Scrimmage Report: Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables

JH: How did you think things went out there tonight?

BV: “There were some real positive things out there, and what a great experience for them tonight in so many different ways. There were some real positives things and some negative things, obviously. When I say negative, it is again some alignment issues, tempo issues at times and just the management of it. We have some brand new guys, and how to manage things and the urgency of when the play is over, and then how we handle things needs more work. However, tonight was a great training ground for them. I thought that was as a productive from an experience standpoint game like situation as we could provide for them.”

“I thought with the first two groups, I saw some really big hits, saw some hands on some balls and some good fits being disciplined in the run game. And I saw some other things not so good. I saw some busted assignments, busted alignments and some missed tackles, especially early on when we were getting used to the speed of game. It was the first time in full pads we were going full speed with live tackling in a scrimmage situation, so some of that is to be expected. I saw some DBs making some plays on the ball and I saw one get behind us. Other times we gave up some long drives, but we were able to get some stops and hold them to field goals.

"Obviously, when you have some long drives against your one’s there are issues within that drive, and some of it is just management. When you are not managing it right you have no chance before the ball is ever snapped. So that can be corrected. We didn’t come out of here and say we didn’t have the personnel and that type of thing. It was certainly not as polished as you would like, but some of that is to be expected this early and a lot to build on.”

JH: How did it go for your linebackers tonight?

BV: “A lot of what I am saying, I am talking about them. Our D-line was fairly disruptive. When they lined up and played technique, they were really good. At times, we weren’t lined up and playing with good technique so we weren’t good, and backers are included in all the above.

"I saw Mike (Balogun) have some really good range, I saw him explode on the ball carrier a couple of times, and I saw him covering some things sideline-to-sideline and showing up. Then I saw him bust some real basic, easy things early on because I think he got a little bit excited.

"Austin (Box) and Mike worked at the WILL, with Austin working mostly with the one’s and a little with the two’s. Mike worked a little bit with the one’s and worked a great deal with the two’s.”

MEDIA: How many plays did you run?

BV: “Roughly 100, but I am not sure what the final count was.”

JH: How many big hits did you have?

BV: “Let's see, Balogun had a forced fumble, J.R. Bryant had a forced fumble, Austin Box had a forced fumble and Quinton Carter really showed up and struck some guys a couple of times. I didn’t even know he was going to be out there, so it was good to see Quinton get back on the field because he has been a little bit gimpy. It was good to see him back out there, absolutely. We are really thin at that position. Joseph Ibiloye has done some really good things, but he is a true freshman. I will say this, as a true freshman he is instinctive, very rangy and he is a physical guy for a longer, leaner guy.

"Those main guys had some head changers that you would really appreciate as they were flying to the ball. They are not always playing with great effort, as at times guys are a little bit unsure of themselves and not playing with the kind of effort that you have to play with, and that is kind of the great equalizer. Fatigue makes cowards of us all and that was the last thing we left them with, and that was we have to work to get into better shape. The teams we are going to face, the tempo is going to be no-huddle and you have to play with a new level of conditioning. The only way we can get that is practice and scrimmage situations, where we can try to emulate that. We have to constantly create that kind of sense of urgency, it has to be there.

"It is a process where the guys have to learn how to manage, and it can’t be just one guy. Although there are a lot of guys in the back seven who are brand new, sometimes you can lean on one guy in the back seven and another guy in the back end, with one guy in the front seven to get everybody squared away. Those young guys are going to have to really get it early for us to be efficient.”

JH: Is the tempo the biggest problem?

BV: “The biggest difficulty for us is the communication process. We have two new guys flanking the outside of the defense, and they are not saying anything. They are waiting for somebody else. Things get loud and it kind of gets crazy with personnel all over, so there is a process from a management standpoint. Those guys are relying on the other guys to help them. There is good and bad and, shoot, it got much better as it went along. Guys were around the ball so there were some very encouraging plays.

"There were some plays where there weren’t spring game type of picks. Maybe the offense looks at it like that. But it wasn’t like a tipped ball with the wind blowing 35 to 45 miles-per-hour, it was plays with great positioning, great break, good vision on the ball and finishing play. It was a real critical situation. So it was good.”

MEDIA: Who got interceptions for you tonight?

BV: “It was Lendy (Holmes), Lamont (Robinson) and Keenan Clayton.”

JH: Did R.J. Washington and David King get many snaps at defensive end?

BV: “They got 15 to 20 snaps, probably. We have them in three series maybe. So it was encouraging because with those guys that is technique in the run game, and that is all that is when they get in and you get exposed really fast. Your technique is everything and right now they aren’t sure what they are doing. When you are not sure what you are doing, it really slows you down. I told J.R. Bryant a few times it looked like he was pulling a truck out there. That is a long, fast and athletic guy that at times was playing so slow because he is just unsure what to do right now. A few times it was on some complicated stuff, but a few other times it was on easy stuff, and that happens when you are unsure of what you are doing yet.

"We tried the first three days of a lot of meetings, and at our practices he was at WILL. And then when it become apparent some other guys were making moves or doing well, we needed to move J.R. back to kind of where we always thought he would be to the SAM.”

MEDIA: How well is Austin Box playing right now?

BV: “He is getting close to really being where you want him to be. A lot of what I am just talking about is just mental, where you won’t beat yourself. That is not to be taken the wrong way that he is just the surest guy we have and not the best player. He is also a very good athlete and a very good player. He is dong really well. He still needs to polish up his game, but he has come a long way.

"He didn’t have any background at linebacker coming out of high school. He is a lot like Rufus (Alexander), who was a 190-pound defensive end coming out of high school and when he got here he had never been in a linebacker stance.”

MEDIA: What has been your take on Daniel Franklin so far?

BV: “He did pretty good. He has some suddenness to him and quickness. I always knew that he had that quickness because I had him in camp. Daniel has good instincts and he fills the gap. I like him. He puts his head down and he will hit you. He needs to work on some technique things, but he made some plays tonight and put his nose on the ball a few times.

"He is a physical player and he had a real nice break-up from a big hit. He could have intercepted it as the ball hung on the tight ends back forever, kind of like a spindle just sitting there spinning there on his back. All he had to do was reach up there and pick it off, but he made the hit and he is doing a good job at middle linebacker for us.”

MEDIA: How did Keenan Clayton play?

BV: “Keenan had a real good scrimmage and showed up in a lot of plays. He has picked right up where he left off in the spring and is playing with a lot of poise, passion and he is playing smart. Keenan is one of the most athletic players we have on our team, and when he plays with confidence like he is right now he is a very good football player. We need him to be to be good on defense this season.”

MEDIA: How are Brandon Crow and Lamont Robinson playing?

BV: “I keep pictures of players on my wall of players at my position who have contributed to our program, and Gayron Allen is on that wall. He is a great example of a guy who was not the most talented guy on our team and who had to wait his time to get on the field, but once he did he was fundamentally sound and played some great football for us. I point to him with guys like Brandon and Lamont and tell them they have to keep pushing, they have to keep developing and they have to keep working because their time wll come in some form or fashion on this team. Brandon is working at both the MIKE and SAM, and Lamont at the SAM. Both have a good chance to play on special teams for us, and so far both are having good springs.”