Lance Guidry remade the defense in Year 1, taking the group from 80th in yards per play to 35th and shaving the scoring defense from 28 ppg to 24.1 ppg. He met with reporters after practice to discuss the next steps:
On the defense’s progress: It's coming together. A lot of guys are getting reps with different groups. We’ll keep matching different guys up front, linebacker. We have a little bit of injuries with the secondary, nothing bad, just replacing people all the time. Same thing up front. We’ve got guys with limited reps right now, so everybody's getting their fair share.
On Zaquan Patterson: He can be a really good football player. We'll see how he goes throughout camp and getting ready for Florida. Of course, he's going to play every game on special teams. How many snaps he gets on defense, I don't know, but he'll play. He’s got a chance to be a really good one, I do believe that. We’ll just see how he progresses. I don't think you can really predict like that. It all depends how the game slows down to him when we get in the season. He knows every check, he knows what to do– not to say he does it right every time, but he pretty much knows when he does wrong. That's the difference now than where he was in spring.
On improving the unit’s chemistry: We're trying to play a lot of different guys together. We’re trying to create depth. Throughout the season you're going to get injuries, so we’ve got to get guys playing multiple spots.
We’ve had a lot of turnovers, a lot of interceptions so far, which has been really good. And it's come from all kinds of different people. It's come from freshmen. It’s come from older guys. It's come from guys that hadn't been starters. I think we're doing a good job right now, but of course, we try to get better every day.
On Jaden Harris: He’s doing good. Sometimes it's loud in practice, we’ve got everything blaring, so it's hard to communicate. But he pretty much knows when we mess up or we didn't get in the right thing. He’s a lot more confident this year. Of course, he's the starter now so he's progressed tremendously. I'm excited about him.
On who’s winning between offense and defense: It's too early. We haven't tackled to the ground yet. Anytime you go “whiz”-- which is just really tag– and then you go “thud,” we can't make a clean tackle. We don't tackle the guy, we just kind of tag him off, so it's here and there.
Sometimes we win drills and sometimes they win drills. We haven't stacked a full day yet, but I don't think the offense has stacked the full day, either. It's still a lot of competition throughout practice. I think both sides are getting a little bit closer. Today I thought was one of our better days. This is the first time we got some Red Zone stuff. I thought we were pretty clean at times. At the end, we kind of faded. I thought we got tired and we didn't communicate as well.
On Elijah Alston and Tyler Baron: Big guys that can do a lot of things. Of course, Tyler can play a lot of spots. He can play the run, rush the passer well. Alston’s a drop guy, can also rush the passer. Great additions. Bain’s been solid, of course. Mesidor is flying around. Really, really great effort. He's limited on reps right now, so just trying to save him a little bit. But I’ve seen a lot of good things.
When it goes live, it's a lot different. When you get in full pads and you have some live periods, people will turn it loose. Everybody's live except for the quarterback, so you'll see who's really the dudes and who's far behind.
On Mesidor: His reps are real meaningful (smiles). He’s grading really, really high. I haven't seen him make a lot of bad plays yet. Bain’s probably going the most at defensive end. Alston’s probably midway between that. Baron's playing some, and we’re even trying to get all those freshmen reps to see if they can add to it. We do have some talented young guys, and we don't want to take their reps away. Some of the older guys, we’re trying to save them a little bit but also get them in shape.
On Anthony Campbell: He's starting to progress. We have some defensive tackles that haven't gone yet that we should be adding pretty soon, so he's been taking some reps. He's been flashing a little bit more than he has in the past, which is good. He knows the defense now a little bit better. He's been a good surprise.
On playing DEs inside on third downs: Defensive tackles don't want to come off the field. if defensive tackles can rush the passer, we won't take them off. But we do have a lot of ends that can rush the passer. The problem is if you start putting a lot of defensive ends in the game on third down and they make a first down, you're stuck with them on First and 10. So the guys you put in have got to be able to play inside.
