All good cooks have a recipe and as far as building a defense, WVU defensive coordinator Zac Alley knows exactly the ingredients needed to begin to rebuild the Mountaineer defense.
This past season, West Virginia ranked 110th in the country in total defense and now with a new set of players in the building, it's Alley's job to help put all the ingredients together.
"It's a process it takes time, there's no doubt about that. The level of understanding of both football and our scheme is not there. It's not like you're going to a fourth year where everybody's been around you for a while, they know how you coach, they know the language, those types of things. They're all learning that with us at the same time and it's overwhelming to start, but you see the incremental process day in and day out to hopefully have an opportunity to get to be an elite defense by the time we get to the season. And that's the reality," Alley said.
Alley comes to West Virginia from Oklahoma where he was the co-defensive coordinator last season. Alley's group ranked 3rd in the SEC in rushing defense and 4th in the country in forced fumbles. In his brief time in Morgantown, Alley has taken some of those lessons and begun to prepare his unit for what spring practice will entail, while Alley knows what it takes to produce at a high level.
"They accept that challenge, and they're good with that. I know that the demand, the work it takes to be great. I've been fortunate. I think I've been a part of two number one defenses in the country, I think over 10 top 10, top 20 defenses in the nation, and so I've seen what it looks like to get guys to that level, what the expectation is, the work ethic, the day to day, football intelligence, those type of things, the preparation it takes. And hopefully, we're showing them that now, and we're on our way to create that same environment here," Alley said.
As Alley has started to put the ingredients together, he has seen a level of commitment from the most important part of this recipe — his players.
"I think overall I've been very impressed with just the commitment the guys have. We're not where we want to be. I think they know that, but we're on our way there. You can see a vision for what this team can be, what we're capable of and we're learning how to go about getting to that spot. So generally, I've been very impressed with our guys as far as their commitment," Alley said.
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