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Ohio State Scheme Insider: Understanding Matt Patricia's Mix Of Coverages · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday, September 25th. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Illinois game in one day.
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  Speaker 1: with another one of our scheme shows. We've been talking
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  Speaker 1: all week about scheme on our board, the Insiders Board.
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  Speaker 1: at Buckeye insiders.com mentioned on a couple of our shows
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  Speaker 1: earlier in the week, bringing in an additional scheme insider.
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  Speaker 1: Cause we've gotten such good feedback on our scheme coverage.
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  Speaker 1: Justin Whitlatch is joining a team with Ross Fulton and
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  Speaker 1: Michael Pettit. So three scheme insiders breaking down, breaking things down,
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  Speaker 1: find these and encourages us to do more because I
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  Speaker 1: know we get great feedback on.
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  Speaker 2: All of these.
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  Speaker 1: We want to keep doing more and more and more,
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  Speaker 1: which is why we keep adding new scheme insiders to
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  Speaker 1: our site. Michael Pettit is one of our scheme insiders.
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  Speaker 1: He's going to be my guest today. He is one
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  Speaker 1: of our experts on the defensive side of the ball.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the questions for Ohio State is how
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  Speaker 1: they're going to create pressure because they do not necessarily
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  Speaker 1: have that pass rush monster on the defensive line this year.
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  Speaker 1: So Matt Patricia is going to have to get a
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  Speaker 1: little more creative with how he does that. So one
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  Speaker 1: of the ways he did that on Saturday, Michael, was
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  Speaker 1: with a fire zone. Explain what that is and how
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  Speaker 1: it works.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Patricia called a couple fire zones on Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to focus specifically on one today. Just as
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  Speaker 2: a reminder, a fire zone is a five-man zone pressure
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  Speaker 2: with three deep and three underneath defenders. This particular fire
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  Speaker 2: zone they call here, it's a blitz from the nickel.
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  Speaker 2: Jay Timmons is the fifth rusher here. And instead of
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  Speaker 2: just slanting the defensive end in the defensive tackle inside
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  Speaker 2: and letting Jay Timmons come off the edge, what they
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  Speaker 2: do here is they actually incorporate essentially a tech stunt,
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  Speaker 2: which we talked about a couple weeks ago, with the
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  Speaker 2: end in the tackle executing some sort of a twist.
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  Speaker 2: which I like that wrinkle. I really do. And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: ultimately this play results in an interception. It's a very,
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  Speaker 2: very good rep by Riley Pettijohn carrying the route here
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  Speaker 2: as the hook player. And we'll also take a look
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  Speaker 2: at the end zone view of this just to give
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  Speaker 2: you an idea of what the rush paths look like.
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  Speaker 2: And as you can see from the end zone view,
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  Speaker 2: Jay Timmons being out wide as a nickel is not
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  Speaker 2: actually in the screen at first. But you'll see him
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  Speaker 2: come in eventually, and you'll see that stunt executed by
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  Speaker 2: the defensive tackle, three technique, and the defensive end. Honestly,
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  Speaker 2: a very good job by Kent State picking that stunt up,
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  Speaker 2: and the pressure doesn't even get home here. But again,
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  Speaker 2: this is kind of just to highlight what is Patricia
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  Speaker 2: trying and what could be some of the answers going forward.
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  Speaker 2: And I do think that fire zones may very well
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  Speaker 2: be a large part of the defense.
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  Speaker 1: Next up, we've got two different concepts that we've actually
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  Speaker 1: talked about separately in a show just, what, a week
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  Speaker 1: or two ago? I mean, we talked about two-roll, we
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  Speaker 1: talked about creepers in the last couple weeks, and now
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  Speaker 1: next up is a combination of two-roll and creeper.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this was a fun one. And before I
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  Speaker 2: even get into the play, one thing I do want
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  Speaker 2: to highlight is, I don't know if anyone else has
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  Speaker 2: picked up on this. I certainly have. They love blitzing
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  Speaker 2: Jay Timmons. And that doesn't surprise me because... We did
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  Speaker 2: hear a little bit in fall camp that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: Jay Timmons was a very aggressive defensive back, loved to
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  Speaker 2: hit and all that kind of stuff. But through these
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  Speaker 2: first few weeks, and particularly against Ball State, they had
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  Speaker 2: a couple of design nickel blitzes as well. Then same
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  Speaker 2: on Saturday here. But they love blitzing Jay Timmons. So
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  Speaker 2: that's an interesting development to watch going forward. But this
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  Speaker 2: particular play call is a creeper. And as a reminder,
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  Speaker 2: a creeper is a four-man pressure player. where you are
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  Speaker 2: sending a back seven defender, in this case, Jay Timmons,
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  Speaker 2: the nickel. But in exchange of that, you are dropping
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  Speaker 2: a defensive lineman into coverage. And in this case, that's
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  Speaker 2: going to be Quay Rousaw, the defensive end to the boundary.
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  Speaker 2: And the coverage they're pairing this creeper with is two roll.
