Coming into spring practice, and generally speaking into the 2022 season, the Sun Devil defense is a unit that carried high expectations. Nonetheless, it’s also a group that did have key defensive lineman sidelined and a secondary that has to replenish a talented group of outgoing seniors. ASU's defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson shared his post-spring practice takeaways and the philosophy he’d like to implement with this side of the ball.
DevilsDigest: Donnie, now that the 15 spring sessions are behind us. What are some of your takeaways of how the defense performed?
Donnie Henderson: “Well, there were a couple of things that I tried to implement from day one. Saturday night (spring game) was not the tell-all story about how those things that I was looking for (to be implemented). When we started this thing, in the next 15 practices, there were four areas that I was trying to implement and see how we progressed. One of the things I talked to the kids about was expectations. I wanted to know, who they were, and how they were gonna go to accomplish their goals? And what were their goals? Everybody else has an expectation, and I wanted to know what were some of the things that they wanted to do.
“Another thing I was concerned with was everybody talked about us being undisciplined with all the penalties we had last year. So, I brought that to the forefront on day one and told them that when you really look at a penalty, it really comes down to lost yardage. Are you willing to lose that much yardage because you're undisciplined at times? Another thing I wanted to know is accountability. To be a good defense and a good team, everyone has to be accountable for their actions. We’ve played pretty good defense here before I took over. Marv (Lewis) and AP (Antonio Pierce) have done a good job with the defense. And now that I'm the guy that's driving the bus so to speak. I want to know who was accountable and for what reasons you're accountable for? That will show me a lot about who you are. I talked to them mainly about the one thing that hit me as a young kid, and that was what is the first thing you do when you get out of bed every day? So, I'm gonna ask you that question, what's the first thing you do when you get out of bed every day?”
DevilsDigest: I normally think about the day ahead and everything I have going on…
Donnie Henderson: “So I said to them, for me, it's two (feet) on the floor, and make up your bed. Before you do anything else when you get two on the floor, what are you going to do? Before you go and brush your teeth and all that, you got to make up your bed. And then they looked at me like I was crazy because it didn't correlate because, just like what you said, we think about so many other things. But realistically, we got to put two on the floor and do something for your bed. You don’t want to come back that evening and get in that old raggedy bed. To me, that's the accountability of how you structure your day.
“The other thing that I talked a lot about was being competitive. Although it's a team sport, there's still one-on-one single battles going on every time that ball is snapped. Based on your technique, the things you've been taught, and your alignment, based on who you are as a person, how competitive are you when you're trying to win the line of scrimmage? Because that's what it comes down to. You gotta win the line of scrimmage. I don't care if you’re in press technique at corner, the defensive lineman who’s a 3-technique, or you’re the linebacker that's got a guard coming out at you…those are the battles you still have to win. There has to be a competitive nature about yourself that you want to win. So when I talk about the 15 practices, I was really pleased. I really was.
“I think the players showed some resiliency, meaning that there were some situations where we had to stop the offense and situations where the offense was able to move the ball. And now, you’re in that territory where you could give up a touchdown, or you can stop them. There were times when we stopped them, but there were times when, as the game went on and we got a little bit relaxed, and we had some younger guys in there and gave up a couple of touchdowns. But at the same time, when you think about how many snaps we had, there was a lot of good football being played.”
DevilsDigest: You talked about your predecessors doing a great job leading the defense, and the numbers this group put up last year leading the Pac-12 were very impressive. Therefore, I would have to assume that your mindset when you were named defensive coordinator was, if it's not broken, don't fix it. After all, this defense was returning a lot of talent, especially in the front seven. Introducing different schemes and alignments was probably not prudent in this case?
Donnie Henderson: “First of all, great question, because realistically working with Marvin, over the years, we played great defense. When he came here (to ASU), we played great defense really based on the same structure of how we're trying to get things done. You don't have to implement a lot of different things to be technique sound and make sure that everybody knows what to do. So you’re absolutely right. When I took the position, the first thing I said to myself was, ‘less is more.’ The players that were here last year knew what's expected from them because we do play pretty good defense. And the worst thing you can do is go in and try to implement a bunch of different schemes that we didn’t do over the last three or four years since these guys have been there. They know what the terminology is; they know how to play certain defenses, so let's not try to invent the wheel. So to answer your question, absolutely. I've been here the last three years, and I didn’t see this defense broken. So, don't try to fix it.”
DevilsDigest: On the flip side, as proven as your front seven is in terms of returning players, the secondary who you coached last season was a different story. The experience level is less, especially when you know that you were replacing all four starters from last year. So as much as you want to keep things the same scheme-wise, were there some necessary tweaks, for lack of a better term, that needed to take place when it comes to the defensive backfield?
