I owe a huge thank you to all the awesome readers of Viva The Matadors! Last week’s special teams preview was the 4th most read college sports article of 4/13! I’m moving around the scheduling of the previews. This week, I was going to begin on the offense with the offensive line and make the coaches’ preview the penultimate preview, right before the QBs. Upon further review, I don’t like throwing the coaches’ preview in the middle of the offensive previews. So, this week you are going to receive the preview of Kliff and company.
Key Thought:
The Air Raid, as usual, put the Red Raiders in the top 5 in the nation for passing yards. That was not the only top 5 finish the Red Raiders had last year, they also finished in the top 5 for penalties. This has not been a problem that just cropped up last year. It was a rampant problem in Coach Kliff Kingsbury’s first year, and during Tommy Tuberville’s regime as well. Last season, on average, Tech was flagged for 89.2 penalty yards per game, based off of 9.33 penalties per game. The 2014’s squad’s lack of discipline greatly contributed to the team’s down year. This coaching squad has to get to the bottom of this issue. They’re a smart staff, they can fix this epidemic.
Coach Roster:
Kliff Kingsbury - Head Coach/Quarterbacks
David Gibbs - Defensive Coordinator/Safeties*
Eric Morris - Offensive Coordinator/Receivers
Mike Smith - Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line
Mike Jinks - Associate Head Coach: Running Backs
Lee Hays - Asst. Coach: Offensive Line
Kevin Curtis - Asst. Coach: Defensive Backs
Trey Haverty - Asst. Coach: Outside Linebackers
Darrin Chiaverini - Asst. Coach: Special Teams/Outside Receivers
Zac Spavital - Asst. Coach: Linebackers*
Chad Dennis - Head Football Strength & Conditioning Coach
*Denotes new coach
Bottom Line:
New defensive coordinator, David Gibbs, comes in at a time when the defense needs something new. The Tech defense has flopped in the 3-4. Coach Gibbs is bringing in his 4-3 defense to shake things up. For those, not well versed in defensive alignments, the 4-3 means that the defense has an extra man at the line of scrimmage. Having that extra man there, should, help clog up running lanes. As we saw last year, Tech needs all the help that it can get to slow down opposing offenses run game. We have a pretty solid secondary. This move to the 4-3, theoretically, should be help solve many issues that plagues the Tech defense last year. However, anytime there is a new system in place there will be growing pains. So be patient with this group early on in the season. By the time that Tech gets in the meat of their conference schedule, look for major improvements over the 2014 defensive squad.
Previous Previews:
How do you think our coaches will fair this year? What are you looking for out of them? Either comment below or tweet me @ConnerCrisp. Thanks for reading and GUNS UP!
