West Virginia defensive coordinator Zac Alley wants to be as aggressive as possible this season on the defensive side of the ball. He learned that mindset early on as a coach and will continue it at WVU.
"We are very multiple, very aggressive. I think last couple of years we've been top five in the country in blitz percentage overall, because I want to create tackles for loss. I want to knock guys backwards, I want to create sacks," Alley said on the 3 Guys Before the Game Podcast.
Last season, Oklahoma ranked 22nd in the country in sacks per game, while they were also 14th in the nation in TFLs. West Virginia ranked 108th in sacks per game and 99th in TFLs.
"One of the linebackers, Chase Wilson, who came, he said, 'Coach, you bring six guys on first and ten.' I said, yeah, because 2nd and 13 is harder than 2nd and 3," Alley said.
Alley believes his job is to put his players on defense in the best position possible to be successful. Finding ways to create good matchups for his players is how he thrives defensively.
"I'm always thinking players, not plays. Part of the reason we're so diverse is we're able to match up the best players and put them in the best positions to be successful. I say if a guy is not a good man-corner guy, don't play him in man. You know, if he's not a good blitzer, don't blitz him. You know, like that's kind of the way I think of things is how do we, how do we take the 11 guys that are the best players on the defense, put them out there in positions they can be successful, and then the scheme is dictated around what they do well," Alley said.
Alley's aggressive nature was learned under Brent Venables, but it was then enforced internally during a game at BYU, where he was tasked with slowing down their offense a few years ago.
During that game, Alley said they had a successful first half, but in the second half, some coaches felt like they had emptied the tank and had nothing else that was new to show BYU. He said if he were ever in the position he's in now, he would never run out of things to throw at an opposing offense.
"I mean, they were talented that year, and had been sacked like once all season at that point. We got to him three times in the first half, and we came out in the second half, and they made adjustments and started max pro and stuff, you know, just changed up how they were running the offense.
"And I remember about halfway through the second half, as a staff, we were like, man, we're out of bullets, we've called everything we got. And I remember thinking to myself, if I ever have an opportunity to be the guy, I will never say that, you know, like I'm going to have more bullets. I'm going to have something else to come at you with that you haven't seen or haven't prepared for, um, cause we have to have answers to their answers all the time," Alley said.
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