After producing a top unit at Minnesota, new DC Corey Hetherman is hoping to build another Top 10 defense at Miami. He met with reporters to discuss his group:
On how the linebackers group progressed during spring drills:
“I think a lot of different guys have done really good things in different areas. Chase [Smith] has definitely made some big strides coming off an injury, playing multiple positions there. [Cam] Pruitt in space, some of the things he does, [he’s] continuing to grow as an inside linebacker. Jaylin Alderman, you can tell he’s got a lot of experience. He’s got like a comfortableness to him a little bit where you can tell, making some of the checks and understanding some of the splits and the fits, and then just how to play inside the box, how he defeats blocks. He is doing a really good job right there. Overall, the group, in general, I think, continues to get better every single day. …
“[Raul ‘Popo’ Aguirre Jr.] is the other guy right now, you watch Popo, how well he plays with his hands, how violent he is. He does a good job as a leader, just getting everyone set up every single play, right away. He’s always out there, getting the defense set up, getting the defense aligned, making the different checks and then he’s just violent at the point of attack, which is what we want.”
On how the defense has handled learning a new system:
“From Day One, I think the guys have been all in. I think playing faster is showing up every single day. That first day, I don’t think we ran to the ball very well. As practice has gone on, as spring ball’s gone on, you can tell we’re getting faster and faster as we play. Some of it, I think, was just trying to figure out what the calls were. Some of it was just trying to figure out the tempo or what exactly we want. I think the guys are communicating better. I think they’re all in with how fast they’re playing, how we’re finishing, how we’re teaching the leverage on the football, how we’re teaching block destruction, how we’re teaching our swarm and finish. And I think if you go back and look at Practice One compared to today, Practice 14, I think you’ll see major strides from everyone on the defense.”
On potentially moving a CB to S:
“In different situational football, you’ll see a lot of different guys in a lot of different spots. And just in general, you watch practice today, we’ve got some guys on the line of scrimmage, some guys off the line of scrimmage; some guys in on the slot, some guys out at corner; some guys are playing deep-half, some guys are playing post, where maybe, traditionally, that’s not where they’re used to playing. And to us, it’s all ‘Okay, what’s the situation? Who are we playing? Where’s their best players? Where’s the speed? Okay, now we’ve got to find out what the matchups are this week’ and that’s where, week to week, game to game, period to period in practice, we’re going to put some guys in different situations.
“For us, it’s really positionless defense. Is that guy a linebacker? Is that guy a d-end? Is that guy a safety? Or is he a linebacker? Always trying to put guys in different roles so we can get bigger, we can get faster, we can get – depending on what opponent we’re playing, what the offense’s personnel is or who their style is. So, every week that could be different. Yeah, at times you’ll see four corners on the field and sometimes, you’ll see them in different spots. Are they at corner or are they not at corner? Sometimes, you’ll see multiple linebackers on the field. You may see a fifth d-linemen. Every situation calls for something a little bit different and every call, it’s ‘Okay, what’s our personnel, what’s our strengths right now? How do we want to attack the offense?’ Because, same thing: it’s always going to be about us before it’s going to be about what Coach Dawson’s doing on offense right now or what our first opponent’s going to do in that scheme. It’s always going to be [about] where are our strengths? How do we put our guys in the best situations to make the play? And if that means three or four safeties are on the field, we’ll have four safeties on the field. Every situation can be different.”
On Marquise Lightfoot:
"He's explosive, he's dynamic. He does some really good things off the edge. He's getting better with his hands. He's grasping things, continuing to get better every day. And he's one of those guys, every day when you watch him, as he continues to understand situations, how to beat a guard, how to beat a tackle, understanding situational football, just constantly improving every day. He's a guy we're excited about what's going to happen as he continues to progress into the future."
On Justin Scott:
"He's playing a lot of different positions. He's explosive off the football. He plays with really good pad level. On a single-block, he's a guy we anticipate and expect to win right now. Just his movements, how twitchy he is off the football, he's a guy who continues to get better during spring football."
On going against the OL:
"The scheme we run up front, the way we run the ball, the way we protect, every day we see [an OL] that's probably as good as we'll see all year. Our offensive line does a great job and the scheme up front is very hard to defend."