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  Speaker 2: And to remind you what two roll is, it's a
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  Speaker 2: cover two concept where at the start of the play,
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  Speaker 2: there's a single high safety. So it kind of gives
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  Speaker 2: the idea of cover one, or maybe cover three. This
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  Speaker 2: obviously is not cover one because there are no defenders
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  Speaker 2: directly over the number two and the number three receivers
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  Speaker 2: to the field. But you might assume when you see
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  Speaker 2: this as a quarterback that it's some sort of cover
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  Speaker 2: three just because you've got only one high safety, Jalen McClain,
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  Speaker 2: back there. But in two-roll, once the ball is snapped,
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  Speaker 2: that one high safety is going to bail to one
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  Speaker 2: of the halves of the field. And the corner opposite
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  Speaker 2: of him is going to bail or roll back to
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  Speaker 2: the other deep half of the field. So you ultimately
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  Speaker 2: end up in a five underneath, two deep, cover two
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  Speaker 2: with the nickel inserting. And so this is a two-roll creeper.
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  Speaker 1: All right. You mentioned Jay Timmons as someone they love
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  Speaker 1: to bring pressure with. Someone else we've seen them bring
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  Speaker 1: pressure with a bunch in the last few games is
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  Speaker 1: Christian Allegro, the linebacker. He's going to be blitzing on
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  Speaker 1: this next play. And I think this is a great
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  Speaker 1: example of you think blitz, you think, okay, you're going
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  Speaker 1: to try and sack the quarterback. This is a great
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  Speaker 1: example of a blitz can be successful by getting there
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  Speaker 1: and making the quarterback throw the ball before the receiver
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  Speaker 1: is ready and really kind of thrown off the timing
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  Speaker 1: of the play.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is a cover one blitz, which I
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  Speaker 2: do want to see more of this be part of
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  Speaker 2: the defense as well. I think the defense has generally
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  Speaker 2: played well in cover one in man coverage. But they
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  Speaker 2: hardly ran it against Texas. So I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: that should be a sign that they weren't confident in
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  Speaker 2: the cover one execution against a better opponent. Or if
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  Speaker 2: it was just an acknowledgement that, you know, Ryan Wingo
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  Speaker 2: and Cam Coleman are great receivers. And that's a tough
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  Speaker 2: ask for anybody. But this is a cover one blitz.
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  Speaker 2: And this specific cover one blitz was so funny. This
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  Speaker 2: was Jim Knoll's favorite blitz while he was in Columbus.
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  Speaker 2: In particular, his first two seasons. And it was not
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  Speaker 2: ran at all last year. They ran this blitz a
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  Speaker 2: few times against Ball State and then a couple of
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  Speaker 2: times again here on Saturday. So it's just interesting to
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  Speaker 2: see if this is going to be a part of
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  Speaker 2: the defense going forward. But it's a very basic blitz.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to have the nose tackle John Walker here.
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  Speaker 2: He's starting out in one of the A-gaps. He's stunting
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  Speaker 2: to the opposite A-gap and the linebacker his side, in
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  Speaker 2: this case, Christian Allegro. is blitzing the A-gap that Walker
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  Speaker 2: is vacating. It's an RPO, and this is good coverage here,
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  Speaker 2: good man coverage. And so what I think the biggest
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  Speaker 2: highlight here, and you'll see this especially on the end
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  Speaker 2: zone view, is this is a good example of how
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  Speaker 2: and why stunts can be so effective because you'll notice
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  Speaker 2: that even though the blitzing linebacker doesn't really get through,
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  Speaker 2: John Walker off that stunt is free in the backfield
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  Speaker 2: all of a sudden because the center was too locked
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  Speaker 2: on him to even consider the possibility that he'd be stunting.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a very common thing for offensive linemen to do.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, it will be interesting to see if this
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  Speaker 2: blitz or cover one blitzes in general continue to be
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  Speaker 2: a part of the game plan going forward. This is
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  Speaker 2: generally more of a rundown blitz than a pass down blitz.
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  Speaker 2: And I do believe this was first down here when
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  Speaker 2: this was called. And final note on this play, Riley
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  Speaker 2: Pettijohn is at the Mike linebacker spot in this play.
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  Speaker 2: I just want to emphasize that because I know there's
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  Speaker 2: been some talk about, well, Pettijohn can't play Mike. Pettijohn's
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  Speaker 2: a will, so Pettijohn can't surpass Pierce because Pierce is
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  Speaker 2: a Mike. I'm a believer that the two positions are
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  Speaker 2: not different enough for that type of thing to matter.
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  Speaker 2: Pettijohn played a lot of Mike on Saturday, and he's
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  Speaker 2: at Mike here on this play.
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  Speaker 1: And that's something that Christian Allegro talked about on Tuesday
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  Speaker 1: as well, sort of talked about the fact that he
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  Speaker 1: and Pettyjohn were working together more, it seemed like, during
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  Speaker 1: practice the last few days. So yeah, I think you
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  Speaker 1: sort of have a lot of stuff pointing towards you
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  Speaker 1: might see a little more Riley Pettyjohn and Christian Allegro
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  Speaker 1: together on the field this Saturday. You're actually going to
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  Speaker 1: see more Riley Pettyjohn on this next play as well.
