Defensive Notes 3/25
It was pouring buckets, but the University of Utah got another spring practice under their belt today at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Here are my thoughts and takes on today's spring practice. It was a day, in which—regardless of being assisted by the weather—the defense had their way.
The Theme of the Day
For the whole practice was, "Weather the storm." Coach Scalley said, "We live in the Rockies." It was a complete downpour thought out all of practice today and the Utes defense simply just plugged along like it was another day. As expected with a bad weather day and with the Utes still trying to install Troy Taylor's pass-happy fast-paced offense, the offense struggled, but a lot had to do with the defense.
The defensive line was in hot pursuit of the quarterback all morning long. The quarterbacks were forced to make quick throws and getting flushed out of the pocket. The result was some bad passes, some interceptions, and some flat out dropped pass. The defense had the upper hand as they constantly won the position battles—the defensive line was especially of note.
Key Moment
During the 11 on 11 setting with the first units in. Huntley was running with the first unit offense most of the day and in this situation. The ball was snapped the defensive line put the pressure on, the pocket began to collapse, rather then roll out he simply threw a quick pass to his outside receiver who was running what looked to be a long curl route. Justin Blackmon was playing great man coverage against the receiver and when he flipped his head around he noticed the ball thrown. The pass was thrown short as it looked to slip a little bit on the pass, as the receiver cut back Blackmon made a jump on the route and great interception on the play. The whole defensive erupted as they did quite often today with many great plays.
Standout Performers
The play above was just one in another solid day from Blackmon it all earned him a shout out by Coach Scalley. Other standouts of the day were linebacker Kavika Luafatasaga, who continues to make plays and play hard as he has a better grasp of everything. The entire defensive line had a great day as you can tell with the defensive dominance. Free safety Corrion Ballard also had a good day and not because of the big plays he made, but simply because with his length and range. Like his predecessor he has the type of presence that quarterbacks want to avoid.
Quotes of the Day
I spoke with Defensive Coordinator Morgan Scalley and defensive line coach Lewis Powell today and here are some quotes and thoughts they gave that stuck with me:
When asked about the weather and how things are coming along with the defense, Scalley responded:
“Technique-wise, fundamental-wise showed up in the live stuff. Sometimes you start going live tackling and people's form breaks down, technique breaks down, sometimes they think they have to do more."
When asked about the weather Scalley simply stated:
“We live in the Rockies, we play in the Rockies and that was the attitude we had today and it fired me up!"
I asked Coach Powell about how Bradlee Anae has come along and how he is trying to follow in the footsteps of other great Utah defensive players and he said:
”He comes from Hawai'i and he picks up the same attitude and demeanor those guys have. They’ve got a little chip on the shoulder and they come in wanting to prove they are from the 808 state, and he's doing a good job. He's out here making plays and having fun."