Film Study: breaking down Northern Arizona’s defensive scheme

The candidates: redshirt sophomore Manny Wilkins and redshirt freshman Brady White. All indications lean towards Wilkins starting the season opener, but it is not yet known how much if any, action White will play a part in.

The competition will be Northern Arizona, an opponent who have plenty of familiar faces to the local products on ASU’s team but will also be brand-new when it comes to who will be filling out the two-deep. The Lumberjacks are the same opponent the Sun Devils faced when they last closed a quarterback battle in 2012, as Taylor Kelly and ASU eviscerated them to a 63-6 victory.

The Lumberjacks, who are entering their 19th season under Jerome Souers, have emerged as one of the most consistently productive teams in the country at the FCS level. Being at a lower level, however, means there is less information available when it comes to preparation. Instead, the Sun Devils will be forced to rely on the intel and instruction of a coaching staff that brings with it many new faces following an offseason of abrupt change.

“That’s when you just have to trust in your training, trust in what your coaches are telling you,” redshirt senior wide receiver Tim White said. “They’ve been around the game so long that you’ve just got to go down there and just trust what they say. When you get out there, you have to make adjustments during the game and hopefully, they put us out there in the right positions.”

Added redshirt senior tight end Kody Kohl: “It’s a challenge as if we might have to slow things down because it’s not a top-notch school that we usually play. We can’t really – we go full speed and everything – but we kind of mess with our footwork a little bit and our attitude…They’re not as fast as we are, but that’s about it.”

ASU redshirt sophomore receiver Jalen Harvey said the newness of Saturday’s situation could alter the team’s tempo, but it wouldn’t be due to anything he sees out of NAU.

“Coach will slow it down a little bit to make sure that we’re on the same page,” he said. “We don’t want to go through things and go out there and mess up, but at the same time, we’re just trying to stay ahead of the game… I feel like every team should be like that, especially when it’s the first game of the season. Everyone should stay active and motivated for how we’re going to beat the other team.”

NAU’s calling card is clearly in its offense, as last season the team’s defense allowed more yards (474.4) per game than it was able to gain from its incredibly productive offense (470.8). They allowed 37.4 points per game, proving to struggle equally in stopping the run (180 yards/game) and the pass (294.4). While much of this can be attributed to garbage yards after jumping out to early leads, too often the Lumberjacks would allow opponents back into games that should have been romps. They struggled to generate pressure (18 sacks) and forced just 13 turnovers, prompting much change in the two-deep when the prep for 2016 began.

NAU will benefit from some returning faces, including Maurice Davison at corner and Siupeli Anau rushing the passer. But they must also take a hit, losing star Marcus Alford from their defense. Alford was inarguably the team’s best player in man coverage, so losing him means NAU should probably lean towards using more zone sets than they already do.

The Lumberjacks defense is based off a 4-2-5, which means four down linemen, two linebackers, and five defensive backs. The nickel back will alternate given down, distance and situation and NAU has reportedly mixed in both corners and linebackers at the spot during fall camp.

Their most common zone concept is also among the game’s simplest – the Cover 4, which they run in this play against Weber State last season:

It’s something that most college programs, ASU included, run to combat a lot of trips and spread-like looks. While NAU obviously runs a lot more zone looks than ASU (who typically runs a lot of man coverage and forces its defensive backs on an island), the familiarity is something striking to ASU’s receivers.

“Luckily we go against the Cover 4 all the time,” White said. “That’s a lot of what our defense runs. I feel like it really is just similar to ours and our coaches have been putting us in position to make plays in practice so hopefully, it transfers over to the games.”

The principles of Cover 4 are basically what goes into any zone concept. The defense will rush its four down linemen – something NAU struggled with last year – and the four defensive backs will play back off and try to avoid getting beat over the top. The three linebackers each have their own zone responsibility (as shown above) to fill in the remaining gaps. It’s a system that leads to a lot of bend, but don’t break scenarios. There should be plenty of space for ASU running backs Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage to run wild, granted that the offensive line gets the push it should against an undersized defensive front.

For the receivers, the first five yards of the route are the most important. If they can avoid being jammed, the cornerbacks off and the receivers’ focus then turns to finishing routes strong and sitting in the open gaps in the zone. As is often the case against zone concepts, timing on routes is everything.

“It’s extremely important [to not get jammed],” White said. “You just want to be quick off the ball, just quick in your cuts in and out of your breaks and find your zones to sit in. Hopefully, one of our quarterbacks can find us.”

Harvey said his approach to breaking a jam is dependent on how he sees the corner line up and where their eyes are.

“It depends on if they play outside leverage, inside leverage. At the same time, our coaches let us know to keep a good eye on the corner. The corner might be looking at me sometimes or he might sit back looking at some outside leverage on the quarterback, so it’s all on the timing between me and the quarterback… It’s very important, but at the same time, a very good wide receiver is going to field that type of press. It’s just adjusting to whatever they give us.”

Something Wilkins and White will need to be careful of when facing the zone will be avoiding predictable throws and easy defensive reads. ASU’s fast-paced offense typically requires few progressions, so once an option is locked in then defenses can adapt.

NAU has taken advantage of this, as is shown in one of their few forced turnovers last season. The defense handled a strong Eastern Washington offense relatively well, largely due to plays like the one above. The team runs its defense out of its base 4-2-5 set, calling a Cover 3 scheme. In the Cover 3, the strong-side safety will offer protection over the top along with the two outside corners. The linebackers and nickel corner fill in the gaps and the weak-side safety employs what is called the “robber” technique, creeping forward to guard the zone in the flat and take advantage of lazy quarterbacks who telegraph their throws. This happens in this play, with some help from the weak-side linebacker. The linebacker and safety each read a quick pass into the flat, and the linebacker gets his hands on the ball to tip it to the weak-side safety (as shown by the green marker), who takes it the rest of the way for a pick-six.

They do the same thing again here out of a 4-3 look in the Weber State game. The quarterback, whose reads are strictly to his right, takes the snap and executes the play action before turning his whole body to the right side and giving away where he’s reading the field. His intended target runs a whip route – what starts as an ‘in’ route before a quick reversal to the outside – and the weak-side safety sits in “robber” (otherwise known as “buzz”) waiting for the quarterback to make the predictable throw.

The throw comes to where the red marker is on the screen grab, and the result is as expected. The weak-side safety picks it off for a pick-six.

As long as Wilkins and White can avoid making predictable throws and keep the defense’s eyes on the wrong end of the field, ASU should certainly have the talent, technique and athleticism to fly past the NAU defense just as it did in 2012, and just like Arizona did last year