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Official New DB Coach, per Canesport (*Official, 2.21*)

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Memnon said:
Sorry for the wait, I do have a life outside of the board (shocking I know lol)...

But I'll get into the reasons why I think this is a good hire & why I've liked Chevis as CB's Coach dating back to his Kansas days.

1) He's a Corey Raymond disciple.

Why is that significant? Because CR is probably the best pure teacher of CB's in CFB & what he teaches his Corners is understanding how to properly use their upper body while in phase how to slow down, disrupt & re-route the WR at top of the stem without grabbing or tugging on the jersey of the WR in order to prevent getting a PI. Probably not a big deal to the average fan, but is huge IMO because as surprising as it may be, not every Coach preaches that. Crazy I know, but there are actually Coaches who teach their Corners to grab.

What this does is builds the muscle memory in your CB's to keep their hands free & sharpens their coverage skills.

So how does this manifest in Chevis's Coaching?

In the 2 years he's been at Marshall, Micah Abraham has had 25PD's, 10INT's with an above 80 coverage grade over the last 2 seasons, logging over 800 snaps while being one of the least penalized CB's in CFB.

And just to cross-reference so that it's not just one isolated CB, Marshall's Defense averaged an above 70 coverage grade this season with 8 games above 70. What that means is that in 61% of their games they were in the top 20% in pass coverage.

Dyoni Hill, as a Red FR in his first seasons starting had 10PD's with a 70.9 coverage grade on the season.

In 2020, Karon Prunty had 10 PD's with a 38% completion percentage & 70 Man coverage grade, as a TF. Unfortunately, he ran into grades issues that sidelined his career, but that one season at Kansas was promising.

2) Good eye for talent;

Chevis was the Coach who found & recruited guys like, Karon Prunty, Cobee Bryant & Mello Dotson, all of whom have played well, with Bryant & Dotson both being future NFL players.

Obviously, these weren't high ranked 5-star kids that are easily identifiable, but his evals proved successful in those instances combined with their overall development.

3) Smart guy who hasn't had it easy on his come up in his career.

This isn't a Coach who was being carried by someone else, this is a guy who has to be at places where high level recruits are not readily available, so he's had to make due with what he's got. Which tells me he's a hard worker who can maximize his groups ability even if they're not a UGA caliber room. Which is exactly what we need, a CB Coach who can take average & get them to play above average.

4) His demeanor;

He's a laid back Coach who's personable. His players all swear by him & play their hearts out for him because he connects with them. Idk how many of you know this, but Addunce was a prickly guy who got into with several players in the CB room. It wasn't just the Davonte Brown incident that some of you have already read/heard about, but just all-around he was a Coach that just didn't understand how to get his point across without being a complete d!ck about it. And while most fans probably love the idea of having a hard-*** Coach constantly berating & getting into with players, when it comes to CB's that's probably the least effective way to Coach them. That may work for OL's, DL's, LB's etc.., but CB is a cerebral position, it takes tact, experience & mental acuity to teach it correctly.

Not to invoke Corey Raymond again, but he's not a yeller, he's an explainer. He doesn't just dog-cuss his DB's & excoriate them for making mistakes in practice/drills, he teaches why what they did was wrong & how to fix it. Chevis is the same way, he holds his players accountable without challenging them to a fight every 5 seconds, which helps in the process of motivation & garnering respect.

5) Guidreaux hand picked'em.

Mario made a smart move allowing for Guidreaux to bring his guy from Marshall here, this signifies (to me at least), this is who Guidry likely wanted from the start. But most importantly, it's the cohesion the 2 will have in terms of structuring the Secondary. Guidreaux is a Safeties Coach by trade, so the CB room will be turned over to Chevis, with the continuity they have from Marshall, Guidreaux will be able to diversify coverages based on different personnel looks & the 2 of them will be on the same page as far as sub-packages are concerned.

