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Making The Pieces Fit

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By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 31, 2007

GAINESVILLE - The pause lasted five seconds. It felt like five hours.

Someone had asked University of Florida coach Urban Meyer on Monday about his defensive tackle situation. Meyer paused - perhaps for dramatic effect, or perhaps he hoped the answer might change in the interim - before divulging the names of the three tackles the coaches feel comfortable playing Saturday against Vanderbilt.

'We have Lawrence Marsh. We have Clint McMillan. And we have Torrey Davis,' Meyer said. 'I believe that's it.'

Combine the injuries up front with starting free safety Major Wright's broken right thumb and cornerback Markihe Anderson's still-recovering knee, and the Gators don't have the personnel to play the type of defense they'd like. So, just as Florida's offensive coaches did two years ago, they must build their scheme around their healthy players. And while the change probably won't be as dramatic as the Gators' offensive revamp of 2005, Florida's defense could look different.

'I don't know whether it's going to be more of a three-down front,' Meyer said. 'We're evaluating that right now. The biggest thing is, do you take one of the younger players, put him inside and move him? What significance does that have? The majority of our time spent is ... putting your puzzle together and your game plan together for guys to go make plays.'

As Meyer spoke those words, he pointed to the second floor of Florida's South End Zone complex. On that floor, co-defensive coordinators Charlie Strong and Greg Mattison and defensive backs coaches Chuck Heater and Doc Holliday were discussing what personnel and scheme changes they might make.

Meyer, Strong and Mattison all said they must do something to help young defenders who have allowed opponents to convert 55 percent of third downs and 91 percent of fourth downs in their past four games. By contrast, last year's defense allowed opponents to convert only 33 percent of third and fourth downs.

Florida coaches are painfully aware of the differences between the 2006 and 2007 defenses. Mattison said that last year, veteran defensive tackles Joe Cohen and Steven Harris could look at the offense and adjust their alignment correctly with no prompting from coaches. Meanwhile, Meyer has waxed nostalgic about how free-safety Reggie Nelson's ability to 'erase' mistakes allowed Florida's cornerbacks to play tighter coverage.

But what can this Florida team do differently? Unlike the offense in 2005, coaches don't have an open date that would allow wholesale changes. They must use the scheme already in place, but they can tweak it.

'You hope you have enough in your scheme to be able to run some basic variations without it being a drastic change,' Mattison said. 'What we'll always do is try to get the best players on the field to try to help us win. Depending on who's healthy and who's ready to go, that will determine what we'll do.'

Most major-college defenses can throw multiple looks at an offense, and Florida is no different.

While the Gators play a base 4-3 (four down linemen, three linebackers and four defensive backs), they have packages that resemble a 3-3-5 or a 3-4. With only three healthy interior linemen and four healthy, experienced linebackers (Brandon Spikes, Dustin Doe, A.J. Jones and Ryan Stamper) as well as two smaller, quicker defensive ends (Justin Trattou and Duke Lemmens) who might be able to play hybrid positions, a 3-4 look might help the Gators get their best athletes on the field at the same time.

But that may be too drastic a change to make, especially with so many young players. Another option is to shuffle positions. Meyer said Trattou and junior end Derrick Harvey might move inside on occasion. While the 250-pound Trattou and the 262-pound Harvey might seem too small to play defensive tackle, their quickness would present a challenge most guards aren't accustomed to facing. Trattou, a freshman, said he's willing to do anything to help, and he isn't worried about the learning curve.

'For me,' Trattou said, 'everything's new.'

Strong compared this situation to 2004, when a young Ray McDonald and Marcus Thomas had to play simply because they were healthy. Those players blossomed into stars, but they struggled early.

Still, Strong said, the Gators can't use their youth as an excuse.

'The main thing we have to do,' Strong said, 'is work on our fundamentals and execution.'

The challenge, Mattison said, is to put those young players in a position to execute with a scheme that allows them to use their raw athletic ability and instincts instead of wisdom, they can't possibly gain until they've played more games.

'One of the things with being young is that everything, every single offense you see, every blocking scheme you see, is new,' Mattison said. 'If you take a young kid and have him thinking, then you don't have a good football player. The best thing you can do with young kids is turn them loose.'

Reporter Andy Staples can be

reached at (352) 262-3719

or astaples@tampatrib.com.

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