As spring ball continues to unfold in Charlottesville, assistant coach Kelly Poppinga is getting more accustomed to overseeing the entire linebacker group, one that he feels like has the kind of depth that mirrors that of UVa’s defense as a whole.
In outside linebacker Noah Taylor and inside linebacker Nick Jackson, Poppinga returns two experienced players who have shown plenty thus far in their Virginia careers.
Listed at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, Taylor had a stellar sophomore campaign in 2019, when he finished with a team-high 13.5 TFLs and seven sacks to go with a pair of INTs and four PBUs. Jackson, conversely, came on strong toward the end of that season and capped his rookie year having put together a solid foundation to a career that everyone from Bronco Mendenhall on down all agreed would be special.
But 2020 was a little bit under expectations for both, as Taylor was bothered by injuries and Jackson struggled to play consistently against the pass.
A big focus for Poppinga then is to push both of them to be even more than they’ve been.
“The challenge that I’ve always had for Noah is just to be the best version that he can be all the time,” he said last week. “I do believe there was a different mindset that he came into the 2019 season [with] than he did the ’20 season. He was out to prove who he was in 2019. And sometimes, human nature man, you have a little bit of success you might relax a little bit. I don’t know exactly what happened with him. He knows it and we’ve talked about it. The way that I’ve seen him practice the last two days, I’d say that he’s on a mission. The way that I’ve seen him train in the offseason, he’s on a mission.
“I think he’s on the track right now of becoming the best version that he can possibly be,” Poppinga added. “And just the way that he’s attacked every day, not just workouts but to the practices that we have but also film study and his hunger to learn the game, as of right now he’s going through the process tot be great. So, we’ll see what happens.”
“I feel a lot better,” Taylor said. “I’ve just been waiting to get to this point where I feel a lot better just so I can go out there and perform the way that I know I can and the coaches know I can. I’ve definitely gotten a lot better and I’m very excited to see the improvement.
“I knew my ability as a player and I knew what I could have done last season,” he added. “I didn’t do that, obviously, I think because of injury. So really, just trying to get healthy and put that injury behind me and just focus on getting better because I know what I can do as a football player.”
For Jackson, the offseason is about being much better in coverage.
“Nick’s next step is, like we’ve talked about, Nick was not good in coverage last year,” Poppinga said. “As far as playing the run and his pass rush, I think he’s on par to be able to continue to develop to be a really good player in those two facets of the game. Now, he’s got to get way better in his coverage. And he knows that, we’ve talked about it. That’s been a major emphasis in the offseason. And one thing that I always tell our guys as well is that once you’ve had a little bit of success, man, you’ve got to keep yourself humble and continue to be humble to get yourself better and continue to get better. Because if he stays the same, he’s getting worse, in my opinion.
“He’s got to continue to push himself to that next level,” the veteran coach added, “and improve those areas that he needs to improve so that he can take that next step as a player and continue to progress to be a first-team All-ACC player instead of what he got last year.”
Added into the places where both players would like to take steps forward is the reality that the Wahoos are replacing two starters, one inside and one out. That could lead the returning guys to play pretty much anywhere, especially with one coach in charge of the entire position group for the first time.
“I really focused on pass rushing and I would say playing at the second level, like the linebacker position,” Taylor said. “Last year I played a lot of safety, lot of defensive end. I’m just kind of focused on playing that in-the-box-area inside backer kind of and just leaning more about that.”
Either way and wherever he ends up seeing most of his reps, Taylor believes its the job of the experienced guys to make sure they show the young guys the right way.
“I’m a little bit of everything,” he said of his leadership style. “Sometimes I’m vocal, sometimes I’m leading by example. But I always try to bring that energy. Always try to pick guys up when somebody didn’t make the play they think they thought they should have made. I always try to bring somebody up and try to bring the energy as much as I can.”
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