Watch the edges of the field this Saturday when defensive coordinator Tony White‘s unit matches up with Scotty Walden’s fast-paced UTEP offense. They could see quite a bit of action.
While Walden’s no-huddle spread offense at Austin Peay was known for playing fast and snapping the ball as quickly as it gets lined up, Walden, now the Miners’ head coach and play-caller, knows Nebraska’s strength on defense: the middle of the field.
Nash Hutmacher, Ty Robinson, Jimari Butler and Cam Lenhardt on the defensive line. John Bullock, Mikai Gbayor, Princewill Umanmielen and MJ Sherman at linebacker. Isaac Gifford is the rover playing in center field.
That’s a formidable group with a lot of game snaps under their belts. White and his head coach, Matt Rhule, know that. That’s why they’re preparing the edge of the Blackshirts defense, where Walden might test, and test often.
Through his Austin Peay film review, Rhule found an attack that wants to test all parts of a defense for a weakness. Since the tempo Walden wants to play with is so fast, especially after a positive gain, substitutions will need to happen quickly and efficiently.
Walden’s pass game isn’t limited to throwing down the field. Quick game and perimeter screens will make an appearance. With UTEP’s offense being at a disadvantage in talent and size on the offensive line, quick east-west throws will be used as an extension of the run game.
“Your cover guys have to be really physical,” Rhule said.
That’s why tackling in space will be so important. It’ll be the first real-game environment the Husker defenders are in. Walden might take his chances on the edges of the field and see how well the Huskers — DBs like Tommi Hill, Marques Buford Jr., DeShon Singleton, Malcolm Hartzog and Gifford — tackle in space.
So far in practice, the defense has been just OK at handling the pace UTEP plays at.
“It’ll be good for our defense if we can handle it,” Rhule said. “I’m out there at practice and every other play is a redo right now because we’re just not handling the amount of things. You don’t really see that when you go to a Big Ten game. It’s a wide-open style that is fun to watch, not fun to play against.”
On top of that, UTEP has yet to announce a starting quarterback. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Cade McConnell is the returning starter and a pocket passer. Skyler Locklear is a transfer who followed Walden to El Paso, but is inexperienced as he’s appeared in just four games in two seasons. Locklear, at 5-11 and 195 pounds, is more of a scrambler and has the advantage of knowing Walden’s offense.
Walden’s Austin Peay attack reminds Rhule of the Colorado game last year, when the Shedeur Sanders-led Buffs used tempo and a healthy dose of receiver screens to give them an advantage, especially in the second half. But Colorado wasn’t the only 2023 opponent that snapped the ball quickly and put it in skill players’ hands early — Louisiana Tech did as well.
And there’s a bit of La Tech flavor on UTEP’s staff as Jake Brown is now the Miners’ co-OC/WRs coach. Brown held that role last year for La Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie, so he’ll get back-to-back tastes of White’s 3-3-5 defense inside Memorial Stadium.
While Nebraska won the game 28-14, White’s defense gave up 292 passing yards. It could’ve been more if not for an excellent play from one Husker and some luck.
“They ran two middle screens that should have been touchdowns,” Rhule said. “One, Jimari (Butler) made an amazing play, and one they kind of got in their own way, but they had us dialed up,” Rhule said.
Let’s revisit Nebraska’s game against La Tech, which could give fans an idea of what to expect from UTEP:
The clip above is La Tech’s first receiver screen of the game, which came on a third-and-10 from the Bulldogs’ 25-yard line. Instead of a young quarterback throwing down field in a hostile environment, an easy throw to the sideline was a safer choice, and this one wound up working.
As you can see, the Husker defensive backs were asked to take on and shed blocks from receivers all game. The Bulldogs’ best weapon was the short, but shifty Smoke Harris (#6).
Hartzog and Luke Reimer can’t shed their blocks (Rhule wanted a holding call on Hartzog’s man) and Harris makes safety Omar Brown (#12) miss for extra yardage and a first down.
On this next example above, a first-and-10 from La Tech’s 31, Singleton provides us a great example of blowing up a receiver screen to the boundary, where there’s not as much room to work.
Singleton gets great knock-back on his receiver, and corner Quinton Newsome boxes Harris in, leaving him no where to go. Captain Obvious moment here, but defeating the lead block/s of the receivers is key here.
The example above is exactly what Walden is hoping happens often on Saturday — his offense’s pace goes so fast that Nebraska’s defense gets caught out of position. In this example, La Tech snaps the ball with 31 seconds left on the play clock and gets the ball in Harris’ hands as soon as possible.
Brown, however, shows why he was so valuable to the defense by blowing up the play and forcing Harris outside while Hartzog does enough to hold up Harris long enough for Chief Borders and Gifford to join the party.
Brown’s effort here turned what looked like a 5-yard gain into a 1-yarder.
In the fourth example, La Tech decided it was time to pull out its counter to the receiver screen game it had showed multiple times in the first half.
Watch how the eye-candy motion impacts Nebraska’s defense. While the Husker DBs each bump out due to the motion and screen action, Harris acts as a blocker for a second before exploding down the line of scrimmage uncovered as Singleton took the bait.
If not for former Husker receiver DeColdest Crawford (#11) getting in the way, Harris would’ve gained much more than the 9 yards he did. This was a well drawn-up play from Cumbie and Brown.
One more example above and we’re out of here. This is another delayed receiver screen, similar to the previous example.
La Tech faces a second-and-9 at its own 13. Nebraska plays coverage and drops eight. La Tech dials it up for Harris once again, and with a three-man convoy of his interior O-line leading the way, Harris makes Hill, Singleton and Gifford miss and is off to the races for an explosive.
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