In a lot of ways, this offseason has represented a welcome return to normal for the Missouri football program. A year ago, the Tigers not only changed coaches, with Eli Drinkwitz taking over for the fired Barry Odom, but had to navigate reduced practice time and a delayed schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At SEC Media Days two weeks ago, Drinkwitz said this roster features more known quantities than a season ago, and as a result, there’s a sense of calm within the locker room.
While that may be true for the offensive side of the ball, the Missouri defense has seen plenty of turnover since the end of the 2020 season. More than half of the defensive staff has since been replaced, including defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, who left for the same position as Illinois. Drinkwitz replaced him with former NFL defensive coordinator and head coach Steve Wilks. Cornerbacks coach David Gibbs and defensive line coach Brick Haley also left the staff, replaced by Aaron Fletcher and Jethro Franklin, respectively. On the field, the Tigers lost four of their five most experienced defensive players in terms of games started, as Nick Bolton, Tyree Gillespie and Joshuah Bledsoe all heard their names called during April’s NFL Draft and Jarvis Ware followed Gibbs to Central Florida.
As a result, when Missouri starts fall camp Friday, the defense will look quite a bit different, both in who’s on the field and where they line up. But Wilks and the rest of the defensive staff aren’t expecting a learning curve.
“I’m excited,” Wilks said, speaking to local reporters Wednesday. “The guys have really been taking accountability and (responsibility) on their own, being responsible as far as going out even on the weekends and doing their own walk-through. So I’m excited about where we are.”
This year’s fall camp will feel different not just for the defensive players, but for Wilks. It will represent Wilks’ first experience working with a college defense since 2005, when he was the secondary coach at Washington. He spent the following 14 years in various roles with NFL teams before taking a year away from coaching in 2020. Similarly, Franklin hasn’t coached in college since 2014.
There are some differences between the lead-up to the season in the college and the pros, the two coaches said. College teams don’t get preseason games, and midway through fall camp, classes typically begin for players, eating up some of their time. Franklin also noted that, whereas NFL teams drastically reduce their roster from the time players report to camp to the start of the season, college coaches are tasked with helping every player on the roster develop.
Despite those differences, both Wilks and Franklin believe they will be able to approach camp with a similar mindset to seasons past.
“I think you still take the same approach,” Wilks said. “You wish you had those preseason games to try to work out some kinks and really see yourself against live competition with someone else. But we’ll create those different scenarios and whatnot throughout our training camp. Coach Drink does a great job of that. So putting the pads on, being physical, setting the tone is going to be our mindset this summer.”
What won’t look the same is Missouri’s defensive philosophy. Wilks and his assistants didn’t want to betray too many specifics, of course, but he said fans can expect to see a more diverse, more aggressive defense than a season ago.
Wilks, who has spent the bulk of his career coaching defensive backs, specifically noted that the secondary will play a mix of man-to-man and zone coverage, whereas it played almost exclusively press man under Walters. (According to safeties coach Charlie Harbison, Wilks isn’t coaching any one position in the secondary on a daily basis, but will operate as an “overseer” and will be heavily involved, particularly with the corners.) More zone coverage will mean the Tiger defensive backs spend less time with their backs to the ball, which should lead to more opportunities for interceptions. Creating more turnovers is one of the top priorities for the man whose Twitter handle and car license plate read “ScoreOnD.” Missouri’s defense had just four picks a season ago.
“I think we have a variety of how we’re going to go about trying to attack,” Wilks said. “Particularly, you know, being aggressive is not always playing man-to-man, as you saw last year a lot, playing with our backs to the ball.
“So we’re going to mix it up a lot. It’s all depending on who we’re playing, based on the scheme we’re going to incorporate that particular week. But we’re not going to sit back. We’re going to be aggressive in what we’re doing in trying to set the tone on the defensive side of the ball.”
Fletcher and Harbison said Missouri’s players in the secondary have shown excitement about the change and picked up the new techniques quickly. Wilks noted that the defense intercepted 38 passes during the course of spring ball.
“They’ve loved it,” Fletcher said. “We’ve celebrated a lot. We’ve done a lot of dancing in spring football, because we’ve got a lot of takeaways, and those guys have definitely bought in. So it’s been a blessing to be able to see (Wilks) bring in a scheme where they can play with their eyes, and those guys still be able to secure routes, those guys still come up and be physical and tackle. All of those different dynamics, just being able to be in positions where they can make plays, and everybody wants to make plays, so you’ve got guys now salivating, running for the football, looking for the football and looking to out-score our offense.”
While Missouri’s defensive front largely stayed intact from a season ago, the defensive line will have new responsibilities in Wilks’ defense, as well. Franklin said that his position group will play “an upfield attack defense” in 2021, as opposed to the “blitzing style” from a season ago. He declined to elaborate on what, exactly, that will look like, but said it will require more discipline.
“The way we play, our style of defense is a lot different than what they played in the past,” Franklin said. “So, you know, it’s just incorporating in them the understanding, playing in an upfield attack defense versus a blitzing style of defense, what they played before. And just getting them to understand the mindset that that takes and the discipline that it takes and the unselfishness that it takes.”
While making over a unit during the course of an offseason is never simple, the Missouri staff praised Wilks’ ability to make the new concepts easily digestible. Even though most of his instruction so far about the new scheme has come in the film room rather than on the practice field, the staff believes it has taken root with the players. Fletcher called Wilks “a phenomenal teacher.”
It doesn’t matter that Wilks hasn’t coached college players since 2005 or called a college defense since 2002. As he puts his scheme into action over the next three weeks, his fellow defensive assistants have high hopes for the final product.
“When coach Steve Wilks walks in the room, you gravitate toward him and your eyes perk up and you sit straight in your chair,” linebackers coach DJ Smith said. “He just has that aura about him, and the guys have gravitated toward that. For him being a former college coach to being an NFL coach, I think it doesn’t really matter to him. I think he’s a man’s man, and people gravitate towards him. I think he’s done an excellent job, an outstanding job, he’s going to continue to do as long as he’s here.”
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