Bush, Alonso push for more
Strengthening linebackers unit is a top priority
DAVIE — Their first year together didn’t go as well as they had planned.
Now more comfortable around each other, Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso and his coach Frank Bush are expecting to see improvement.
“With me being the first year with him, it was kind of up and down,” Bush said after Wednesday’s practice. “I was expecting a lot more from him. I’m sure he expected a lot more from me.”
Last year Alonso recorded 115 tackles, matching his total from 2016. The thinking is he can do more.
“He did what we felt he should do,” Bush said. “He can play better. He can play better in coverage. Some of his tackling was suspect, but we’re working on those things. I think he’ll be better.”
In addition to adjusting to a new position coach, Alonso was also dealing with a broken thumb that required surgery in December 2016.
“He came off the hand injury last year, no excuses, but he didn’t do as well as we thought he’d do early,” Bush said.
When asked to evaluate his play last season, Alonso declined to answer. He said the year is in the past.
“I’m not really worried about that right now,” Alonso said. “Right now, I’m just focused on this year.”
Bush said he plans to make a better effort of utilizing Alonso’s aggressive style. That falls on the coaching staff putting him in situations that suit his strength.
“Just got to let him go,” Bush said. “One thing he will do is run and hit. We’ve got to put him in position to do that.”
The return of secondyear middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan should make things easier for Alonso. McMillan missed all of last year after injuring his knee in the first preseason game.
They are the expected starters, with the final spot being decided during training camp. McMillan has started to display the form that made the Dolphins select him in the second round of the 2017 draft.
“You see all traits that we saw before and you’re starting to see them again,” Bush said of McMillan. “Now it’s just about getting his confidence. He’s done a good job for us. I’m looking for him to just keep going forward and getting better.”
The Dolphins addressed strengthening the linebackers unit by selecting Jerome Baker last month in the third round. Although he is undersized, he has impressed during OTAs.
“You see speed, you see quickness, athleticism, all those things,” Bush said. “He’s got a good brain. We just got to get him going in the right direction all the time.”
The additional help could lessen the burden for Alonso. They have also seen improvement from secondyear player Chase Allen, who played well while replacing McMillan last year.
“We added some guys, and obviously we got the two rookies from last year,” Alonso said. “... We’ve got some guys in there that are making me and [McMillan] and other linebackers’ jobs easier.”
Still, Bush feels they need better play at linebacker than a year ago.
“We had a lot of things going on last year, but no excuses,” Bush said. “We didn’t get the job done. We’ve got to be better than we were last year.”
srichardson@ sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @shandelrich