We do have some defensive ends that can play inside. We have a lot of girth with some of those guys like Bain, Mesidor and Baron. It’s something that we could possibly do, but if we’ve got good pass rushing defensive tackles it'd be nice to leave one of them in there as well.
On an ideal rotation number: I think we'll be able to play more this year. I don't know exactly what that number is yet. Once we get through these live scrimmages and you see some of the younger guys go, you'll see if a guy like [Justin] Scott can truly play. I think he can. We’ve just got to see how he progresses through the year to see how much he can play.
On Justin Scott: Really athletic, powerful. Very smart, picks up things. He’s kind of like a dancing bear, so light on his feet. You can tell he's played other sports. He's been a really good surprise, a really good athlete that's powerful inside.
On Simeon Barrow: The reps that he has taken have been good. I've watched him on film. You know what that guy can do. We've watched enough on film when he came in. He's played against good talent, so it's just him learning the defense.
On Chase Smith: He's learning two spots right now, so I think he's getting closer. He needs game reps. He'll play a lot of special teams and we'll see if he can move that needle at linebacker and start playing those meaningful reps that he was before. He’s doing good.
On the nickel position: We’ve been playing a lot of guys in there. Played Damari [Brown], played [Daryl] Porter, actually played Meesh [Powell] today, played [Isaiah] Taylor in there. We also played [Jadais] Richard some in there. We've been playing a bunch of different guys. It depends on who we play against as to who we play inside, maybe what down and distance. But we want to have the best five guys on the field all the time.
We probably needed about two more guys to feel good with depth. Usually in the 425, you’ve got two nickels. Then you've got your Corners groups and your safeties group, and you’ve got one guy in the corner room or nickel room that would add to the star position. We don't have that. We're using corners to play nickel, safeties to play nickel, so we're creating depth amongst the other positions.
Last year, TC [Te’cory Couch] was a nickel. He didn't play much corner at all. [Jaden] Davis backed him up. Right now, we really don’t have a guy like that. We have a guy that's more of a corner guy that we're playing in there, or a safety guy. So it’s who we play against that determines what kind of guy we play with in there.
On the defense’s progress: It's coming together. A lot of guys are getting reps with different groups. We’ll keep matching different guys up front, linebacker. We have a little bit of injuries with the secondary, nothing bad, just replacing people all the time. Same thing up front. We’ve got guys with limited reps right now, so everybody's getting their fair share.
On Zaquan Patterson: He can be a really good football player. We'll see how he goes throughout camp and getting ready for Florida. Of course, he's going to play every game on special teams. How many snaps he gets on defense, I don't know, but he'll play. He’s got a chance to be a really good one, I do believe that. We’ll just see how he progresses. I don't think you can really predict like that. It all depends how the game slows down to him when we get in the season. He knows every check, he knows what to do– not to say he does it right every time, but he pretty much knows when he does wrong. That's the difference now than where he was in spring.
On improving the unit’s chemistry: We're trying to play a lot of different guys together. We’re trying to create depth. Throughout the season you're going to get injuries, so we’ve got to get guys playing multiple spots.
We’ve had a lot of turnovers, a lot of interceptions so far, which has been really good. And it's come from all kinds of different people. It's come from freshmen. It’s come from older guys. It's come from guys that hadn't been starters. I think we're doing a good job right now, but of course, we try to get better every day.
On Jaden Harris: He’s doing good. Sometimes it's loud in practice, we’ve got everything blaring, so it's hard to communicate. But he pretty much knows when we mess up or we didn't get in the right thing. He’s a lot more confident this year. Of course, he's the starter now so he's progressed tremendously. I'm excited about him.
On who’s winning between offense and defense: It's too early. We haven't tackled to the ground yet. Anytime you go “whiz”-- which is just really tag– and then you go “thud,” we can't make a clean tackle. We don't tackle the guy, we just kind of tag him off, so it's here and there.
