Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Defensive coaches settle in
Gang now together, Hogs plan out 3-4
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ reconstructed defensive coaching staff has been in full-scale playbook mode this week as the Razorbacks near the start of spring drills and the implementation of a base 3-4 look.
First-year defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads had a series of talks with Coach Bret Bielema about the new direction on defense as they traveled during recruiting and through their searches for two assistant coaches.
Now that defensive line coach John Scott and outside linebackers coach Chad Walker are in place, the planning has ratcheted up to another level. In the new setup, holdover Vernon Hargreaves will work with the inside linebackers and Rhoads will handle the secondary as he did in his debut season last year.
“We spent the last two days in there kind of grinding it out and piecing it together,” said Scott, who held his first media session Tuesday, along with Bielema and Walker. “It’s at the very infant stages right now of what are we calling this, what are we calling that, but it’s been a very enjoyable process. Coach Rhoads is a brilliant defensive guy, and we’ve got some really, really good football coaches in that room. We’re just kind of working through it.”
Walker, hired from the
Atlanta Falcons after their appearance in the Super Bowl, moved to Northwest Arkansas last week and got started in the office Monday.
“I wasn’t even considering leaving,” said Walker, who mentioned he had relatives in Springdale and Fort Smith. “I’d never even thought about it. But when an opportunity arises like that, that’s something you definitely have to pursue for sure.”
Scott had been with the New York Jets for two years before a friend in the industry mentioned in January that Bielema might contact him.
“I told him it would have to be a special opportunity, an SEC or something like that to even consider it,” Scott said. “The next night, a Thursday night, I’m sitting on my couch watching a movie and I get a call and it’s, ‘Hey, this is Coach Bielema from Arkansas,’ and everything went well. We had a very positive conversation that night, and things just started rolling downhill from there.”
Scott estimated that a little more than half of his 14 seasons as a coach have been spent in the 3-4 scheme, from his time at Norfolk State, Missouri State, Texas Tech and the Jets.
Walker, who got his start in coaching at LSU under Nick Saban, praised the advantages of a 3-4 scheme.
“You get more players in space,” he said. “You get some edge rushers, guys who can set an edge. But you definitely get more bodies. You can give an illusion of pressure. You don’t always, you can’t just say ‘This guy is going to come.’ That fourth rusher can come from anywhere.”
Scott also discussed the flexibility and utility of 3-4 fronts.
“Getting three guys that you can play with up front allows you, with all the Spread offenses that you see now, to be able to disguise more blitzes,” he said. “You’re able to adjust a lot easier than having four traditional linemen, so there are a lot of plusses to it.
“You don’t have to have four trained killers, as we call them, or four big dogs inside. And the way the college game is going right now, you’ve got to be able to adapt to all these different formations and tempo, and it allows you to do some different things with three guys compared to four.”
Bielema said he has talked with recruiting coordinator E.K. Franks about territories for Scott and Walker, but he hasn’t nailed it down for certain. Bielema indicated Scott probably would be responsible for the Atlanta area and the Carolinas and might have a hand in Texas. Bielema said he felt strongly that Walker would recruit in east Texas, around Houston and might assist Michael Smith in Louisiana because of his strong ties to that state.
Bielema said the coaching staff has held detailed discussions about where to sort out current defenders who play in the front seven. For instance, former defensive linemen Randy Ramsey, Karl Roesler and Michael Taylor are likely to be outside linebackers, along with players such as Alexy Jean-Baptiste and the duo of Dwayne Eugene and Dee Walker, who could play both outside or inside.
Dre Greenlaw, De’Jon Harris, Josh Harris and Giovanni LaFrance would populate the inside linebacker slots.
“They’re both different animals,” Bielema said of the linebacker spots. “The two outside guys, one will be more of a guy that’s out in space, more to the field. The other guy will be more of a bigger, longer body that will be into the boundary a little bit more.
“The two inside guys are kind of mirrored positions, too. Two true inside linebackers who don’t leave the box all that much, who stay in and play within the tackle to tackle.”
On the line, Bielema mentioned Bijhon Jackson, Austin Capps, possibly Armon Watts or Jonathan Marshall, and someone who could come in with the Razorbacks’ final initial scholarship as playing the nose spot. The end positions would feature players such as McTelvin Agim, Briston Guidry, T.J. Smith, Daytrieon Dean and inside-outside guys such as Watts and Marshall.