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  Speaker 1: This is another really good rep from him in the
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  Speaker 1: run game.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so here they're in that three high safety package
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  Speaker 2: that they ran a ton versus Texas. And because it
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  Speaker 2: wasn't a big part of the defense last year, I
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  Speaker 2: didn't know if it was just an adjustment or a
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  Speaker 2: package they installed just for Texas. But they ran it
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  Speaker 2: even quite a bit against Kent State on Saturday. So
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  Speaker 2: I do think it's going to continue to be part
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  Speaker 2: of the defense. And on some level, it makes sense.
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  Speaker 2: I think they like Earl Little and that high hole,
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  Speaker 2: that pole spot. It puts them in a position to
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  Speaker 2: either fill downhill against the run or to intercept deep
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  Speaker 2: crossers against the pass. And this is actually a run
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  Speaker 2: play by Kent State. But I think that you can
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  Speaker 2: still tell from the time the ball is snapped that
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  Speaker 2: they're calling this Tampa 2 coverage. And it's pre-rotated. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: this is still going to be a part of the defense,
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  Speaker 2: in my opinion. And I don't have any issues with
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  Speaker 2: it being part of the defense. This is a great rep,
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  Speaker 2: an off-ball linebacker rep by Riley Patajon here, though. And
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  Speaker 2: you can see that very much in the end zone view. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: he does a very good job, you know, tracking the
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  Speaker 2: backer reacting properly and then falling back into the cutback
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  Speaker 2: lane as soon as it opens to meet the running
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  Speaker 2: back for a short game. So very good rep by Pettijohn.
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  Speaker 2: I think we're going to continue to see him on
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  Speaker 2: the field more and more and, um, In particular, it's interesting,
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  Speaker 2: this is once again a rep where he and Allegro
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  Speaker 2: are on the field at the same time, which again,
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  Speaker 2: some people were saying that can't be the case. It
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  Speaker 2: has to be Alford and Allegro or Pierce and Pettijohn.
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  Speaker 2: It can't be Allegro and Pettijohn. And like I said,
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  Speaker 2: I never bought that. And you can see on Saturday
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  Speaker 2: that the coaches are obviously giving this a look. So
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  Speaker 2: something to look for going forward.
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  Speaker 1: All right, and we're going to wrap up with another
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  Speaker 1: three-high look. This one is cover three. Again, you're going
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  Speaker 1: up against a run play here, so you think about
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  Speaker 1: that as sort of a pass defense, but you're going
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  Speaker 1: to get a little bit of a different look here,
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  Speaker 1: even though it is a different three-high defense.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the reason I wanted to highlight this play
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  Speaker 2: is because with all the three-high they ran against, Texas,
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  Speaker 2: they were just dropping into that Tampa 2 look, which
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  Speaker 2: is exactly what they're already pre-rotated for, so not changing
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  Speaker 2: the picture post-snap. And you have to think that if
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  Speaker 2: this is going to be a big part of the defense,
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  Speaker 2: you have to have some change-ups out of this look.
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  Speaker 2: You can't just run Tampa 2 every time. Teams are
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  Speaker 2: going to start to beat that. So here what they
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  Speaker 2: do is they run cover 3, and the way they
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  Speaker 2: do it is the middle safety Earl Little, while you
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  Speaker 2: might think it makes sense to run cover 3 with
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  Speaker 2: him dropping back through the deep middle third of the field.
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  Speaker 2: They actually have him drop down into one of the
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  Speaker 2: hook zones, which again makes sense because they like Earl
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  Speaker 2: Little fitting against the run. That's very clear by the
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  Speaker 2: way they're using him, and I do think he does
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  Speaker 2: a good job at it. So they're going to have
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  Speaker 2: the middle safety drop into one of the hook zones.
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  Speaker 2: The field safety, Jay Timmons in this case, drop down
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  Speaker 2: to one of the curl flat zones. The boundary safety,
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  Speaker 2: Jalen McLean, is going to drop to the deep middle third,
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  Speaker 2: and the two corners are going to take the other
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  Speaker 2: deep thirds. So they're going to end up in cover
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  Speaker 2: three here. And again, it's not the greatest look because
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  Speaker 2: this is a run play, but it's pretty obvious that
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  Speaker 2: this is what they're dropping to is cover three. And
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  Speaker 2: this was a good rep against the run from Quay
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  Speaker 2: Roussos setting the edge for what it's worth. But main
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  Speaker 2: point of this play is to demonstrate that there has
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  Speaker 2: been at least some sort of changeup installed in their
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  Speaker 2: three high package. All right. So there you go.
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  Speaker 1: Different ways Matt Patricia is mixing up coverages, mixing up
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  Speaker 1: pressures on defense. And I'm going to guess you're going
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  Speaker 1: to see a lot more creativity this upcoming weekend, which
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  Speaker 1: should be a much more competitive game against the Illinois
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