Walters not 'overreacting' to pass rush struggles against 'Bama
Even in normal times, college football fans tend to overreact. Media are certainly guilty of it, too. This week, after the COVID-19 pandemic extended the offseason and made everyone who follows Missouri even more starved for Eli Drinkwitz’s highly-anticipated debut, it might be even easier than usual to latch onto aspects of the Tigers’ performance against No. 2 Alabama and draw sweeping conclusions.
Pump the brakes, defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said Wednesday — at least when it comes to one of the concerns from his unit.
After going three-and-out on its first possession, Alabama’s offense moved the ball at will. The Crimson Tide scored touchdowns on three drives in a row and five of six to make the score 35-3 early in the third quarter. Quarterback Mac Jones did quite a bit of the damage, at one point completing 10 passes in a row. Jones was aided by the fact that, except for when Nick Bolton got there too late and knocked him down only after he had released a pass that Jaylen Waddle caught for a touchdown, Missouri’s defenders hardly ever made him look uncomfortable in the pocket. The Tigers did break through for a couple sacks later in the game, once Alabama subbed out Jones for backup Bryce Young, but the lack of a pass rush when the outcome was still in doubt prompted a bit of concern.
Walters isn’t ready to push the panic button yet, however, especially after facing an offensive line on which all five starters were selected to the preseason all-SEC teams.
“You can’t overreact,” he said. “Obviously you have to address issues that you saw and then correct technique, but I don’t want to overreact about one game against arguably the best college football team in the country.”
For each of the past two seasons, pressuring opposing quarterbacks has been a weakness for Missouri, and especially its front four. The Tigers’ 19 sacks in 2019 ranked last in the SEC and tied for 106th nationally. Only four of those sacks came from the defensive end positions. Some reports emerged during fall camp that the pass rush had been looking better, but that was also against an offensive line that has been hit hard by injuries, opt-outs and COVID-19 quarantines.
That history helped fuel the concerns when Jones stood in a pristine pocket on seemingly every dropback during the first three quarters Saturday. Pro Football Focus deemed Jones “under pressure” on just two of his 24 dropbacks — and he still completed passes against both pressures. Alabama threw for 303 yards and completed 71.1 percent of its passes, a higher percentage than Missouri allowed all of last season, when its defense ranked sixth nationally against the pass.
The good news for the Tigers is the pass rush did seem to find life as the game progressed. Junior outside linebacker Tre Williams sacked Young and forced a fumble early in the fourth quarter that the Tigers recovered. Later, Trajan Jeffcoat, who recently rejoined the roster after being dismissed from the team last season, broke through for his first sack in almost two years. Even though the outcome had been decided by that point, Walters drew optimism from the play of Jeffcoat and Williams.
“I was happy with, especially, the way those two guys played,” he said. “Listen, Alabama gave up 11 sacks last year, so the fact that we were able to get back there and hit him, I think that trend will carry us through the rest of the season.”
Jeffcoat, in particular, has Walters excited. The South Carolina native had drawn high praise from the coaching staff prior to being sidelined by an elbow injury before the 2019 season began, then being removed from the team for an undisclosed reason before he could heal. Drinkwitz said Jeffcoat re-enrolled in classes at the start of the fall semester and didn’t rejoin the team until “late August, early September.” He played just 25 snaps Saturday, but he logged three tackles, including a sack and a tackle for loss.
Walters said Jeffcoat is still getting back into game shape and learning the BUCK outside linebacker position he played Saturday — a slight schematic wrinkle this season, more on that later — so look for his role to continue to expand. If he can maintain the production he showed Saturday, he could be a difference-maker for the defense.
“He was such a popular guy on the team, so when he came back, there were a couple guys like crying tears of joy,” Walters said. “Like, literally, crying tears of joy. That’s how special of a person he is and how much he meant to the locker room. And as you guys saw, he’s a big, fast, physical, angry kid on the field, and he’s infectious in the locker room, so we were fired up to get him back. It makes our job in the secondary a lot easier when he’s on the field.”
Even as Jeffcoat’s playing time increases, don’t expect him and Williams to be on the field at the same time, except perhaps in obvious passing situations. Walters clarified that the BUCK position, where both players lined up Saturday, is not interchangeable with the more traditional defensive end spot on the depth chart. The defensive end lines up with his hand in the dirt, while the BUCK stands before the snap and has some linebacker responsibilities in addition to setting the edge and rushing the passer. Neither of the two players listed as co-starters at defensive end, senior Chris Turner and sophomore Isaiah McGuire, recorded a tackle or a quarterback hurry against Alabama.
“Just the techniques and schematically what we’re doing with those positions are too different,” Walters said. “They have to meet together and in the same room because some of the line stunts kind of coincide with each other, but yeah, our BUCK is, as you guys saw, is more of a backer now. He’s not only just lined up to the boundary, he’ll be to the field, also, just depending on the call or the formation.”
Even though Missouri gave up more than 300 passing yards to the Crimson Tide, something it allowed just two opponents to do last season, Walters sounded more encouraged than discouraged by the performance. He was pleased with the team’s tackling and impressed by the two freshmen, Ennis Rakestraw and Ishmael Burdine, who played the majority of snaps at cornerback after Jarvis Ware left the game due to injury. He said the unit’s mistakes were more technical than mental, which he views as easier to correct.
Mainly, even with nine more SEC games remaining on the schedule, he doesn’t think Missouri will face another challenge quite like Saturday, matched up against one of the most talented and experienced offenses in the country after such an unusual offseason.
“I don’t want to overreact to a week one deal,” he reiterated, “especially with who we were playing against and the uncertainty going into the season.”