Donnie Henderson: “Well, that's another great question because I can swing it the other way now. So, based on the guys that we lost last year in the back end, now I can swing it and put it on the front end. When an opponent is trying to throw the ball 30, 40 yards downfield, and you have an inexperienced secondary, so you can say, ‘come on, D-Line, you guys are the veterans now. I'm putting my money on you guys. You have to bring it.’ But to answer your question, you have some new guys that came in, two new safeties in particular, and they need to understand how we do things and learn the terminology.
“When you look at the front seven, now that hasn’t changed much. What has changed though respectively, was that in the spring, we still have four guys on the sideline that haven't practiced. We know what we want to do on the back end, trying for the ball not to get past us so we don't lose. Realistically, we have to put it on the front end, where all the maturity is. Last year, it was all on the back end last year, and we didn't do a great job. We finished third in the Pac-12 in pass efficiency, but we still wind up no. 1 in total defense. So this year, there is more pressure on the front four in particular.”
DevilsDigest: I know that Herm Edwards said after the Spring Showcase that while he liked the talent at cornerback that he wanted to add more experience and two additions there. In light of that, how do you feel the cornerback unit performed overall in the spring? And if you're going to add two more players, what are the expectations of those future newcomers? Is it merely to have a better two-deep, or is there maybe some other goal in mind?
Donnie Henderson: “I don't care what you do in (defensive recruiting); you’re always talking about bringing in more defensive backs and pass rushers. You’re
always trying to find that next Deion Sanders that can take away half of the field. So it’s about having as much talent as possible and also having stability down the road. You have to think about the next couple of years where you can train these new guys to play well in your system. If you can find those guys out there that are available now, why not go get them? Trying to find players who are top-shelf later in the year can be hard.”
DevilsDigest: You mentioned the two new safeties, and in my opinion going into spring practice, that was definitely the one position that I felt had the most to replenish when it comes to the two-deep talent level. What was your evaluation of this group coming out of spring, especially with newcomers Chris Edmonds and Khoury Bethley?
Donnie Henderson: “Well, I think we got exactly what we thought we were getting when we got them. Khoury is one of those types of guys that played low in the box, very physical, very cerebral, and he blitzed a lot. We saw that player in the spring. With Chris, we saw the big 6-3 type of safety who can play both down in the box and then also in the middle of the field. And he communicates so well. So we got exactly what we expected out of those two guys. No doubt about it.”
DevilsDigest: You mentioned earlier that the defensive line played well in the springs. Yet, in some respects, you perhaps had an incomplete picture with the four absences you mentioned, which are Jermayne Lole, Travez Moore, and Nesta Jade Silveira, who could all ultimately be starters on week one, along with BJ Green, who was the team’s sack leader last season. In light of these four significant players sidelined, was it hard coming out spring to get a true assessment of this unit?
Donnie Henderson: “Well, how about this? Think about it this way, I’m sitting here playing with only some of my cards, and I don’t have to show my hand, right? So if you want to call bluff or you want to call, I might have another four guys that will just shock everything. The one thing I can do right now, and I’m not afraid to say it, is that the defensive line group we have will be as talented as anybody in the Pac-12. I do believe that.”
Devils Digest: When it comes to the linebackers group, I thought that you entered and exited spring with a very solid, established two-deep. Obviously, losing an exceptional player, such as Darren Butler, may be quite hard to replace. However, I felt that overall the talent of this group, I would think performed up to your expectations, which are probably pretty high for such a large group of proven players?
Donnie Henderson: “You got two guys that have been here five years in Merlin (Robertson) and Kyle (Soelle). And then a young Freshman All-American in Eric (Gentry). And then we back it up with a couple of guys who played well on special teams. I'm excited about them.”
DevilsDigest: No coach is ever 100 percent satisfied with the performance of his group after any series of practices or an entire season. Nonetheless, would it be fair to say that when you look forward to fall camp, and the defense is perhaps more tasked with honing on some specific skills, maybe going through some tweaks here and there, rather than continuing to build a foundation again just because of the large quantity of proven talent on this side of the ball?
Donnie Henderson: “Well, I got to put it on myself. And I've thought about this for a long time now. I gotta make sure that I put my guys in the best position so that they can play fast and not have to think. If I do that, along with what we had here in the past, which means that guys understand that we play good defense and really have them understand what we're asking them to do, we’ll be a good defense. I think the biggest thing that I have to do now moving forward is talk about football IQ and understanding how this thing all works when you start playing the game.”
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