AMHERST — Mistakes are bound to happen in the first year of a new defensive system.
Signals will get crossed and two people will end up in the same spot, leaving an opening somewhere else on the field. But there are certain issues that have plagued the UMass defense this year that simply transcend the scheme.
It starts with the most fundamental aspect of defense – tackling – a problem that isn’t new for the unit over the past few years. Last season, the Minutemen’s struggles to bring down runners led to opponents gashing them with the ground attack and creating explosive rushing plays. This season, it isn’t the long runs that have hurt UMass, rather the medium ones, the type of plays that should go for 2 or 3 yards that end up going for 10 or 12 yards.
Head coach Walt Bell tallied 29 missed tackles and more than 400 total yards after contact in last week’s loss against Charlotte. And the UMass defenders are well aware teams will continue to try to exploit these perceived weaknesses until the Minutemen show they can stop it.
“A lot of teams ran the ball on us because they saw we weren’t able to make the tackles,” redshirt sophomore linebacker Tyris Lebeau said. “We need to be more disciplined, be more physical and make those tackles, and it will discourage the offense of trying to use those matchups and running the ball.”
All of the shortcomings UMass has shown on film will come to a peak Saturday against Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers (2-1) come to Amherst for the 1 p.m. kickoff with an option-style offense that has every element of trouble for the Minutemen (0-3). They have a running back in C.J. Marable who is both a weapon running the ball and catching it out of the backfield, leading the team in both rushing and receiving.
Rutgers and Southern Illinois were able to pick on the UMass linebackers in coverage by throwing to running backs and tight ends matched up against linebackers. That might be an area Coastal Carolina looks to exploit Saturday, but UMass is simply worried about making sure all 11 defenders understand their assignment and execute it to the best of their abilities.
“It comes back down to the little things,” linebacker Jarvis Miller said. “An option football team, they can run the same play 30 times, but it takes that one person to not have their eyes on their key that will (lead to a) score. It’s about keying our eyes, watching our keys, filling our gaps and little stuff like that. If we do that consistently throughout the game, we’ll give ourselves the best opportunity to win the game.”
UMass has tried to put as much of an emphasis as it can on tackling throughout the week given its limited healthy bodies. Bell said he isn’t going to shy away from being physical in practice, but he also understands the Minutemen lack depth in certain areas that make live practices more of a challenge. Still, the first-year coach tries to make Tuesday full-pad practices as live as he can and there’s an emphasis on the fundamentals of tackling every Wednesday when the team is dressed down into shorts.
Miller said the only way to improve tackling is putting an extra emphasis on those parts of practice that either allow tackle or emphasize it. He said those drills have a larger impact on tackling in games than many believe and UMass has to continue to put a lot of effort into those portions of practice.
“When we are put in those situations at practice, you have to take them seriously,” Miller said. “Whether it’s tackling drills or whether we have a thud period where we have to thud the guy up and stop his momentum, those are very key to us actually tackling in the game. We don’t tackle a lot because of bodies or whatever the situation, but when we are put in those types of tackling situations during drills, we have to take them seriously.”
The other part of the equation to stopping an option offense is pure effort. Bell preaches about his team playing hard as often as he talks about them playing smart. He praised his defense’s effort level against Charlotte, noting the players were in the right positions a lot, just didn’t execute the tackles to stop plays in their tracks.
Linebacker Cole McCubrey said the Minutemen’s effort on every play will dictate how successful UMass is on Saturday. He said if he and his teammates play hard and chase the ball efficiently, a lot of the other issues that have plagued the unit thus far won’t be as noticeable to fans in the stadium or watching on television.
“That’s what it comes down to, even if we miss a tackle if everyone is running to the ball, it’s going to cover up other mistakes,” McCubrey said. “We just need to keep working on our effort, keep running to the ball and keep working.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.