On how the linebackers group progressed during spring drills:
“I think a lot of different guys have done really good things in different areas. Chase [Smith] has definitely made some big strides coming off an injury, playing multiple positions there. [Cam] Pruitt in space, some of the things he does, [he’s] continuing to grow as an inside linebacker. Jaylin Alderman, you can tell he’s got a lot of experience. He’s got like a comfortableness to him a little bit where you can tell, making some of the checks and understanding some of the splits and the fits, and then just how to play inside the box, how he defeats blocks. He is doing a really good job right there. Overall, the group, in general, I think, continues to get better every single day. …
“[Raul ‘Popo’ Aguirre Jr.] is the other guy right now, you watch Popo, how well he plays with his hands, how violent he is. He does a good job as a leader, just getting everyone set up every single play, right away. He’s always out there, getting the defense set up, getting the defense aligned, making the different checks and then he’s just violent at the point of attack, which is what we want.”
On how the defense has handled learning a new system:
“From Day One, I think the guys have been all in. I think playing faster is showing up every single day. That first day, I don’t think we ran to the ball very well. As practice has gone on, as spring ball’s gone on, you can tell we’re getting faster and faster as we play. Some of it, I think, was just trying to figure out what the calls were. Some of it was just trying to figure out the tempo or what exactly we want. I think the guys are communicating better. I think they’re all in with how fast they’re playing, how we’re finishing, how we’re teaching the leverage on the football, how we’re teaching block destruction, how we’re teaching our swarm and finish. And I think if you go back and look at Practice One compared to today, Practice 14, I think you’ll see major strides from everyone on the defense.”
On potentially moving a CB to S:
“In different situational football, you’ll see a lot of different guys in a lot of different spots. And just in general, you watch practice today, we’ve got some guys on the line of scrimmage, some guys off the line of scrimmage; some guys in on the slot, some guys out at corner; some guys are playing deep-half, some guys are playing post, where maybe, traditionally, that’s not where they’re used to playing. And to us, it’s all ‘Okay, what’s the situation? Who are we playing? Where’s their best players? Where’s the speed? Okay, now we’ve got to find out what the matchups are this week’ and that’s where, week to week, game to game, period to period in practice, we’re going to put some guys in different situations.
“For us, it’s really positionless defense. Is that guy a linebacker? Is that guy a d-end? Is that guy a safety? Or is he a linebacker? Always trying to put guys in different roles so we can get bigger, we can get faster, we can get – depending on what opponent we’re playing, what the offense’s personnel is or who their style is. So, every week that could be different. Yeah, at times you’ll see four corners on the field and sometimes, you’ll see them in different spots. Are they at corner or are they not at corner? Sometimes, you’ll see multiple linebackers on the field. You may see a fifth d-linemen. Every situation calls for something a little bit different and every call, it’s ‘Okay, what’s our personnel, what’s our strengths right now? How do we want to attack the offense?’ Because, same thing: it’s always going to be about us before it’s going to be about what Coach Dawson’s doing on offense right now or what our first opponent’s going to do in that scheme. It’s always going to be [about] where are our strengths? How do we put our guys in the best situations to make the play? And if that means three or four safeties are on the field, we’ll have four safeties on the field. Every situation can be different.”
On Marquise Lightfoot:
"He's explosive, he's dynamic. He does some really good things off the edge. He's getting better with his hands. He's grasping things, continuing to get better every day. And he's one of those guys, every day when you watch him, as he continues to understand situations, how to beat a guard, how to beat a tackle, understanding situational football, just constantly improving every day. He's a guy we're excited about what's going to happen as he continues to progress into the future."
On Justin Scott:
"He's playing a lot of different positions. He's explosive off the football. He plays with really good pad level. On a single-block, he's a guy we anticipate and expect to win right now. Just his movements, how twitchy he is off the football, he's a guy who continues to get better during spring football."
On going against the OL:
"The scheme we run up front, the way we run the ball, the way we protect, every day we see [an OL] that's probably as good as we'll see all year. Our offensive line does a great job and the scheme up front is very hard to defend."
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