and we are a much better group than where we were last year.”
He continued, saying, “I think attitude-wise and confidence-wise, these guys know the defense and it has shown.”
It certainly helps that the Aggies will be much more experienced this year. All told, the Aggies return three full-time starters on the four-man line from last year, with the lone official newcomer – Koskan – having played extensively as a rush end specialist. Before beginning of the spring, the Aggie staff moved last year’s starter at defensive end – Junior Keiaho – to outside linebacker, although the speedy Logan native will still have the opportunity to play in a three-point stance during certain situations in 2010.
Experience aside, few FBS defenses can be successful against modern spread-based offensive attacks these days without being able to sub in multiple players throughout the game. At practice this past week, coach Busch expressed confidence in the ability of the four projected Aggie starters, but said the real challenge this season will be for the defense to continue to play at a high level even when the backups are in.
“Those four guys are really our rock,” said Busch in regards to Gurrola, Royster, Enesi and Koskan. “But there are several very good players mixed in there with those guys, and we will roll those guys through there a lot. You can’t play 75 snaps at defensive line. You have to have some sort of rotation in there.”
Among the players USU is counting on to help spell the starters are Quinn Garner, who started eight games at end last season, and Devin Johnson, who was recently moved back to the defensive end spot after an experiment at outside linebacker. The Aggies also get back senior Casey Davis, who redshirted last year. All told, USU should field a much more experienced unit with the ability to roll two-deep across the line, a prized commodity against the high-octane offenses found around the WAC.
On paper, the Aggie d-line looks set for a drastic turnaround. But there’s still the question of doing, especially when it comes to stopping the run. According to the soft-spoken but intense Kauha’aha’a, only with practice and continued repetition can the much maligned line really make its mark on defense in 2010, and only through hard work can the Aggies remove the chip vested firmly on their shoulders.
“What do we do?” Kauha’aha’a asked rhetorically. “We get better at practice, and that’s all we can do. We’ve got to be able to stop the run. If we can’t do that, then we can’t plan on winning more games this year. It’s a point of huge emphasis.”
“Last spring, we got our butts gashed by a lot of people, but so far this spring that hasn’t been the case,” he added, with a grin.
If nothing else, the familiarity and confidence that the defensive linemen have gained in the course of the year has caused them to play looser. After practice on Tuesday, USU’s defenders could be seen gathering around Koskan, wildly cheering and applauding him after he knifed into the backfield to disrupt a play. Koskan and his fellow defenders are banking on seeing more plays like that in 2010, hoping that the unit’s offseason of film study and weightlifting provides nothing but smiles on the field come September.
“It’s a ‘stop the run so then you can have fun’ kind of thing,” Koskan said with a smile. “I do believe that there will be big improvement in stopping the run game this season.
The Aggies return to Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium Saturday at noon, when the team will compete in the second intrasquad scrimmage of the spring. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.
– adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu