Defensive (DWalk) Hype

by Nestor on Apr 7, 2007 8:22 AM PDT in Football Comment 27 comments

DeWayne Walker is already getting a lot of hype as a defensive wizard this spring. ESPN's Ted Miller, who cover the Pac-10 beat has a glowing writeup on the Bruin DC:

UCLA's Bruce Davis carried an agenda inside his head when he first met with then-new defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker a year ago. He wanted to use his initial interview to express his feelings and explain his vision to Walker.

Davis, then a junior, wanted to use this important interview to tell Walker he was a linebacker, not a defensive end.

Walker listened. He likes interviews. He picked up his favorite catch phrase -- "Every day is an interview" -- from Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

A week later, Walker and Davis had another interview. This time, it was Walker's turn for self-expression.

"Coach Walker laid down the law," Davis recalled. "He said, 'I don't care what you want to play. This is what you're going to play. Just go do it.' He told me how he wanted it and how it was going to be. It was kind of intimidating at the time but I'm glad he did it. It's made me and everybody else better."

"Better" doesn't do what happened justice.

The complete transformation of UCLA's defense in one year under Walker was stunning. What once was soft became sound. The men in powder blue started delivering a pastel pounding.

The next-to-worst run defense in the country (233 yards per game, 5.4 yards per carry in 2005), became the nation's ninth-best unit in 2006 (91.1, 2.8). Where teams hung 34.2 points per game on the 2005 Bruins, they managed just 19.9 in 2006.

Pardon me if I don't get all swept away in DeWayne Walker's defensive wizardry. Sure I will give him credit for the defensive improvement. There is no doubt his pro-set defense produced tangible results against teams (such as Notre Dame and Southern Cal) that ran pro style offense. However, Walker didn't have any answers against teams like Oregon, Washington State, Cal, and FSU, which run college style spread offense. In fact in those games Bruins gave up 445.5 yards a game, which was well above their season average of 314.5 yards a game. [Source D1 Team Stats]. Moreover in those games Bruins gave up 37.25 points a game, higher than the disgraceful season average of 2005, which Miller pointed to as a reference point for so called defensive improvement.

So Walker improved a woeful defense (which had nowhere to go but up) to somewhat respectable, but still found himself totally outcoached (after which he placed the blame on his players) against teams that came at him with wide open spread offenses. You can see why I am not drinking the koolaid.

Color me unimpressed. And I am not going to buy into any of this hype until these so called improvements on our defense results in a Pac-10 championship this season.

GO BRUINS.

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Consistency and Expectations

Also saw towards the end of the article that Walker is non-committal on his expectations for this group as of yet:

"We should be better -- they're older; they know what their coaches want," Walker said. "But I still want to see what they want to do this spring. I'm going to hold off on [talking about my expectations]. I want to see these guys interview again."

Ironic that he should be talking about interviewing again, as it seems that this entire season is going to be one long interview for him as well.

Last year's two marquee national TV games vs. ND (which included the stunning brain-melt defensive switch away from what had been working all game long during the final drive) and $C were both followed by absolutely horrendous showings vs. WSU and FSU respectively.

Although Walker seems to be cut from a different mold than KD, it seems he is already trying to soften the potential fall-out (read: deflect blame) if his coaching and personnel don't get the job done.

Hopefully we are able to see the results of players being in the same system for a second year and the familiarity that comes with it. Additionally, Walker should be much more familiar with his player's abilities and the types of offensive schemes that he will encounter.

by sausmaf on Apr 7, 2007 9:06 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

good point

its odd to see the deflection from Walker. with his son going to Minnesota there is nothing keeping him here. his strong public statements of wanting to be a head coach pretty much leaves him tethered to no one. and this kind of stepping back from his players just fits a pattern of "i'm outta here."

by DumpDorrell on Apr 7, 2007 11:03 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also

Our run defense was probably improved (statistically) by our pass defense. Who needs to run when you can pass it at will. Same thing two years ago when we had the best pass defense in the Pac 10

by SuperBruinMan on Apr 7, 2007 9:37 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I didn't finish

Teams just ran instead. When we faced USC, we picked Leinart as our poison. Reggie Bush had a career day.

by SuperBruinMan on Apr 7, 2007 9:38 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Great points guys*

by Nestor on Apr 7, 2007 10:50 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Stree Fracture

Markey has a stress fracture and will miss spring practice. They have taken an MRI but how minimal or bad it is it not known yet.

by artybruin on Apr 7, 2007 10:14 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Check out the post

below. :-)

by Nestor on Apr 7, 2007 10:49 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No dedication

