ASU’s defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales discussed today the conditioning of his group, the transition that Jalen Harvey has made to the Tillman role, increasing turnover margin while keeping penalties to a minimum in a very aggressive style of play.
On the play of senior defensive lineman Doug Subtyl:
“He has made great improvements since spring ball. He’s super athletic and he's getting back into the form that he was in his junior college days when he was recruited here. We wanted him at San Diego State and when we came here he had a disappointing first year but he has worked his tail off and competing for a starting role now.”
On how smooth the transition has been for senior safety Jalen Harvey moving from Ranger to Tillman:
"He's been really good in the classroom. One thing about Jalen is, he wants to learn. So, every day we're fine-tuning the intricacies he's making mistakes on. He's making progress every day. It's been a good transition. It will really help us with the depth there. Hopefully, we’ll get Evan (Fields) back on Tuesday and we'll see what that position looks like the last week before we play."
On whether the Tillman position carries the most questions regarding its depth chart compared to the rest of the defense:
"Probably. Tyler (Whiley) had surgery yesterday (for a season-ending broken ankle injury). The surgery went great. But we had invested a lot of time with him. Those things happen, so next man up. Now that we moved a guy over there we're getting some fresh reps there and then Evan (Fields) will be four weeks behind because he hasn't practiced much this fall camp. I think he practiced two times before he got hurt. So that is the biggest concern right now and it's an important spot to have a big concern. The best thing is that all three of those guys (senior Das Tutulasati being the third) are really hungry in the meeting room, they're spending extra time to make sure that they know what to do and where to be. We'll see in two weeks."
His thoughts on the specific sub-packages he wants to run in any given game:
"The way we do things around here will be, most of the time it'll be on a play rotation number. So, a guy might have a six-play rotation, so after six plays they rotate themselves as long as the referee gives them the three whistles to substitute. It helps with changing the pace of the game, so if the offense is trying to go fast and they sub we can slow that down a little bit with as many guys as we substitute and all that stuff. It helps doing that. We're going to do that with a couple guys in the secondary.
“Aashari (Crosswell) has earned some reps in there. What we do at Tillman, some of that stuff will be by down and distance, who is in there. Coverage-wise who is in there, what we're doing. So, hopefully we can play anywhere from 17-19 guys and we can keep that rotation and have fresh bodies.
“Now when we get into critical situations, the best guys are going to be in there and the rotation turns off. So, we get into a two-minute situation at half or in a fourth quarter in a tight ballgame, playmaking overtakes substitution at that point. But we should be fresh and we should have an opportunity for those guys to be able to stay in there for the remainder of the time that they need to be in there."
His thoughts on the ascent of freshman linebacker Darien Butler who is now contending for a starting position:
"One thing about Darien is he's a natural football player and there are some things that you don't teach him that you don't have to teach because he sees guards pull. He knows where the ball is going naturally so he fits in the right spot. He does stuff you don’t teach and has natural instincts. If he makes a mistake he's got the ability to shed blockers and get in the right position. He's proven that through fall camp.
“He's far, far ahead of where I thought he would be, so yeah he's got a great chance to start when we play in two weeks. Like I said, for a true freshman you never know what you're going to get. Sometimes it doesn't bother him and sometimes like the old adage, for every true freshman you start you probably count on losing a game. Well, shoot, we got a bunch of 'em, I hope we don't end up losing that many games because we've got a bunch of them we're going to play."
On how he will handle playing time for freshmen now with the new rule where a freshman can pay up to four games and still redshirt and will he play as many freshmen as possible:
"Of the ones that have proved they're as good or better than the guys who are playing (as veterans), yes. If it's close, depending on that position and how much depth we have. Because if we can keep developing those guys on scout team and getting them over with us as we getting reps as we get later in the season as we players to injury or whatever, we'll have the availability of those guys with the four games. If we're really deep at a position and we have an opportunity, then we're going to play those guys and get them some experience because I don't think you can replace experience."
