Bend but don't break
New defensive coordinator installs philosophy
A phrase El Dorado defensive coordinator Wes Ables used more than once was "bend-but-don't break." That's the motto for the Wildcats entering the 2022 football season.
Ables took over the defense in the spring after Coach Trey Outlaw left for Texarkana. He inherited three starters from last year's state championship unit in defensive lineman Takoi Steward, linebacker Danquez Shelton and cornerback Bryson Boulden. Most of the other names will be new to start the season.
"We've had some guys step up. We've moved some people around," said Ables. "Some guys started off the year in the secondary have kind of moved to linebacker. When I came in, we took everyone, we evaluated everyone and then we tried to get the best 11 players on the field, regardless of position. They may be undersized a little bit here or you may look at 'em and think they're too big for that position, but we try to get the 11 best players on the football field."
El Dorado will base out of the 3-4, which is the same alignment from a year ago. Ables said there haven't been a ton of changes.
"You'll see a lot of similiarities. We're more of a bend-but-don't-break style of defense. Make an offense have to drive the length of the field to score, try not to give up big plays. That plays more on the back end of things with the secondary, keep the ball in front of you more. That'll be our philosophy," he said.
"Bend but don't break means we won't take as many risks. We don't want to give up the 80-yard touchdown plays. If the offense is going to score, make them go 10 plays, drive the length of the field. Make them earn the touchdown versus giving up the big play. It's more of a safe style defense but conservative. Now, we will be able to bring pressure. That's what the 3-4 brings, when you have four athletic linebackers and safeties you can bring in the box. It allows you to be able to move safeties around. Whatever offensive gameplan you're seeing, you can adjust real easily out of what we're going to be doing."
Ables was asked specifically about those ball-control offenses that specialize in moving the chains.
"If an offense can go 18 plays two or three times a game and not turn it over, they probably deserve to win. That won't happen very often," he said. "We have the ability to be aggressive and play some man stuff as well."
One change this season could be more zone coverage in the secondary. The Wildcats lost 3/4 of the secondary but, again, it's not so much about personnel as philosophy.
"We'll be both zone and man. We don't want the ball to get behind us. We'll mix in the zone and the man, try to keep the offense off-balanced. Try to keep the football in front of us as much as possible. We don't want to give up big plays," Ables explained.
"We've worked on zone a lot this summer. It was something that was new to the kids. We've spent a lot of time on that. In zone, those secondary guys get to have their eyes in the backfield some. You can break on the football a little better, maybe get some turnovers."
As for the 3-4 alignment, how often El Dorado employs that look will depend on the opposing offenses. Fans hear or read 3-4 and sometimes believe that's what the defense is always playing. That's not the case.
"In today's defenses, if you blitz a linebacker, now you're in a different front than you were when you started the play. You can send one linebacker and it changes the entire front as far as what gaps the defensive linemen are in and linebackers," said Ables. "In today's football with the variety of offenses you'll see, you may say you're a base
this or a base that, just to put something on paper. But when it comes down to it, there's so much movement today on the defensive side of the ball that, you kind of should just call it multiple. That would probably be a better way to describe it as multiple."
In addition to multiple, Ables hopes this year's defense will be adaptable or, maybe, adjustable.
"Any defensive coordinator is going to try to do that. They're not going to stay in two-high safeties if somebody is running the ball down their throat. They're going to get out of it. If somebody is throwing the ball over your head the first two possessions of the game, obviously, you're going to change something in the secondary. You're going to try to stop that. You've got to be able to adapt and adjust," he said. "That's why it's so important to have all these summer days we've had, to try and put things in and add things. And when you go against an offense like ours, as versatile as our offense is with the running backs and receivers we have, it makes your guys better on the other side of the ball."
As for replacing eight defensive starters, Ables said although the faces will be new, that won't mean they can't play.
"We've got some new faces that people haven't seen, either coming up from the freshman football team or some JV guys last year. Last year's graduating seniors was a very talented group. You're not going to have that every year. We've got some guys that I think have stepped up.
"When I came in, I met with the coaches and we talked about returning players that actually got to play last year. We don't have a whole lot of game experience. So, we're really young. We're inexperienced. But, that's why we go to all the 7-on-7 tournaments. We do all those things, the team camps. We're practicing every day in a helmet, being able to get reps in practice," said Ables. "When we go ones-on-ones and you've got offensive players like Shadarious Plummer and DeAndra Burns and you get to go against those players every day, that's getting you ready for Friday night. We've had an opportunity to do that every day. I think a lot of our young guys are getting the experience they need to be able to play on Fridays."
El Dorado head coach Steven Jones said this year's defense should be fine regardless of the scheme.
"We've still have the same base look. The defensive line is how we start with that and how we decide what front we'll be in. We feel like we have some depth there," said Jones. "Linebackers are coming along. Our secondary is coming along as well. The good thing about the defense - we have a returning starter on the D-line is Takoi Steward, at linebacker in Danquez Shelton, corner with Bryson Boulden. We have a guy at each level that's been on the field, that's played in big-time games that can help bring the younger guys along. Coach Ables coming in defensively, has done a good job of adapting to what we feel we have. He's taken his personnel and put together the pieces to the puzzle and, right now, we have a good fit."