Lance Guidry’s defense jumped from 66th to 48th in scoring defense in his first year as a coach, but could be on the verge of an even bigger leap in Year 2. He spoke to reporters at Media Day about the growth of the group:
On the defensive line depth: We’ve got multiple guys. Looking at it on paper, you probably feel good about – not even depending on freshmen – with defensive tackles and five ends. That makes you feel really good. But then you have a couple freshmen that could come in and give some assistance as well. You have [Justin] Scott at the defensive tackle position, and you have all these freshmen defensive ends, whether it's [Marquise] Lightfoot, whether it's [Cole] McConathy, whether it's Booker Pickett, you know, whether it's [Elias] Rudolph, whoever it may be. You’ve got a bunch of guys out there, so I’m excited to see how quickly they catch on and if we can use them this year.
On the freshmen defensive linemen: I hope we can use them, but I hope we don't have to depend on them. When you have to depend on a bunch of freshmen, you're probably going to go through some growing pains. But if you're able to use them and do what they do well, then I think it could be an asset, whether it be third and long, whether it be at the end of the games, rushing the passer, special teams. I feel like we have a bunch of numbers. That's always a good thing when you have a bunch of numbers on the defensive line.
On the battles at defensive back: You’ve got a couple of battles at safety with [Jaden] Harris and Markeith [Williams]. And then Zaquan [Patterson] is going to throw himself in there, too. Zaquan has a lot of talent. He's just inexperienced. He arrived on campus this spring. But he'll be better this fall camp than he was when he started.
Then at the corner position, you've got four to five guys that can go. [Daryl] Porter's the oldest one. Then you got [Jadais] Richard and [Damari] Brown. You throw in D’yoni Hill, who's a transfer, and look out for OJ Frederique. I'm excited about those guys and seeing them compete against each other.
On players from the other side who may make an impact: You know about the transfer wide receiver from Houston [Sam Brown]. But I think Elija Lofton, what he was able to do this spring as a freshman, come in and make all the one-handed catches, being able to play running back, play tight end, off the ball, on the ball, flexed out. That's a lot for a freshman, but the game slowed down for him the moment he got here. I think he'll have a big year. How much we use him, I don't know.
I think our tight end position is pretty special right now. I really do believe that. Cam's going to have a good year, and we got a good offensive line. You have a chance when you have a good quarterback and a big, experienced, physical offensive line. It makes the defensive coordinator feel good, for sure.
On the linebacker position: Kiko [Mauigoa] is a quiet leader, but I think he'll be a little bit more vocal. We’ve got Jaylin Alderman coming in, who's got a lot of experience. He played under a good defense at a good program in Louisville. And then Wesley [Bissainthe] made big strides this past year in the spring. So I feel good.
We have our top three, but then you’ve got a guy like Popo Aguirre who's gotten a lot better this spring and over the summer. And then you have Bobby Pruitt. You’ve got Bobby Washington. You've got some younger guys that you're anxious to see how much they grow.
I think we can go 4-3. We can go 4-2-5. I think we can do multiple things. Our experience is up front and at ‘backer. In the secondary, we're a little thin, but we got guys that can play multiple positions.
On whether he’ll keep coaching the safeties: it's still kind of that way. Coach Jackson is the secondary coach, and he'll install all the defenses. Then after practice, when we break up the film, he'll take the corners and the nickels that are corners, and I'll take the safeties and the safeties that are nickels. I will watch film separately so we can make the corrections and use our time wisely.
Then we come back the next morning and install all together so they all get on the same page. But when you're correcting them, they need to be separate because you can do more work that way. Chevis is familiar with what we do on defense. He knows how we did it, so he has some suggestions where he knows the background of what we've done before. That allows us to switch and keep staying fresh and being ahead of the offense.
On Meesh Powell: He's a safety. He'll be in my room, but he'll play a little bit of nickel. We're also going to play [Damari] Brown and [Daryl] Porter as a nickel as well. Look for Brown to be the first guy to go out there. You could see Porter on some third downs. Meesh could be on early downs. Then you have to bring in another safety if he does. So there's different things we can do with those positions.
On Jaden Harris: He made a bunch of strides this spring. He's starting to act like a starter. I thought last year he acted like a number two. He had a couple games where he was able to start in because Kam [Kinchens] was hurt. Played one game real well. The other one was average. But there's a total difference with him. It's like he knows that he has a shot. He's penciled in as the starter, which means nothing because we're going to compete every day. But Harris has a lot more confidence with him. I think he'll have a really good fall camp and a good season.
On switching to a three-man front last year: Last year, we were light at certain positions. We were inexperienced at certain positions. So halfway through the season, we were so light at D-line that all of a sudden I had to make a change schematically. In my high school days and my smaller college days, I was always taught to make sure you run things that fit your kids the best.
I always say I don't coach out of a playbook. I coach off of experiences. I knew who our best players were last year after we started getting injured, and I felt like I had to get the best players on the field. So that's what we did, and it panned out. That's what we felt like gave us the best chance against Clemson. We kind of rode that for a while. But then it caught up to us at the end. We just didn't have enough guys up front that were healthy. And it is what it is.
On his return and the continuity at DC: It's important that you have carryover of schemes, first of all, but also carryover of coaches. Coach Addae left, but then we had Chevis. who had been with me before. A lot of the terminology and the things we do, he's already done. He's kind of taken it to a different level of what he likes at the corner position.