On whether the defense is playing as hard as he's would like them to:
“Yes and no. Yes, until they get tired and so we have to continue to get into shape because they think I'm crazy but I expect them to play that hard for 80 plays. And some of those guys that won't sub, they've got to be able to do it. They're young enough. I keep on telling them, come run with me. You'll be fine. You'll prove yourself that you can do it. We're getting close but we still have two weeks. If you watch some of our scout team stuff, the last ten minutes of it is nothing but 7-on-7 with all 11 of them in there. When the quarterback throws the ball, those guys are sprinting 20 yards every single time. It's really an assignment and conditioning check. They're getting that for 25 straight minutes during practice. We're going to beat it out of them if nothing else."
Gonzales said in the past that this is the fastest he has ever installed the 3-3-5 scheme. On that note, is he happy with the level of execution:
“We're probably further ahead than I thought we'd be, only because they bought in. It's been a tremendous help having (cornerbacks) coach (Tony) White here, only because we have been together for the last 10 years. I know what's going on in his meeting room without having to be in there. So, I can spend a little more time with (defensive line) coach (Shaun) Nua and (linebackers) coach (Antonio) Pierce if need be. They've done a phenomenal job. Their attention to detail in meetings and their desire to make sure we're right is just been unbelievable.
“Now, when the bright lights turn on it's one of those things, you never know what you're going to get. It's going to take them a few snaps to get used to it, the speed of it, and our expectation being on a number rotation. Some of those guys played every snap last year and if you watch by the end of the game, they were exhausted. I don't think, up front, that there's anybody in this world that's in shape good enough to play 80 plays the way we want them to play. Those guys, we're trying to get them in condition to play 40-50 plays with the prime 20 coming at the end of the game if it's important and they should be ready to go with no problem. There shouldn't be any dip in how we start and how we finish and that's the goal. We’re getting close, but we'll see."
On whether he ever had a defensive end with the same body type as 6-2 302 lbs. sophomore Shannon Forman:
“Yes. Christian Heyward. He was actually a USC signee out of high school and then he transferred back to us (at San Diego State). He played both end and nose. He was 303 pounds. As long as those guys can move laterally, it’s no problem. I have no problem because they’re good enough off the edge to pass rush, they can peel and cover backs, we can drop them in zone. Doug Subtyl, he drops in zone sometimes, he’s deeper than our free safety. I’m like, ‘Holy cow, I’m going to move you to safety Doug.’
“So those guys have the ability to do that stuff. His size doesn’t bother me one bit. We’re really solid with Renell (Wren) and George (Lea) inside. I’m really happy with that combination. And then we’ve got DJ Davidson who, to his credit, has done a great job through camp. So, we’ve got three viable guys inside at nose that we can do some really special things with and they all have different attributes. I’m excited about that position and like I said with the ends, I’ve got no problem with Shannon weighing 300 pounds, the way he runs and the way he’s working.
“He’s physical. He’s quick in his lateral movement. He doesn’t make mistakes. The fastest way to lose games is, you give up big plays and you make assignment mistakes and they get cheap ones because of that. He doesn’t make assignment mistakes. We have to continue to harp that onto the true freshmen so we don’t give up a big touchdown or big scores because someone is not in the right spot, and then they play hard. Shannon works his tail off and plays hard. I’m excited about our guys up front. If we can tackle in the secondary, we’ve got a chance to be OK.”
On whether this ASU defense can force as many turnovers as SDSU which ranked top-10 in that category the last three years:
“If we get them to play hard, they’re going to be around the football. I don’t think there are magical turnover circuits that you can do. We just do fundamentals every day. You’ll see us, we’ll cradle the football, we’ll get on the ground and scoop it and it right. With interceptions, we always talk about it, ‘Always stay above the waist, you can’t block behind, no cheap shots.’ If you’ve got a chance to clean somebody’s clock if it’s behind the ball, don’t do it. We talk about that stuff all the time because those are the things that change momentum and then it comes back 40 yards from the return because you do something stupid, it changes the momentum back and they get a breather and a second chance. So, we talk about our guys doing that stuff.