Sometimes we win drills and sometimes they win drills. We haven't stacked a full day yet, but I don't think the offense has stacked the full day, either. It's still a lot of competition throughout practice. I think both sides are getting a little bit closer. Today I thought was one of our better days. This is the first time we got some Red Zone stuff. I thought we were pretty clean at times. At the end, we kind of faded. I thought we got tired and we didn't communicate as well.
On Elijah Alston and Tyler Baron: Big guys that can do a lot of things. Of course, Tyler can play a lot of spots. He can play the run, rush the passer well. Alston’s a drop guy, can also rush the passer. Great additions. Bain’s been solid, of course. Mesidor is flying around. Really, really great effort. He's limited on reps right now, so just trying to save him a little bit. But I’ve seen a lot of good things.
When it goes live, it's a lot different. When you get in full pads and you have some live periods, people will turn it loose. Everybody's live except for the quarterback, so you'll see who's really the dudes and who's far behind.
On Mesidor: His reps are real meaningful (smiles). He’s grading really, really high. I haven't seen him make a lot of bad plays yet. Bain’s probably going the most at defensive end. Alston’s probably midway between that. Baron's playing some, and we’re even trying to get all those freshmen reps to see if they can add to it. We do have some talented young guys, and we don't want to take their reps away. Some of the older guys, we’re trying to save them a little bit but also get them in shape.
On Anthony Campbell: He's starting to progress. We have some defensive tackles that haven't gone yet that we should be adding pretty soon, so he's been taking some reps. He's been flashing a little bit more than he has in the past, which is good. He knows the defense now a little bit better. He's been a good surprise.
On playing DEs inside on third downs: Defensive tackles don't want to come off the field. if defensive tackles can rush the passer, we won't take them off. But we do have a lot of ends that can rush the passer. The problem is if you start putting a lot of defensive ends in the game on third down and they make a first down, you're stuck with them on First and 10. So the guys you put in have got to be able to play inside.
We do have some defensive ends that can play inside. We have a lot of girth with some of those guys like Bain, Mesidor and Baron. It’s something that we could possibly do, but if we’ve got good pass rushing defensive tackles it'd be nice to leave one of them in there as well.
On an ideal rotation number: I think we'll be able to play more this year. I don't know exactly what that number is yet. Once we get through these live scrimmages and you see some of the younger guys go, you'll see if a guy like [Justin] Scott can truly play. I think he can. We’ve just got to see how he progresses through the year to see how much he can play.
On Justin Scott: Really athletic, powerful. Very smart, picks up things. He’s kind of like a dancing bear, so light on his feet. You can tell he's played other sports. He's been a really good surprise, a really good athlete that's powerful inside.
On Simeon Barrow: The reps that he has taken have been good. I've watched him on film. You know what that guy can do. We've watched enough on film when he came in. He's played against good talent, so it's just him learning the defense.
On Chase Smith: He's learning two spots right now, so I think he's getting closer. He needs game reps. He'll play a lot of special teams and we'll see if he can move that needle at linebacker and start playing those meaningful reps that he was before. He’s doing good.
On the nickel position: We’ve been playing a lot of guys in there. Played Damari [Brown], played [Daryl] Porter, actually played Meesh [Powell] today, played [Isaiah] Taylor in there. We also played [Jadais] Richard some in there. We've been playing a bunch of different guys. It depends on who we play against as to who we play inside, maybe what down and distance. But we want to have the best five guys on the field all the time.
We probably needed about two more guys to feel good with depth. Usually in the 425, you’ve got two nickels. Then you've got your Corners groups and your safeties group, and you’ve got one guy in the corner room or nickel room that would add to the star position. We don't have that. We're using corners to play nickel, safeties to play nickel, so we're creating depth amongst the other positions.
Last year, TC [Te’cory Couch] was a nickel. He didn't play much corner at all. [Jaden] Davis backed him up. Right now, we really don’t have a guy like that. We have a guy that's more of a corner guy that we're playing in there, or a safety guy. So it’s who we play against that determines what kind of guy we play with in there.
