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Football
Defense Looks to Take Another Step Forward
Jeff White’s Twitter | Roster | 2018 Football Schedule
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In the University of Virginia football program, secondary coach Nick Howell also holds the title of defensive coordinator. For the past two seasons, though, the principal architect of the Cavaliers’ defense has been head coach Bronco Mendenhall, whose experience as an assistant came on that side of the ball.
And then there’s outside linebackers coach Kelly Poppinga, who in April added another title: co-defensive coordinator.
At the annual ACC Football Kickoff, Mendenhall said Wednesday that he’s learned a “CEO’s role can change, and it sometimes needs to change over time. So Nick basically is our defensive coordinator any time I leave the room, which is pretty frequent. Everything just goes on, and my voice is substituted by his.”
Howell’s expertise is with the defensive backs and pass defense. Poppinga’s “strength is the front [seven], which is one of my passions,” Mendenhall said.
Having Poppinga work closely with Howell “gives more clarity to our structure in the event that I’m less involved defensively,” said Mendenhall, who’s heading into his 14th season as a head coach. “So it’s a preparatory step in the event that I choose to be involved elsewhere.”
Would he prefer to step back and leave the coordinating to Howell and Poppinga? “Maybe,” Mendenhall said. “I’m continually assessing that for each [aspect of the program]: Where can I help most, and what’s needed most?”
However the coaching responsibilities are divided, the Cavaliers expect continued improvement on defense this season. Gone are three mainstays – safety Quin Blanding, linebacker Micah Kiser and end Andrew Brown, who started 110 games among them – but the roster includes 11 players who have started at least three games each on defense.
That group consists of linemen Eli Hanback and Mandy Alonso, linebackers Chris Peace, Jordan Mack and Malcolm Cook, and defensive backs Bryce Hall, Juan Thornhill, Tim Harris, Chris Moore, Myles Robinson and Brenton Nelson.
Also returning are such promising young players as linebackers Charles Snowden, Elliott Brown, Robert Snyder, Matt Gahm and Zane Zandier, and defensive backs Joey Blount and Darrius Bratton.
Thornhill, who plays both cornerback and safety, made the All-ACC third team in 2017, and Nelson was the conference’s defensive rookie of the year.
The secondary should be the strength of the defense, Mendenhall said Wednesday. “It’s one of the few positions currently on our team where I see not only the quality of player but depth.”
The Cavaliers came out of the 2017 season especially thin on the defensive line. That group has been bolstered by two transfers with immediately eligibility: Dylan Thompson from Ohio State and Cassius Peat, who began his college career at Michigan State.
Mendenhall’s friends in the coaching profession include Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, and they spoke highly of Thompson and Peat.
“Those two give us immediate depth, ability and experience that we need,” Mendenhall said.
When he came to UVA from BYU in December 2015, Mendenhall installed a 3-4 base defense. The transition to that scheme has not always gone smoothly.
In 2016, Virginia ranked 12th among ACC teams in total defense, 12th in rushing defense, 12th in pass defense, 12th in scoring defense, and 11th in sacks per game.
Mendenhall’s second season at UVA brought improvement in several of those categories. Among ACC teams, Virginia ranked seventh in total defense, 13th in rushing defense, second in pass defense, 12th in scoring defense, and tied for seventh in sacks.
Virginia, which allowed 33.8 points per game in 2016, lowered that average to 28.4 last season. But the Wahoos are not yet where Mendenhall wants them to be defensively.
“The best defenses that I’ve coached are the noisiest defenses, not only before the snap but during the play, and we’re not noisy enough yet,” he said.
“Physicality and mindset,” Mendenhall said, are the primary areas in which his defense must continue to progress.
“When I watch us play, but maybe more importantly, when I listen to us play from the sideline, it does not sound like the best defenses that I’ve coached,” he said. “To be top 25, which is my expectation every year, for our entire program, the reality is, that sounds different. The communication sounds different, the energy sounds different, but the collisions also sound different.
