UCLA Football Preview: South Alabama's Defense Has Smothered Opponents So Far
UCLA Football Preview: South Alabama's Defense Has Smothered Opponents So Far
While the Jaguars have traditionally relied upon big plays to stop opponents, they have been holding them to more three-and-outs this year.
The South Alabama Jaguars will use a 4-2-5 defensive scheme called “Swarm D,” which is a variation of a scheme originally created by Dave Wommack, the father of Jaguar head coach Kane Wommack. Some might consider this a 3-3-5 formation, however.
The team will play with a nose tackle and defensive tackle plus a “Bandit” defensive end on the weak side. Then, things get a little bit different.
The Mike linebacker will be in the middle of the defense with a Stinger outside linebacker having “sideline to sideline tackling ability”, according to Saturday Down South.
The third linebacker is called the Wolf linebacker. On one hand, the Wolf combines the duties of an end and a linebacker, according to AL.com. On the other hand, the South Alabama game notes refer to the position as “Wolf/S.” So, it seems that the Wolf has a big role in pass coverage.
The Jaguars will play five defensive backs in the secondary. The two corners are a Field Corner and a Boundary Corner. The Boundary Corner takes the short side of the field from the hash mark to the sidelines while the Field Corner covers the wide side from the hash mark the ball is on across the other hash mark to the sideline.
South Alabama will employ three safeties. The Rover Strong Safety and the Free Safety are almost interchangeable but the Rover “has to do a tad bit more covering as it plays on the closed side of the formation, according to Saturday Down South, while the Free Safety may be the only deep back in some pressure schemes.
The third safety is called the Husky and is a hybrid linebacker/safety, but it’s essentially a nickel corner. Look for the Husky to cover the slot.
Let’s look at the Jaguars’ defensive personnel.
Defensive Line
Redshirt sophomore Wy’Kevious Thomas will anchor the defensive line at the nose. So far this season, Thomas has four tackles including a TFL and a sack. Thomas received an honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference selection last season. Junior Charles Coleman III will get his third start of the year at defensive tackle. In the Jags’ first two games, Coleman has only made one tackle so far. Coleman also received an honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference selection.
Jamie Sheriff will start as the team’s Bandit defensive end. Sheriff returns to the Jaguars after not seeing any action last season. While he hasn’t gotten to the quarterback yet, he has one QB hurry to go with his five tackles so far this season.
Junior CJ Rias will be found in the Wolf linebacker spot. While he only has three tackles, one was a TFL and one was a sack. He also has a pass breakup on his stat sheet this year.
Linebackers
Indiana transfer James Miller will start as South Alabama’s middle linebacker. Miller played under Jaguar head coach Kane Wommack when Wommack was the defensive coordinator at Indiana. The junior has made seven tackles already including a TFL and a sack.
Meanwhile, Quentin Wilfawn will man the Stinger linebacker spot. True to the role, Wilfawn leads the team in tackles with 15 this season including 1.5 TFLs. He also has one QB hurry.
Secondary
Moving on to the secondary, senior Jamar Richardson will start as the field corner. Richardson, who previously attended Ole Miss, is another transfer student who will start on Saturday for South Alabama. While he’s only made two tackles, he is tied for the team lead in pass breakups with two. Darrell Luter, Jr.’s stats are more impressive. The senior boundary corner has recorded five tackles and added two pass breakups and a QB hurry. Luter was a first-team all-Sun Belt selection and a second-team All-America choice by Pro Football Focus.
After being listed on the second team before the Nicholls game, junior Free Safety Jaden Voisin is now listed as the starter. Voisin is second on the team in tackles with 11 so far including 2 TFLs. Additionally, he has a pass breakup and a QB hurry this season. He has already almost doubled his tackles from his first two seasons in the program and he returns to the team after not seeing any playing time last season.
Jalen Jordan starts in the Rover Strong Safety spot and he joins the Jaguars this season as the second member of the secondary to transfer from Ole Miss. Jordan is tied for fourth on the team in tackles with eight.
Last but not least, there is the Husky role. Yam Banks is in his second season as South Alabama’s starting Husky. Last season, Banks was fourth on the team in tackles with 49 including 4.5 TFLs. Through the team’s first two games, Banks has five tackles and one pass breakup.
Analysis
According to AL.com, the Jaguar defense traditionally relies on big plays and turnovers, but those opportunities have not yet materialized this season. Instead, South Alabama has been good at limiting opposing offenses to “very few yards on first and second downs, then forced incompletions on third downs.”
That means that the UCLA offensive line may have a tough time opening the running lanes so the Bruin backs can do what they do best. It might also mean that UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson will need to complete more passes to convert on second or third down and we know that DTR has struggled at times with the accuracy of his passes. Clearly, the key for the Bruins is to keep the ball moving against a tough Jaguar defense in order to avoid having UCLA become the last victim of what appears to be a stronger Sun Belt Conference.
Go Bruins!!!
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