It makes the transition smoother because the 2 of them know each other & have worked well with each other in the past. So Chevis already knows exactly how Guidreaux wants his Corners playing & what responsibilities will be allotted to the Safeties. Guidreaux doesn't like to use his Safeties to do all the heavy lifting in coverage, he wants his Corners to play mostly Man & be able to hold down their side of the field on their own, while the Safeties patrol their Shells & the LB's/pass rushers collapse the pocket from whichever exotic delayed Blitz he's drawn up. In order for his Defense to be at its most effective state, the CB's have to be able to cover 1 on 1 on the perimeter & can't just rely on the Safeties to do everything for them because they can't keep up with a WR beyond 10yds.

Chevis already understanding this is going to reshape & teach this CB room actual downfield Coverage skills, not this bullsh*t Free release early open hip sh*t that Addae had our Corners doing.

If Chevis sticks around for longer than a season I can definitely see the CB room drastically improving in coverage.

The only unfortunate caveat is that the 24 class is filled with Addae guys, which means Chevis is either going to have to really Coach'em up & completely rebuild the room via the Portal come Dec -Feb at the end of the 24 season.

But overall, I believe this a very good hire, his knowledge & experience set him apart & the connectivity he already has with Guidreaux is going to be paramount in elevating the Defense to another level.
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Do you have the pff pro/edge or whatever that gives you access to the grades… and more importantly stats?
 
Memnon said:
View attachment 283044

This is textbook Bail technique from Micah Abraham. He's squaring himself off back to the sideline because he understands he's playing to inside leverage, so there's absolutely no reason to turn, the sideline is his extra Defender.

Shows really good eye discipline, he didn't even look at the WR because it's not necessary, there's only a select few routes that can be ran here, Back shoulder fade, Slant, or a Bang 8. If it's a Back-shoulder the CB is going to Box out the WR by pressing towards the inside hip of the WR & essentially running him out of bounds. If it's a slant you play towards the outside shoulder get your hands underneath for a PD or play over top. If it's a Bang 8 you read the QB's eyes at release & undercut the route to get to the ball. You do this by reshuffling your feet & changing your launch point by cutting at the angle towards the ball getting upfield & beating the WR to the spot.

Why does any of this matter? Because this was taught to the CB. How do I know that? Because most Corners (particularly ours) when playing Bail technique have the tendency to get nervous & break eye discipline, they start staring at the WR & wind up getting beat even though they've already won the leverage battle off the release.

I have cataloged & could show you numerous times where our Corners while playing Bail make the dumb mistake of taking an unnecessary step back towards the sideline while in their back-pedal, which allows for the WR to gain inside leverage at the top of his break if it's a Slant or Bang 8 route. It's extremely frustrating to watch because you tell your Corners all week in practice there's only 3 routes that can be run out of this look & all you have to do is watch the QB's eyes...

But this is just another example of Chevis's teaching ability. Yes Micah is a great CB in his own right, but trust me, very few Cornerbacks understand how to properly play Bail coming out of HS & most still don’t know in college lol.
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Red FR Josh Moten recognizing the screen, does a good job fighting through the blockers & jumping the route for the Pick 6.
 
@Memnon you think this hire (more with the fact it’s one of Guidry guys) is likely gunna lead to us targeting different types of CBs/S for recruiting? Maybe less emphasis on “physicality” and more on athleticism? Or any specific height/weight type builds? I assume different Cb coaches prefer like guys with longer arms rather than strictly height - or the opposite …or would rather have the big physical presence and sacrifice some speed.

Personally I dont actually care about actual height much at Cb. If they are athletic, solidly built, and have long arms that’s better
 
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Karon Prunty his FR at Kansas with picture perfect Man coverage against the Fade route; playing outside leverage, reads the WR, uses quick jab jam to disrupt the route, transitions in phase, gets his head up to locate the ball & even though the WR has a half step on him, he plays through the hands to get pass breakup in the End Zone.
 
calinative umstudent said:
@Memnon you think this hire (more with the fact it’s one of Guidry guys) is likely gunna lead to us targeting different types of CBs/S for recruiting? Maybe less emphasis on “physicality” and more on athleticism? Or any specific height/weight type builds? I assume different Cb coaches prefer like guys with longer arms rather than strictly height - or the opposite …or would rather have the big physical presence and sacrifice some speed.

