Tigers could run more 3-4 on defense this year
Since Barry Odom returned from Memphis to his alma mater—first as the defensive coordinator and now entering his third year as the head coach—fans have wondered when the Tigers are going to transition to a 3-4 defense. It was the base defense for Odom at Memphis, but since his return to Columbia, the Tigers have been more of a traditional 4-3 team.
That could be changing.
“The skillset that we’ve recruited will allow us the opportunity to branch out a little bit more,” Odom said. “Especially with this class that’s coming in. How quick can they learn it and how much do you trust them?”
Ask any coach of any team about his defensive alignment and you’ll hear the word “multiple.” No team lines up exclusively in one formation and no coach wants to tell you what he’s planning to do. But there have been indications in spring football that Missouri may use a three-man front a bit more in 2018 than in years gone by.
“Another year under the system, guys just being comfortable knowing what we’re looking for and techniques,” defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said. “We’re trying to marry up the two and find the right balance without overcomplicating or overthinking anything.”
Even for those not educated in football intricacies know the basic difference in the two formations. A 4-3 features four linemen and three linebackers. This is the formation that made players like Aldon Smith, Shane Ray, Kony Ealy, Markus Golden and Michael Sam feared pass rushers as Tigers. In a 4-3, the pressure tends to come from the defensive line, and more specifically the defensive ends.
In a 3-4, the defensive linemen are asked to take on more double teams, freeing up four linebackers to provide pressure on the quarterback. Outside linebackers in a 3-4 tend to be more like defensive ends in the 4-3 in terms of production.
“There’s more double teams,” senior defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. said. “But it’s better for pressure because you’ve got more quick people on the field than in the 4-3.”
“Our defense does a really good job of hiding it,” center Trystan Castillo said of the Tigers’ 3-4 pressure. “Sometimes you might have a backer coming, it’s not happening until right before the snap and then you’re thinking ‘Oh s—.’”
Missouri’s defensive coaches feel like they have the personnel to line up in either set right now.
“If you’ve got a defensive end that can stand up and move around in space, that’s obviously beneficial,” Walters said. “It definitely helps also to have two backers in Terez (Hall) and Cale (Garrett). That can be tough on those guys too.”
“You need girth inside and I guess our surplus is at tackle right now,” defensive line coach Brick Haley said. “It gives us an opportunity to put three big bodies on the field in the gaps.”
The key to the 3-4 is the man in the middle, the lone defensive tackle. For the Tigers, that figures to be Beckner. While Mizzou is moving some defensive linemen around at various positions, Beckner is staying put inside regardless of the formation.
“He’s too special in there to mess with,” Walters said.
“He’s as strong as those guys you get at 315, 320 pounds,” Haley said. “We feel like it gives us a little bit of an advantage with him being as strong as he is and having the athletic ability that he has.”
Sophomores Akial Byers and Jordan Elliott, a transfer from Texas, are the two players who are playing both tackle and end most often this spring. Redshirt freshman Caleb Sampson is doing a bit of it as well. Walter Palmore, Markell Utsey, Rashad Brandon, Kobie Whiteside and Antar Thompson make Missouri theoretically four deep at the inside spots.
“This is probably as deep as I’ve been at the defensive tackle position in a long time,” Haley said. “It gives use a variety to choose from and that’s something that we haven’t had in a while.”
The versatility helps a defense that is deep at defensive tackle, but currently a bit lacking at defensive end. Projected starter Tre Williams is out for the spring. Chris Turner and Nate Anderson played last season, but that’s where the experience ends at defensive end. That could change this summer when 2018 signees Daniel Parker, Trajan Jeffcoat and Jatorian Hansford hit campus.
“I think we can get to a point we have some depth at that position,” Haley said. “We’re hoping they’ll be able to come in and give us some quality minutes.”
Missouri sounds confident it has plenty of options on the defensive line. It’s just a matter of what formations the Tigers run and where each player lines up.
“We really could be one of the best fronts,” Beckner said. “We’ve just got to go get it.”