“I think if you play hard and you are physical and you are around the football, those things happen. Our offensive guys are getting tired of, every time during seven-on-seven or inside run (drills), they’re getting their arms beat up, they’re getting the ball pulled out. It’s turned into a couple fights sometimes because the offensive guys get tired of our guys at the end of the play, they think it’s a bunch of baloney, which I’m OK with and I understand. I’d be tired of it too but I keep telling our guys it doesn’t matter, at the end of the fourth quarter, the more guys that are jumping on that pile, the more guys that are hitting that running back, all of a sudden, the ball pops out and the more we’re going to be around it to recover. So, I think it’s the style of play and then it comes down to players making plays. And we’ll find out what kind of players we have here in a couple weeks.”
On how he can keep the number penalties to a minimum with such an aggressive scheme:
“I think there’s a fine line of being over the edge and, I don’t want to say ‘being dirty’ but you take every last shot you can get and there’s a fine line but you push yourself to the brink of losing control emotionally but you have to control it. During the first ten days of fall camp, we did a horrible job of that. Guys are trying to shove each other after the whistle, running into each other. We were getting guys to fall down, fighting. We’ve done a ton of addressing of that stuff. But the style that we play and the aggressiveness that we play with, you have to be on the verge of being too much. Losing big plays and yardage because of penalties is dumb. Mature teams usually handle those things and they can get on the very brink of being too much and play that way.
“So, it’s something that we’re continuing to talk about the last five days as opposed to the first ten days were better. The things we worked on today was hard-counting to make sure we don’t jump. Last year, our first game at San Diego State, I think we jumped offsides nine times. So, coming into this game (against ASU in 2017) it was a big deal and I think we did it once against Arizona State. That was a coaching error. We didn’t do a good job in camp last year of practicing that stuff so we’re trying to initiate that stuff.
“But I think there’s a fine line of going too far and trying to get them right to that medium point so we stay because they did do a great job with penalties. We need to stay on that course. Disciplined football teams usually do those things. I think you can get them to play to that point and still be disciplined. Every once in a while, we’re going to hit a guy late out of bounds that’s close. I can live with those. I want to live with those, being aggressive. But three steps out of bounds, that’s dumb. Those are the things we’ve got to address. Then the thing is if you’re constantly doing it and you’re right on the brink all of a sudden those calls don’t get made by the referees because they’re used to seeing it. It’s when it’s blatant out of bounds or if you do it once in a while, all of a sudden they throw the flag. If we can keep them to just play hard, hard, hard and you’ve got three, four guys around it that are doing it right at the brink, they don’t call it. So, we’ll continue to keep that progress going.
“As long as they can keep their emotional control, it was no problem. It was the guys that can’t because they push somebody, the running back pushes them out of bounds and then they do something stupid and that’s what gets called. It’s a learning process and if you want to be mean and nasty and aggressive, you have to be able to control that emotion. It’s a teaching process, it’s our job as coaches. Early on, we’re going to be all over them to make sure they don’t give up dumb penalties and correct the ones that can live with, not that it’s ever OK but if it’s an aggressive penalty where the guy’s not trying to be over the top, we’ll fix those.”
On the defense continuously in practice trying to knock the ball out of players’ hands:
“The offensive coaches have been great and I like to give N’Keal (Harry) a hard time. I tell him every day, five of them on (number) one, we’re going to beat your arms. I tell them in the defensive meeting, ‘Find No. 1. When he touches the ball, I want 11 dudes on him.’ It’s going to make those guys betters. The other part about being at San Diego State, we didn’t turn the ball over. We took it away and we didn’t turn it over and we were top-10 in the country in turnover margin for three years because of that. I think it was because of practice. Those guys are constantly getting the ball pulled out, they know they have to protect it. Even when the whistle’s been blowing, they’re jogging back protecting it because our guys are running in trying to punch it out. It becomes a habit.
“It’s just natural and you don’t worry about it. So, then you don’t lose the football. It’s the same thing with us. If you’re always trying to punch the ball out, every opportunity you get to punch it out, then sooner or later, every 10 times, it’s going to come out and if we’re around the ball because we’re playing hard then we’ll get it. Those things change games, they win and lose football games, so I will never call them off. Me and coach (Rob) Likens will fight about it if he gets mad. And they (the offense) have been awesome. They’ve been awesome.”
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