Personally I dont actually care about actual height much at Cb. If they are athletic, solidly built, and have long arms that’s better
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Absolutely, at least I would hope so.

Chevis usually targeted & signed tall, long armed Corners with good speed that he could build up into being playable. The Corners he's Coached thus far have mostly fit that prototype.

For whatever reason, we continued the silly trend of recruiting & Portaling in Slower Safety Hybrids at CB, because the premium had been placed on tackling. I would imagine Guidreaux & Chevis will be allowed to shape the DB room more to their liking, assuming they're both still here for the 25 season.
 
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Memnon said:
View attachment 283044

This is textbook Bail technique from Micah Abraham. He's squaring himself off back to the sideline because he understands he's playing to inside leverage, so there's absolutely no reason to turn, the sideline is his extra Defender.

Shows really good eye discipline, he didn't even look at the WR because it's not necessary, there's only a select few routes that can be ran here, Back shoulder fade, Slant, or a Bang 8. If it's a Back-shoulder the CB is going to Box out the WR by pressing towards the inside hip of the WR & essentially running him out of bounds. If it's a slant you play towards the outside shoulder get your hands underneath for a PD or play over top. If it's a Bang 8 you read the QB's eyes at release & undercut the route to get to the ball. You do this by reshuffling your feet & changing your launch point by cutting at the angle towards the ball getting upfield & beating the WR to the spot.

Why does any of this matter? Because this was taught to the CB. How do I know that? Because most Corners (particularly ours) when playing Bail technique have the tendency to get nervous & break eye discipline, they start staring at the WR & wind up getting beat even though they've already won the leverage battle off the release.

I have cataloged & could show you numerous times where our Corners while playing Bail make the dumb mistake of taking an unnecessary step back towards the sideline while in their back-pedal, which allows for the WR to gain inside leverage at the top of his break if it's a Slant or Bang 8 route. It's extremely frustrating to watch because you tell your Corners all week in practice there's only 3 routes that can be run out of this look & all you have to do is watch the QB's eyes...

But this is just another example of Chevis's teaching ability. Yes Micah is a great CB in his own right, but trust me, very few Cornerbacks understand how to properly play Bail coming out of HS & most still don’t know in college lol.
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this is great stuff.

question: would you not consider the go route (9-fly as opposed to back shoulder 9-fade) the "fourth" potential route from the alignment?

I would assume that makes a difference for how the bail is played at top of route? yes/no/maybe?
 
DP2 had a really good year last year, truly one of our best players. With another year like that or better i think he can be a day 2 or early day 3 pick
 
RedSquare said:
this is great stuff.

question: would you not consider the go route (9-fly as opposed to back shoulder 9-fade) the "fourth" potential route from the alignment?

I would assume that makes a difference for how the bail is played at top of route? yes/no/maybe?
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Potentially yes, but unless you got Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers back there you're basically begging for a pick.

Based on the Corners positioning throwing a Fly pattern is going to end up right in his hands because he's eyeing the QB & the ball the entire time. A Fly pattern can be thrown to the outside shoulder towards the pylon (if you're in the Red Zone), but in most cases it'll either end up as an incomplete pass being thrown out of bounds or because the Corner essentially outran the route & stopped the WR from being able to stack him at the Fade point.

Back-shoulder is really the only throw you can make to the outside against a CB lined up with that leverage. Every other route will be an Inside combination, & in those instances the Defensive call usually has a LB dropping in the Flats, a Rover coming across from his Shell, or the Nickel dropping to protect the underneath route.

Usually, when you get a Corner playing like that it's from a Cover 3 or Cover 4 look. It's too risky to Bail from Cover 0, unless you have an Elite CB that can be left by himself.
 
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