I don't hear any sense of dedication from our coaches. It is kind of disturbing. There is no "we are going to kick ass this year or I am a moron". These guys are too professional, always hedging their comments like politicians. There is no commitment to excellence, only excuses planted for a way out if ever needed. I'm tired of the B.S. coming out of them. Step up and grow some balls you whimps!

by tasser10 on Apr 7, 2007 12:23 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

take into account how horrible our offense was

the first quarter against Oregon was trouble but the D adjusted and gave up only 10 points in quarters 2-4. I wouldn't say we didn't have an answer. We gave up 30 points total. The problem was our offense's 250 total yards, no passing TDs and 1 Int.

I don't agree with the conventional wisdom that the oregon game showed we can't stop the spread. We adjusted and stopped it for three quarters after a rough start. I think if our offense had done their part, we would have won that game. The defense gave them the opportunity.

WSU and FSU were offensive disasters as well.

I don't view Oregon as a defensive failure, and I'm not sure how to view WSU and FSU, because I think if we had an adequate offense, the defense may have been better positioned to win. The Cal game I will give you as a poor defensive accomplishment.

Its hard to evaluate the defense fairly when the offense is inept. It makes their actual accomplishments even more impressive to me.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Apr 7, 2007 1:10 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

And it makes KD look even worse

The buck truly stops at the top. If KD was at all competent, he would be able to at the very least recruit and properly manage his own freaking position. Instead, we have a patchwork lineup of WRs and worse still, there is no sense of continuity with the brainless receiver rotations. If those games were not defensive failures, then obviously they were Karl Dorrell failures.

I think you have a valid point, and that is that Karl not only primes his players for failure, but his defensive coordinator as well. Your post reminded me just how inept he was last season.

Aw hell, I'll just start it off 147 days early:
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

by Tydides on Apr 7, 2007 1:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I find it stunning how negative many people

are regarding DWalker. I have been nothing but impressed by him. The guy held USC to 9 points. He made us a respected defense after being one of the worst in football. He did this in ONE SEASON!

I can't believe anyone expected more from him in one season with the talent he inherited. Did anyone at the beginning of the season think he had the personnel to accomplish as much as he did? I certainly didn't.

You can be critical of CKD cause he has done a lot to be critical of, but I don't see the justification for so many negative comments about Walker. Maybe I am missing something?

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Apr 7, 2007 1:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

not negative

just cautious, analytical. People at BN like fact based reality. We were 7 and 6 last year!! We had blowout losses and unacceptable losses ... and as the numbers CLEARLY point out, we could not play D against the spread offense. It's cool to be positive about Walker's accomplishments and contributions (and we are), but no one here is going to forget the 6(!) losses. Wazzu, Udub, ND, Cal, FSI ... cmon man, the D was a big reason for the losses.

by DumpDorrell on Apr 7, 2007 5:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would disagree withyour assessment

that the D was a big reason for those losses. Did we score effeciently/enough in any of those games to deserve to win? Cal is the only game I can think of that we played offense well enough to deserve to win.

When you Offense is putting points on the board and your defense cant stop anyone, that's when you blame the D for the loss.

When your offense can't score and can't keep control of the ball, Its hard to blame the D for giving up points when they are out on the field for so long.

ND we were lucky to have a chance to win, because we went into a prevent offense very early. I was pissed on how we played Defense, but the conservative offense for three consecutive series of downs was equally or more responsible then the last series in an otherwise excellent defensive game.

I give the offense at least 75% of the blame for losses last year.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Apr 7, 2007 6:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

when the D gives up 37.5 pts/game

as Nestor points out in 4 of the games I mention, the poor offense can only be partly to blame.

by DumpDorrell on Apr 7, 2007 10:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The D really sucked in 05

If our head coach and offensive coordinator played to win games rather than hold on to half time leads, our record would have been much different. I can think of three games(FSU, ND, and Washington)we had the momentum and the offense got very conservative. I call it Dorrel's prevent offense. It's hard to sustain intensity when the offense continues to go three and out. How many times did we settle for field goals in the red zone? Coach Walker did blow the ND game at the end, but I say a good aggressive offense can keep it from getting to that. My expectations for the 2006 season was amazingly surpassed. It could have been much worst. We have one more season with this coach, I'm sure he will make the best of it.

by bcrack on Apr 7, 2007 6:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree wholehardedly

the conservative prevent offense is a huge problem. Hopefully the new OC will rectify that.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Apr 7, 2007 6:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Nestor's original point

was to look past the overall numbers and look at individual games. There were some excellent games (most particularly the one on December 2). But there were some awful games as well. We had the same guys in each, so what happened?

