Agim, coaches hone in on best approach
FAYETTEVILLE — As much as they would like to, Arkansas’ coaches can’t clone McTelvin Agim.
But they can create a duplicate illusion of their best defensive lineman better known as “Sosa” by moving him around the defensive line.
So, that’s what they planned to do, periodically aligning their star junior defensive end inside at tackle or nose guard. Arkansas coach Chad Morris, defensive coordinator John Chavis, defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell and defensive tackles coach John Scott said Agim recently switched to the interior of the line for good.
Agim, 6-3, 279 pounds, possesses the speed and pass-rushing prowess best to excel at defensive end but also has the heft and strength even fighting double teams has the quickness to bedevil the usually lesser athletic guards and center trying to block him inside coming from tackle.
One objective remains regardless of scheme.
“We are going to do everything we can to keep our best 11 players on the field,” Chavis said. “We know he’s a good football player. There’s no question about that. And there’s enough flexibility here that we can do that. We’ve talked about a bunch of ways that we are going to use him.”
Certainly Agim, a Texarkana, Texas, native but a high school graduate from the Arkansas side at Hope, has heard the talk.
“They talk a lot about it,” Agim said. “I have the freedom to be an end or tackle when the season comes. I want to be both of them. I feel I can make plays at both of them. They aren’t too different. You just need to go where you need to go. You’ve got to know the front and just make your alignment off the front calls.”
While Chavis won’t necessarily constantly move Agim around like a carnival shell game, offenses obviously can’t always rely on knowing where he will be.
“That will help me more,” Agim said. “It will be hard just to lock in on me.”
Caldwell and Scott presumed sharing Agim’s talents should enhance his play at both spots.
“He knows we are always looking for matchups inside that can help us so he’s going to be our swing player,” Caldwell said.
Scott knows Agim well having coached the entire defensive line for last year’s 3-4 defense head coached by Bret Bielema, now a New England Patriots consultant, and coordinated by Paul Rhoads, now secondary coach at UCLA.
“We’ve chatted a thousand times that Sosa has to do both for us,” Scott said. “He can play outside and he can play inside. He did both in the spring and we’re working that same plan on in the fall.”
A junior lettering as a 2016 true freshman coming out of Hope variously rated a 5-star or 4-star by recruiting services, Agim played every game and started the last five for the 7-6 Hogs contributing 27 tackles. For last season’s 4-8 Hogs, Agim was a standout on a struggling defense with 7.5 tackles behind the line among his 37 tackles while breaking up three passes and forcing two fumbles.
If he stays healthy, those stats should rise, Agim believes, just from the change to Chavis’ more aggressive 4-3 scheme with that extra linemen lessening last year’s double-teams.
“I like the 4-3 better,” Agim said. “You get to get off the ball in the 4-3. You get more one on ones in the 4-3 and when you get those you’ve got to make plays. You are not just catching (tying up blockers free linebackers to tackle). I think you can show more athleticism in the 4-3. I want to hit somebody.”
Playing two spots would be a challenge for some but Agim arrived at Arkansas a semester early as a 2015 December high school graduate and has kept his nose either in a playbook or his class books while adjusting to three different coordinators in Robb Smith, Rhoads and Chavis, as well as three different position coaches in Rory Segrest, Scott and Caldwell.
“I walk in December,”Agim said of his forthcoming degree in sports management. “This defense is not hard to learn if you just stay focused. My free time, I do nothing but just football. It’s easy to learn the playbook.”