West Virginia wants to be multiple, aggressive on defense
West Virginia wants to be multiple on the defensive side of the ball by design.
That means the Mountaineers are going to be able to throw a lot of different things at opposing offenses but still keep things relatively consistent with their own techniques.
Cornerbacks coach Rod West said that while there might be ten different calls from defensive coordinator Zac Alley going into a day of practice, at his position, that could boil down to just playing two or three different techniques.
“Once you step back and once guys realize the concept, so trying to teach concepts more than just calls, they can kind of compartmentalize everything and make the learning curve a little less steep,” he said.
The trick is making things as simple as possible for the players and that all depends on each individual one and how they best digest information. The key is to master each concept and technique so it then can be applied to multiple calls in the cornerback room.
That’s somewhat fast-tracked now compared to in the past with the high amount of roster turnover so it’s critical to be able to digest the information on the board and apply it to the field.
Still great players still want to be coached and pushed, it’s just at an expedited rate.
“They want to know that they’re cared about. If you can get that done, then they still play hard for you, and they still buy in quickly,” West said.
The goal is to highlight what each defense does well, and you accomplish that by putting players in position to succeed while limiting deficiencies. That’s easier said than done but at cornerback, the focus is avoid asking players to do things that the coaches know they cant do well.
“We’re going to be extremely aggressive. We’re going to play fast. We’re going to play physical. And every play, when people watch our film, we want to say they have 11 guys running to the football like their hair is on fire,” West said. “We want to play violent, and we want to be smart and opportunistic at the same time.”
Matchup against the fast-paced tempo of the West Virginia offense is good practice for any game situation as it forces the defense to get lined up and constantly communicate. And going against that type of stress in practice should only help better put the secondary in position to succeed in a game setting.
“It’s kind of iron sharpening iron,” West said.
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