Memphis wasn’t all there last season. It really wasn’t.
The offense was hit and miss (the ground game averaged 179.5 yards per game – good for 52nd in the FBS).
It missed a lot.
The defense didn’t help all that much. Stopping the run was kind of okay, sometimes (Memphis allowed 146.5 yards per game on the ground – No. 36 in the FBS). And stopping the pass seemed like it was too much to ask for. The Memphis secondary allowed 260.2 yards per game through the air (No. 100).
That’s a problem no matter what kind of mobile scouting device you happen to be looking through.
Things are going to be different this year. Or, so Memphis defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson has advised regional digital media authorities.
“Anything that you get on us, we’re going to force you to earn it,” said Woodson, via The Commercial Appeal. “We are an aggressive defense, and we’re going to carry that personality into the secondary, and make sure that in everything that we do, we’re going to challenge you at the line and force you to have to release around us and earn whatever you may get.”
Colorful. I think he believes himself. And I have to say I almost bought that. Coach then took to Twitter to circulate his words. Just in case anybody missed the heads up.
Marcus Woodson on Memphis DBs in 2016: "Anything that you get on us, we’re going to force you to earn it." https://t.co/0AfVYI3UTE
— Tom Schad (@Tom_Schad) June 20, 2016
“We didn’t really do a great job of that in the spring game at my position,” said Woodson. “Overall in the spring, if you take the spring game away, I thought we did improve in that area. So that’s my challenge for the guys this summer – just creating a mindset of being physical.”
You can’t take the spring game away, coach Woodson. As much as you’d like to, that’s just not going to happen. So let’s not pretend like we can do that. The secondary didn’t deliver in the spring game. It struggled to get there last season against neighboring conference force Navy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOWmSzdBlYQ
Then it got its bell rung by SEC authority Auburn.
I’m sure Memphis saw that going differently in its mind.
Woodson mentioned the need to go get the football when his boys play, turning up the physicality to create takeaways and tackle with an attitude.
To that end, Woodson told The Commercial Appeal that he plans to have Memphis’ coverage play a fair amount of press coverages and a number of other packages this season, challenging the opposition’s wide receivers at the line of scrimmage.
That means Woodson’s defensive backs don’t do pleasantries before the football is snapped. Or after.
The 35-year-old started in the secondary during parts of two seasons in Oxford before injuries stopped his career. He understands the demands of the position. He also understands the importance of employing technique and calculated aggression on each and every snap.
Coach Woodson has experience returning at his position. Seniors Chauncey Lanier, Arthur Maulet and Chris Morley are ready to go. JUCO transfer Jonathan Cook, a former safety at Alabama will probably start in the backfield. A number of incoming freshman could also see the field immediately.
The players are hungry. And the want to is there. If these boys jell, this could be the preliminaries of a pass defense that nobody in the conference wants to square with.
But I wouldn’t hold anyone’s breathe over a group of DB’s that function too much like the 2012 Washington Redskins pass defense.
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