Those guys playing in the defense the second year having the same terminology is big. Because they've been through a little bit of a gauntlet on defense with terminologies. It’s just hard to get good if you're always changing.
On the defensive line depth: We’ve got multiple guys. Looking at it on paper, you probably feel good about – not even depending on freshmen – with defensive tackles and five ends. That makes you feel really good. But then you have a couple freshmen that could come in and give some assistance as well. You have [Justin] Scott at the defensive tackle position, and you have all these freshmen defensive ends, whether it's [Marquise] Lightfoot, whether it's [Cole] McConathy, whether it's Booker Pickett, you know, whether it's [Elias] Rudolph, whoever it may be. You’ve got a bunch of guys out there, so I’m excited to see how quickly they catch on and if we can use them this year.
On the freshmen defensive linemen: I hope we can use them, but I hope we don't have to depend on them. When you have to depend on a bunch of freshmen, you're probably going to go through some growing pains. But if you're able to use them and do what they do well, then I think it could be an asset, whether it be third and long, whether it be at the end of the games, rushing the passer, special teams. I feel like we have a bunch of numbers. That's always a good thing when you have a bunch of numbers on the defensive line.
On the battles at defensive back: You’ve got a couple of battles at safety with [Jaden] Harris and Markeith [Williams]. And then Zaquan [Patterson] is going to throw himself in there, too. Zaquan has a lot of talent. He's just inexperienced. He arrived on campus this spring. But he'll be better this fall camp than he was when he started.
Then at the corner position, you've got four to five guys that can go. [Daryl] Porter's the oldest one. Then you got [Jadais] Richard and [Damari] Brown. You throw in D’yoni Hill, who's a transfer, and look out for OJ Frederique. I'm excited about those guys and seeing them compete against each other.
On players from the other side who may make an impact: You know about the transfer wide receiver from Houston [Sam Brown]. But I think Elija Lofton, what he was able to do this spring as a freshman, come in and make all the one-handed catches, being able to play running back, play tight end, off the ball, on the ball, flexed out. That's a lot for a freshman, but the game slowed down for him the moment he got here. I think he'll have a big year. How much we use him, I don't know.
I think our tight end position is pretty special right now. I really do believe that. Cam's going to have a good year, and we got a good offensive line. You have a chance when you have a good quarterback and a big, experienced, physical offensive line. It makes the defensive coordinator feel good, for sure.
On the linebacker position: Kiko [Mauigoa] is a quiet leader, but I think he'll be a little bit more vocal. We’ve got Jaylin Alderman coming in, who's got a lot of experience. He played under a good defense at a good program in Louisville. And then Wesley [Bissainthe] made big strides this past year in the spring. So I feel good.
We have our top three, but then you’ve got a guy like Popo Aguirre who's gotten a lot better this spring and over the summer. And then you have Bobby Pruitt. You’ve got Bobby Washington. You've got some younger guys that you're anxious to see how much they grow.
I think we can go 4-3. We can go 4-2-5. I think we can do multiple things. Our experience is up front and at ‘backer. In the secondary, we're a little thin, but we got guys that can play multiple positions.
On whether he’ll keep coaching the safeties: it's still kind of that way. Coach Jackson is the secondary coach, and he'll install all the defenses. Then after practice, when we break up the film, he'll take the corners and the nickels that are corners, and I'll take the safeties and the safeties that are nickels. I will watch film separately so we can make the corrections and use our time wisely.
Then we come back the next morning and install all together so they all get on the same page. But when you're correcting them, they need to be separate because you can do more work that way. Chevis is familiar with what we do on defense. He knows how we did it, so he has some suggestions where he knows the background of what we've done before. That allows us to switch and keep staying fresh and being ahead of the offense.
On Meesh Powell: He's a safety. He'll be in my room, but he'll play a little bit of nickel. We're also going to play [Damari] Brown and [Daryl] Porter as a nickel as well. Look for Brown to be the first guy to go out there. You could see Porter on some third downs. Meesh could be on early downs. Then you have to bring in another safety if he does. So there's different things we can do with those positions.
On Jaden Harris: He made a bunch of strides this spring. He's starting to act like a starter. I thought last year he acted like a number two. He had a couple games where he was able to start in because Kam [Kinchens] was hurt. Played one game real well. The other one was average. But there's a total difference with him. It's like he knows that he has a shot. He's penciled in as the starter, which means nothing because we're going to compete every day. But Harris has a lot more confidence with him. I think he'll have a really good fall camp and a good season.
On switching to a three-man front last year: Last year, we were light at certain positions. We were inexperienced at certain positions. So halfway through the season, we were so light at D-line that all of a sudden I had to make a change schematically. In my high school days and my smaller college days, I was always taught to make sure you run things that fit your kids the best.
I always say I don't coach out of a playbook. I coach off of experiences. I knew who our best players were last year after we started getting injured, and I felt like I had to get the best players on the field. So that's what we did, and it panned out. That's what we felt like gave us the best chance against Clemson. We kind of rode that for a while. But then it caught up to us at the end. We just didn't have enough guys up front that were healthy. And it is what it is.
On his return and the continuity at DC: It's important that you have carryover of schemes, first of all, but also carryover of coaches. Coach Addae left, but then we had Chevis. who had been with me before. A lot of the terminology and the things we do, he's already done. He's kind of taken it to a different level of what he likes at the corner position.
Those guys playing in the defense the second year having the same terminology is big. Because they've been through a little bit of a gauntlet on defense with terminologies. It’s just hard to get good if you're always changing.
