D-line crucial for putting points on the board
Though a football team’s offense is responsible for putting points on the board, the defense has the job of shutting down the opposing team and securing good field positions for the offense.
The Utah State University defensive unit was able to hold the University of Oregon and Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Joey Harrington for much of the game Saturday. The defense allowed Oregon only 24 points through the first three quarters and gave the Utah State offense a chance to keep the game close in the fourth quarter.
“I thought they [the defense] took a step this week,” head coach Mick Dennehy said.
The anchor of the defensive unit is the defensive line. The four players up front have the task of slowing down or stopping the ball carrier and making life miserable for the opposing quarterback.
Utah State has three returning starters and five returning lettermen on the defensive line this year. Though the line is part of the entire defense, the positions on the line are specialized and require different techniques. Players sometimes do switch positions on the line, but the positions are not necessarily interchangeable.
“There are people that go from one position to another, usually from tackle to nose. It is a totally different technique, a totally different way of playing it,” defensive end Tyler Olsen said. “I wouldn’t say it is interchangeable but we do interchange them. We just have to take it upon ourselves to learn those extra positions.”
Besides learning their own positions and the extra ones they may be playing, defenders must learn the formations and plays the defense runs. The defense doesn’t choose and run plays like an offense would, but they run their plays based on what the opposing offense is running.
“We have certain blitzes and schemes that we run, but we run them to the offensive formation,” defensive end Nick Onaindia said. “A coach sits up in the box and sees the formation that comes out and then they send in our call after they see what formation comes out.”
Depending on the defensive situation, the coaches will also substitute players in and out so the best combination is on the field to stop an expected play.
“If we know people are going to run the ball we bring in players like Jared Solosabal because he is really good against the run, or we bring in the bigger heavier guys,” Onaindia said. “But if it is going to be a pass, we want our quick guys in there who are going to be able to put some pressure on the passer.”
Defensive substitutions also regularly take place to help keep the players fresh.
“Right now, the coach is really keen on keeping us fresh and keeping us in and out,” Olsen said. “Sometimes we don’t always want to go out but, we know the coaches are looking to save us for the fourth quarter when we really need to be fresh.”
Olsen said the plays the opposing offense run also make a difference on how tired the defense gets.
“Playing against the pass probably tires us out more. Against the pass we work on speed moves, trying to get out and beat the offensive linemen. Sometimes you have to do a couple moves to try to beat them,” Olsen said. “On runs, it is more they try to block you and you try to get off the block. It’s a lot more energy consuming against the pass.”
Some players may be better suited to play against particular formations, but the defensive linemen have their favorite types of offense to play against.
“I like to play against the pass better because you get to sack the quarterback,” Onaindia said. “You get to hit him, and that’s the fun part.” Though sacks are a huge play for the defense, more often they get a chance to hit backs trying to run the ball through the line.
It seems as if a running back trying to break through the line would be a hard target, but as long as the defense sticks to their technique, hitting the back is not difficult, Olsen said.
“We haven’t had a lot of problems with that [hitting the back]. The running back is coming and we just square up our stance,” Olsen said. “As long as we use proper technique it’s not too bad at all. We try to attack them.”
The defensive line has the first shot at stopping any offensive attack, but they don’t have to necessarily make the stopping tackle every time.
Often, the linemen are able to slow down a running back, or flush the quarterback from the pocket, so the linebackers can come in and finish the play.
“We’ve got a gap to hold on every run play,” Onaindia said. “Basically your job is, whether you’re taking on two guys or one guy, you’ve got to hold your gap and make the ball carrier run through a gap the linebacker has so he can fill the gap and make the tackle.”
Olsen said, “Sometimes its just as important in that position to just be able to hold the second man so he can’t get off onto the linebacker. If we do that we feel like we did our job there too.”
“At practice, coach [Tom] McMahon and coach [Travis] Baker teach us if you’re not running toward the ball before the whistle blows you get an effort, and an effort is some kind of punishment to make it habit in a game where you always run after the ball carrier,” Onaindia said. “The big thing is you want to get the ball out when you’re coming up from behind and force the turnover, and that’s the key to not giving up.”
Linemen are often prone to injury because they make contact every play, but this year, the Aggies have been relatively injury free.
“We’ve actually stayed pretty healthy this year. Last year we got bit pretty bad by the injury bug, but this year we haven’t had any problems,” Onaindia said. “I think one of the big things is the knee braces that we’ve had to wear. We haven’t gotten a serious knee injury or anything like that and I think the coaches are protecting us that way.”
“I think the crowd is huge. If you have a loud crowd when the offense is trying to call their play or maybe audible to another play, a lot of the guys can’t hear it and it could force a time out or it could force a miscommunication and they mess up on their play. The crowd can be huge for a home defense,” Onaindia said.
Despite the importance of the crowd for the defense, fans may often overlook defensive players and focus on the offense. Defensive linemen frequently do not get the recognition many of the more visible positions get.
Neither Olsen nor Onaindia seem concerned about any lack of recognition.
“I think sometimes we need to take it upon ourselves, at least right now, to get that recognition. It’s a little glory job is what our coach says,” Olsen said.
“You can’t be out for your own glory, you have to be out for the good of the team,” Onaindia said. “Some of the times you have to sacrifice so someone else can make the play. I don’t think you should expect anything. If you want something, I think that no matter what position you play, you can go out and get it.”
Several defensive linemen have worked hard and earned the recognition. Against Oregon, Onaindia was a team captain based on his play against the University of Wyoming the previous week.
Sophomore defensive end Nate Putnam has also earned several honors. In 2000, he was the only freshman in the Big West Conference to earn First-Team all-Big West Honors. Putnam also earned Academic all-Big West last year.
The defensive line puts in a lot of work during the week at practice preparing, which gets them excited for their game every week, Onaindia said.
“After all the work with the week of training and everything, you get excited for the game. You naturally get pumped up just because you know you prepared and know you worked hard to get to this point,” he said.