“We haven’t yet built a team that is physically strong enough, mentally hard enough and combative enough for it to sound like that. Yes, there’s progress being made, and execution is improving. But it’s not only what we’re doing, it’s how we’re doing it. The how is still a work in progress.”
Each school in the conference brings two players to Charlotte for the ACC’s annual preseason gathering. Representing UVA were Peace and wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus.
Peace, a fifth-year senior from Newport News, led ACC linebackers in sacks last season. Zaccheaus, a senior from Plainfield, New Jersey, set a school record for single-season receptions (85) and was named to the All-ACC second team.
Asked about the group he faces in practice, Zaccheaus said the Cavaliers’ “defense has evolved since [Mendenhall’s staff] first got here. When they first started, it was a lot simpler than it is now. It’s a lot more complex, with a lot of moving parts, a lot of people disguising [themselves] in different coverages and different looks. It’s really like controlled chaos.”
Still, for all the high points in 2017, when the ‘Hoos advanced to a bowl for the first time in six years, there many defensive lapses, especially in the second half of the season. The Cavaliers gave up 41 points in an Oct. 21 loss to Boston College, and they allowed 30 second-half points in a Nov. 18 loss to the Miami Hurricanes.
Worst of all, Virginia allowed 49 points and 452 yards – all in the running game – in an emphatic loss to Navy in the Military Bowl.
“It was tough,” Peace said. “We did not play defense that game. Not at all. Credit to Navy. They came out strong. They had a great game … We now know what we need to do better.”
The ‘Hoos will have to do so without Blanding and Kiser, All-Americans who rank Nos. 1 and 5, respectively, in career tackles at UVA. As important as their production was their leadership.
“But that’s something that we’ve been working on,” Zaccheaus said. “As much as I can help, I’ve been trying to help as far as bringing people along, especially on the defensive side — defensive backs mostly, because [the wideouts] work with them the most — and just helping Chris Peace along.
“We’re all in this together. Just because they’re on defense doesn’t mean we can’t interact with them and mingle with them and try to help to develop as players and leaders.”
During a press conference Wednesday in Charlotte, Peace spoke at length about what he’s learned from Mendenhall. Later, when it was Mendenhall’s turn to take questions, he talked about what he’s learned from Peace.
“Chris has taught me the power of work ethic and example,” Mendenhall said. “I would consider Chris Peace one of the best practice players, in terms of day in and day out work, that I’ve seen and been lucky enough to coach, and it’s inspiring. I never have to wonder. He just works and he works and he works, and, as you can tell, he doesn’t want to say a lot, and I appreciate that.
“We have a saying, a guiding principle in our program: less drama, more work. He is that. I’m lucky to be at Virginia at this time with him, and he’s been a huge part of providing a tangible example for me to point to, to the team, and say, this is what we’re looking for.”
The return of Robinson, who’s working at safety, should help the secondary. A former standout at Good Counsel High School in Maryland, he started three games at cornerback in 2016 before suffering a season-ending injury. But Robinson was suspended from UVA for the 2017-18 academic year and so, not surprisingly, is lagging behind his teammates.
While he was out of school, Robinson was just “working and learning the new responsibilities of fatherhood and seeing what real life is like,” Mendenhall said. “That didn’t leave a lot of time for training … but what I like about Myles is that he wanted to come back, and also he loves to tackle and he’s a good tackler. And we could use another player that’s a good tackler.”
In 2016, the ‘Hoos finished 2-10. They improved to 6-7 last year. Their goals this season include a second straight bowl appearance and a victory over Virginia Tech, who has won 14 straight games in that series.
Mendenhall is doing all he can to accelerate the building process, but he’s realistic about the state of his program.
“This is just the next year of development, with benchmarks that are stretch marks, but we’re shooting for them,” he said. “I would love to say it’s fast. It’s not fast, and that’s the brutal truth.”