Wahoos look for the defense to cash in on experience, culture

The Wahoos move into the offseason with a lot of intriguing options in a defensive backfield that could really use some answers compared to 2020. As has been covered a lot this spring, the move by Bronco Mendenhall to tweak some coaching assignments on the defensive side of the ball made clear the importance of improving play in the back end.

One of main targets behind the aforementioned changes to the assignments was to give co-DC Nick Howell more time to move between units. By tasking Ricky Brumfield with cornerbacks and Shane Hunter with safeties, Mendenhall has done just that.

In watching last weekend’s spring game, it was clear that Virginia is looking to get its five best players on the field in the secondary. It’s also clear that the amount of experience the Cavaliers return across the board on defense lends itself to the group finding ways to improve even without a couple of key contributors from last season.

Above all, though, the group has to be more physical.

“This is not even defensive specific but we worked and I worked so hard on the protocols a year ago, the players’ safety being No. 1,” Mendenhall said after spring ball had concluded. “There was a compromise of our culture and just how hard we tried and how physical we were, how competitive we were and how we could practice and how we wanted to practice and develop our team. The reason the format was like you saw today, where it was more practice-ish than a true game, is that yeah, we haven’t arrived yet. But I do like what we’ve accomplished. I do like our mindset. I do like the returning culture. I do like what I see, especially from our best defensive players. But not yet satisfied with how physical, how competitive, and how violent we are. Against yourself in spring is also kind of tricky.

“Making strides, returning to, but not yet arrived is how I would frame it,” he added. “So the biggest focus is culture, right? The competitive spirit, the physicality, and the culture defensively in terms of effort and mindset. We’ll worry about execution after that. But COVID impacted that more than anything else I saw from a year ago. I’m responsible for that and I could have designed it better.”

“To instill the culture of our defense,” Howell said, when asked about the main point of emphasis for the D this spring, “how to play, play hard, tackle, run to the ball, so everything culturally that we want. And then execution. So, guys learning their assignments and really jelling together and getting 11 guys to do their assignments together. That's been the main focus and guys have tried hard…guys have gotten better, new guys have gotten experience and been able to do that.”

UVa has already brought in one grad transfer CB in Anthony Johnson, a player whom Mendenhall has been impressed with thus far during his short time in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers also signed former North Dakota State corner Josh Hayes recently, even more evidence that all the talk about improving wasn’t just lip service.

“Yeah, we're looking to increase competition and depth and make us better as a team,” Howell said. “And what I've seen from Josh, very highly competitive. He’s quick. He's done a lot of things that in their defense that we do similarly in our defense, he’s very competitive, he's been in big games, pressure situations and played in a really good environment up there. And so I think what you have is a guy that's probably hungry and looking for something to improve his stock. And so you have a hungry player that is experienced.

“We won't know everything until he gets here because we obviously haven't seen him besides on tape,” he added, “but we like who he is and how he fits and think he's a good player. And then in terms of competition, that’s going to be very competitive and a competition makes everybody better, makes everybody play better and you gotta be ready to go. And that's what we're looking for.”

With linebackers Charles Snowden and Zane Zandier gone, Howell’s task is a bit of a balancing act: Not only does UVa have to cut down on the big plays down the field but the Hoos also have to find the right pieces in the middle of the defense to make pass rush and run fits work well.

“We have a lot of schemes that will blitz and run a lot of different patterns,” Howell explained. “We made a really big focus this spring on trying to straight rush and win one-on-ones hoping that that will make us better one-on-one but it will also enhance our package when we do change the patterns and things like that. So there's been a real emphasis on that with Coach (Clint) Sintim and Coach (Kelly) Poppinga to really straight rush and help us there. And then with our blitz packages as well, we think that's going to help us.”

With guys returning all over the field on defense, Howell has plenty of pieces. Now, the challenge of 2021 will be getting them all to a place where execution improves, and that includes a number of “super” seniors who returned to the program for their fifth years on the field.

“I don't think those guys came back just for the heck of it,” he said. “I think they have very specific goals, personally and as a team, and I've seen focus out of those guys and they want to leave this place better than they found it. And they've done a lot of good for our program and I’m grateful to those guys for coming back and helping the program and helping themselves.

“The other day I was watching the Orange Bowl game and there were seven players that were out there that are here still,” he said later. “So, there's experience at multiple positions. It's really just kind of seeing who's going to fill in the gaps. So I wouldn't say it's like a particular person or a particular position. It's more getting the best 11 players out there on the field and helping those guys do what they can do. That's what I see.”

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