Ty French is using his technique, not size, to help his pass-rush ability
When someone thinks of football and a defensive player getting after the quarterback, they usually don't envision them as small. But for some of West Virginia's smaller pass rushers, they are getting creative to try and get to the quarterback.
West Virginia spur Ty French is listed at 6-foot-1, 225 pounds. While that may not seem small to some, compared to offensive lineman like Wyatt Milum, similar to guys that French will go against who 6-foot-6, 317-pounds, French is in a different weight class.
"Guys like Tyrin Bradley and Ty French that are 'undersized,' those guys haven’t been the biggest guys their whole entire life so they know how to deal with that and there’s other guys on our team that aren’t prototypical size, they’re all over the place. That’s the one thing about football you can’t measure and I didn't want to be corny with it but it is the heart. You have that in you and to make it this far at this level and be productive, I think you got to be built a little different," WVU outside linebackers coach Victor Cabral said.
Cabral and French's relationship go back to when French was a high schooler at Colquitt County High in Georgia. Cabral played and coached at Georgia Southern for a long period of time and has a familiarity with French despite it being his first year after transferring in the program.
"I’ve known Ty since he was in high school, I recruited him when he was at Georgia Southern. I’ve known him for a long time and we’ve got a couple DSGB — down South Georgia boy jokes — that we like to talk about some of the guys from up here. Where Ty is from, Colquitt County, is one of the premiere powerhouses in all of high school football. I love when some guys complain about it being hot up here and I’m like, 'Ty, tell them,'" Cabral said. "He’s like, shoot, they have no idea coach and it’s different. I’ve known Ty for a long time and I knew when I got on board here and I’d saw they had signed Ty, I knew exactly what we were getting."
French is not new to college football as he's now a senior, his previous stop being Gardner-Webb where he played for three seasons.
"His former coach at East Tennessee who was at Gardner-Webb, he was one of the first guys who called me saying, I can’t wait for you to get your hands on Ty and see what he’s able to do because we absolutely loved him," Cabral said. It’s great, he’s smiling ear to ear every single day and I can’t wait to watch him go because he puts a lot of work into it every single day in every aspect of this program and he’s fully bought in and it’s great to see especially as a transfer. He’s all in."
French compiled school records in sacks and tackles for loss at Gardner-Webb, playing in 41 career games. Cabral said a guy like French has to have the will to work hard, but there are also creative ways to get him to be successful on the field.
"It is a lot easier for bigger guys to do some things but you get some dudes that are running around fast and twitchy and sudden and have been told they’ve been too small their whole life and you put them in this situation where they can compete at the highest level and you just let them go. It’s been awesome to watch those guys among others that it’s like, okay, they fit, they belong, they’ve always belonged. Just happy they’re here," Cabral said.
Whether it's French or someone else, one of the focuses for Cabral is on the use of your hands. Just like if someone was in a boxing match and they have to have the right punch, Cabral says pass rushers have to have their own kind of punch to their opponent.
"Working edges all the time and working hand violence. If they can’t touch you, they can’t block you, that’s been the motto that we head into things especially on the defensive side of the ball," Cabral said. "And what [defensive line] Coach [AJ] Jackson is able to do with those guys, it’s just constant hand violence. You look at guys’ hands that have played at the highest levels, it doesn’t matter, they’re just constantly working that hand violence because they’re going against large human beings every single day.
"You cannot get consumed by running down the middle of guy's numbers especially if you’re a little undersized. The one thing that both those guys (Bradley and French) have is really good arm length and really good pop when they hit you. They’re very strong, powerful guys, and it shows. There’s been a lot of great clips of those guys really getting their hands on and creating great knockback and really shocking the mess out of guys."
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