Coach Walker had his guys prepped to stop a certain type of offense, but in some cases that was not the type of offense that the other team was running.

In other words, we had two defenses - one great against they type of offense they were prepared to defend, and one pretty bad one against the type of offense that was prepared for them

All that said, I don't think the majority of the denizens of the BN are Walker nay-sayers. He did a great job in many respects. But I think he could do better. Obviously he doesn't play on any downs, but I think he could put the guys who do play in a better position to succeed.

Case in point - the FSU game. That defense couldn't have stopped anyone. But it was the same guys who held justsc to 9 points. What happened? And this was at the end of the season, so he knew pretty well what his players could do in certain situations.

by Fox 71 on Apr 7, 2007 1:52 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Walker v. Dorrell

I am much more enthusaistic/confident about what Walker will do with our Defense in the coming year than I am with what KD will do with the Offense, specifically the QB's and playcalling oversight.

Walker's desire to be a HC will provide a few new creative schemes on D. Who wouldn't want a creative, young, defensive guru running their squad?

I think you can also tell something from Davis' comments regarding his role about team chemistry prior to Walker's arrival. The climate surrounding the team lacks (or lacked) a clear leader from the coaching staff. Walker's assertiveness and vision have provided the defense with direction and confidence in their roles. Of the two, I think Walker has a better chance of staying on as HC than Dorell in '08.

That is not an endorsement of DW for the top job however. Their are obviously many other candidates (I hope) in front of him, esp. those w/ a history a program re-building as this will be the case in the following year.

Walker surprised me last year, no reason he can't continue to do the same this year.

-btw..$C fans were extremely disappointed w/ their OC even before 13-9. Talk about an offense that gave no help to it's D

by sausmaf on Apr 7, 2007 1:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

SUC fans are stupid

excluding the UCLA game, SUC averaged over 32 points a game last year. After losing Lienert, Bush, and all those other guys. Nothing to blame the OC about.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Apr 7, 2007 3:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Walker

This will be a very important year for Walker, we'll see how much he has taught the defense and if he has learned to adapt to certain offensive schemes.

Now as far as the "many" other candidates...who do you know who has a history of program re-building? I don't really know anyone.

by tasser10 on Apr 7, 2007 3:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ben Howland

seriously though, Bob Stoops did it at Oklahoma. Other than that, you're right, none really come to mind.

by sausmaf on Apr 7, 2007 11:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Did anybody see today's practice?

Anything interesting?

by SuperBruinMan on Apr 7, 2007 2:55 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I was there

The Defense looked good.

Ben Olson didn't get any reps. Only Cowan and Bethel-Thompson got to throw.

Moya is still hurt.

Oatis looks much bigger, the LBers all look good.

Terrence Austin looks really really good.

The running game looked bad. Carew got a bit of reps and he did ok, but overall it was bad. Hopefully Markey can make it better.

They held it at Spaulding and I guess they didn't expect that many people, but there was a HUGE turn out. HUGE. It was crazy.

by True Blue and Gold on Apr 7, 2007 4:45 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

did d williams get any reps?

I think he's our best rb

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Apr 7, 2007 6:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, he got some carries

as well as some passes. I like him too.

by True Blue and Gold on Apr 7, 2007 11:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Dorrell has too much "pro" mentality

In the pros, being conservative and emotionless is the norm. Teams are generally close enough that being conservative puts you in a position to have a chance in the 4th quarter. Players are professionals and while there is certainly an emotional component, they are older and more seasoned and less susceptible to emotional swings.

College, both because of younger players and a wider variance in talent, is much more about aggressiveness and emotion. A coach that's agressive will drive higher emotion out of his team, which causes young players to play at higher levels.

At least that's my totally amateur assessment. And KD clearly coaches towards the pro state of the game, conservative and emotionless, which just doesn't work in college football.

My 2 cents.

by RealisticBruinFan on Apr 9, 2007 2:27 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

There is at least one exception

Coach Chucky of my new home town team, the Bucs, is a real fiery guy. His emotions are always on display. He has the exact opposite demeanor of Coach Dorrell. But Coach Chucky stinks, too.

Personally, I think football acumen is more important than whether a coach is fiery or calm on the sidelines. If Coach Dorrell were permanently fired up, we would have a lousy fired up coach, instead of a lousy cold fish coach.

by Fox 71 on Apr 9, 2007 8:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs