Texas Tech Football Defensive Preview

Texas Tech's defense may feel oddly familiar to Cal fans.

Click HERE for the Offensive Preview.

Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator for the past two seasons is Cal’s former defensive coordinator under Justin Wilcox, Tim DeRuyter.

There was really no reason to include this in my article except for the fact that the facial expressions here kill me.

I remember watching the Oregon game earlier this season when it hit me. Those disguised coverages, creative blitzes… those were TDR. I forgot that he was over there. TDR spent a year at Oregon between his time at Cal and Texas Tech, and he was certainly ready for Oregon this year, turning in Texas Tech’s most impressive defensive performance of the year. Texas Tech had a great gameplan for Oregon and largely took away their ability to run the ball. Texas Tech has since found itself largely unable to reproduce that defensive success.

The first rule of gun safety: make sure you learn how to do some sweet tricks with your gun.

Texas Tech runs a 3-3-5 defense, which is a lot more common in the Big 12 as a result of the proliferation of Air Raid offenses in the conference. This defense makes it easy to bring pressure from nearly anywhere to confuse the offensive line in their blocking assignments. It also lets the defense quickly adapt to different looks, allowing players to rotate and move around to disguise coverages; both TDR favorites.

A Texas Tech fan rushes the field… but is quickly apprehended.

I understand, little guy. This was me watching the Cheez-It Bowl in 2018.

In short, this is an aggressive defense, one that will bring pressure and try to force mistakes by the opposing quarterback. But when your defensive line is unable to get home, you end up getting too creative in your pressures, which can easily backfire:

CB Bralyn Lux and S CJ Baskerville both blitz as TTU leaves WR Javon Baker unaccounted for on the 71 yard TD from QB John Rhys Plumlee

TDR had a lot of success against Oregon, and one might surmise that he had a level of familiarity with the Oregon offense. Cal has a completely new offensive scheme since TDR was last at Cal, but he and Wilcox know each others’ defensive philosophies. It will be interesting to see if Texas Tech has a beat on the Cal offense early.

With that, let’s take a closer look at the positional breakdowns.

Defensive line

Without question, the star of the defensive line was the nose tackle Jaylon Hutchings. However, Hutchings ended his consecutive streak of 57 starts when he missed the game against Texas in the final week of the season, and coach Joey McGuire announced that Hutchings will miss the bowl game to have knee surgery, to give Hutchings as much time as possible to recover before NFL pre-draft workouts in the spring. To give you an idea of how big of a loss Hutchings is to this defense, I took more highlight clips of Hutchings than any other player on this defense, and this section was originally going to be devoted to him. It’s rare to see someone so impactful on the defensive line, and Hutchings was a people-mover able to get to the quarterback with a variety of pass rush moves.

With Hutchings out, those big shoes are to be filled by Louisiana-Monroe transfer NT Quincy Ledet Jr., who has primarily found his niche as a run stuffer. Here Ledet Jr. manages to strip the running back as he tries to get past him:

NT Quincy Ledet Jr forces a fumble on RB Jamari Ferrell

Ledet Jr. is actually listed on the depth chart as the defensive tackle, with the previous defensive tackle Tony Bradford Jr. slated to take over the nose tackle position. Bradford Jr. is more of a rangy defender in contrast to Hutchings or Ledet Jr.,and he shows good initial burst off the line:

DT Tony Bradford Jr keeps working to get through for the sack

Here Bradford Jr. shows good gap integrity shedding the guard and staying in his assigned gap to stop the run on a critical 3rd down at the goal line:

DT Tony Bradford Jr plugs up the hole on the goal line run

Another late change to my article here is that the defensive end Myles Cole also announced that he will not play in the bowl game in order to prepare for the NFL Draft. The lack of Jaylon Hutchings and Myles Cole will really test Texas Tech’s depth on the defensive line. The rotational players get the starts, and behind them is anyone’s guess. Myles Cole was still listed on the official depth chart for the bowl game, with his backup listed as true freshman Dylan Spencer, a 3 star recruit who flipped from Texas to Texas Tech.

I suspect we will see more of OLB Charles Esters III as the edge defender:

OLB Charles Esters III beats the pulling TE Ja'Tavion Sanders to get the sack on QB Quinn Ewers

This could also be an opportunity for sophomore backup NT E’Maurion Banks, who recorded half a sack against Wyoming and then entered the regular rotation by the second half of the season. Listed behind Quincy Ledet Jr. is redshert freshman Trevon McAlpine, but I haven’t seen enough of these guys to make much of a judgement. Texas Tech is looking much thinner at the defensive line than they were just a week ago.

Linebackers

Texas Tech’s standout linebacker is middle linebacker Ben Roberts, who generally owns the middle of the field and is subsequently found everywhere. The redshirt freshman Ben Roberts leads the team with 100 tackles on the season. Ben Roberts has good linebacker instincts and is a good tackler, so it’s not really a surprise that he leads the team in tackles. To give you the best example of Ben Roberts’s responsibilities, he’s in the “Evan Weaver” role of this DeRuyter defense:

LB Ben Roberts reads the play and gets the TFL on RB Dominic Richardson for a turnover on downs

Roberts isn’t the greatest in coverage, but he often puts himself in position to make a play:

LB Ben Roberts catches the INT on the deflection with the coverage by CB Brayln Lux

Listed at “OLB” (Texas Tech has a Will and a Mike linebacker on their depth chart, and then just “OLB” instead of “Sam'“— likely because use a defensive back or the “STAR” to cover tight ends) is Steve Linton. Linton is a great college defender whose technique will get him looks at the next level, but it’s not clear if he will be able to add the size needed to make it in the NFL. His primary role is in run defense and the pass rush, but he may occasionally drop into coverage.

Here he gets a good jump off the edge to beat the right tackle with his speed:

OLB Steve Linton speed rush to get the sack on QB Blake Shapen

And here he does it again:

OLB Steve Linton gets a hit on QB Blake Shapen to force a fumble and turnover

I briefly mentioned OLB Charles Esters III as a possible replacement along the defensive line given their current issues with depth, mainly because he uses more power in his pass rush moves (and because he’s heavier than the currently listed defensive end), but here he is forcing a fumble:

OLB Charles Esters III with the pressure off the edge to force a fumble

We will likely also see OLB Joseph Adedire, but I didn’t see any highlights from him this season. Instead, I noticed the redshirt freshman OLB Harvey Dyson III:

OLB Harvey Dyson III gets a piece of the quarterback's arm for the INT to S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson

At the weakside linebacker position is Jacob Rodriguez, a junior transfer from Virginia, but who is using this season as his redshirt year after missing most of the season to injury (he played the season opener and the last 3 games; bowl games don’t count for eligibility). He made an impact in the first game of the season:

LB Jacob Rodriguez forces a fumble on the hit and recovers it himself

Backing up Jacob Rodriguez is Bryce Ramirez. Ramirez had a gruesome broken leg injury last season and it’s probably a miracle he’s playing at all. That said, I wasn’t particularly high on Ramirez:

LB Bryce Ramirez caught looking at the QB as RB Jaydon Blue hits his gap for a 69 yard TD

These linebackers are going to have their hands full trying to contain Jaydn Ott.

Secondary

The unquestioned star of this defense is the free safety, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. Although Taylor-Demerson is a bit undersized, he does have potential as a late round NFL Draft pick. Taylor-Demerson (nicknamed “Rabbit”) is by far Texas Tech’s best cover guy, and he leads the team in interceptions:

S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson reads QB Josh Hoover's eyes and gets the INT (had an INT on a nearly identical play earlier negated by roughing the passer)

Taylor-Demerson plays fast, and has good closing speed:

S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson shows great instincts, recovers from defending the run to catch up and rip the ball away from TE Jared Casey for an INT

The next play is probably a bust by S CJ Baskerville, but Taylor-Demerson was unable to help:

S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson misplays the deep ball to give up a 71 yard TD

Texas Tech’s better cover corner is probably Malik Dunlap. Here he beats the receiver to get the interception:

CB Malik Dunlap gets inside leverage on the receiver for an easy INT

And he’s also the owner of Texas Tech’s only defensive touchdown, this pick-6 against an FCS team:

CB Malik Dunlap gets the pick-6 INT against Tarleton State

Here Dunlap gets beat on the whip route:

CB Malik Dunlap gets beat on the route by WR Chase Roberts - TD pass from QB Kedon Slovis

On the other side of the field is CB Bralyn Lux. Here Lux shows some nice ball skills:

CB Bralyn Lux makes a nice play on the ball for the INT as QB Quinn Ewers underthrows the endzone fade

And here Lux does a nice job recovering after initially getting beat on the route:

CB Bralyn Lux rips the ball away from WR Ketron Jackson Jr to break up the pass

I was also a fan of the backup corner, Rayshad Williams.

CB Rayshad Williams plays the ball well to get the breakup and turnover on downs

Although here he gets beat in press coverage:

CB Rayshad Williams gets beat by WR Dalton Carnes to give up the 41 yard TD

At the STAR position—the hybrid outside linebacker/field safety spot—is Tyler Owens. Owens started the season as the strong safety, but Texas Tech swapped the positions of Tyler Owens and CJ Baskerville halfway through the year. Tyler Owens was originally a 5-star recruit who played safety at Texas, but he was downgraded to 3 stars as a transfer (because that’s what happens when you transfer away from a program like Texas). Owens is extremely athletic with a large frame (hence the 5-stars), but I mainly noticed him in run support, as someone always looking to make a big hit:

S Tyler Owens big hit on the run stop on RB Jamari Ferrell

I was less impressed with his coverage skills:

STAR Tyler Owens bites on the wrong route as Wyoming scores the game-winning TD in 2OT

And again, looking to make a big hit, but not the right time or place:

STAR Tyler Owens late hit on the QB out of bounds

At boundary safety is CJ Baskerville, another solid player in run support, who is also looking for big hits:

S CJ Baskerville breaks up the pass with a big hit

His one interception of the season:

S CJ Baskerville gets the INT on QB John Rhys Plumlee with pressure on the throw by DT E'Maurion Banks

And here he is doing a nice job on the out route:

S CJ Baskerville nice pass breakup on the out route

Outside of Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, no one has really shined in pass coverage, but Texas Tech is a lot deeper at the position than in other areas of the defense.

Conclusion

Look for Texas Tech to put 8 men in the box in an attempt to slow Jaydn Ott down, and for TDR to bring a variety of creative blitzes to pressure Fernando Mendoza in creative ways. It will be interesting to see if Cal attacks the edges of the defense, takes shots deep down the sideline, and/or attacks down the seam. I think Texas Tech missing two of their three starters on the defensive line—particularly their star, Jaylon Hutchings—is going to impact their ability to generate pressure, and Fernando Mendoza will eventually start picking apart their defense by the second half.

I’ve seen a lot of awful takes in the media about this game (the CBS Sports one keeps popping up for me, but do yourself a favor and don’t look it up), and it’s clear that these guys are just looking at stat lines and trying to extrapolate a conclusion from there. Yes, the two teams have similar stats on paper. I saw a Texas Tech blogger trashing Fernando Mendoza, which prompted me to look up the actual quarterback stats: Mendoza has 1447 yards, 62.4% completion rate, 13 TDs, 7 INTs, while TTU QB Behren Morton has 1498 yards, 62.0% completion rate, 12 TDs, 7 INTs. Devoid of all context, these two quarterbacks look similar on paper. Adding slightly more context, you might notice that Morton took 9 games to rack up these stats while Mendoza did it in 7 games, and more than half of Mendoza’s opponents were nationally ranked. Even these people who are being lazy and just reading box scores are really not looking all that hard. How is a Texas Tech blogger going to trash Mendoza when his own quarterback, even on paper against weaker competition, has objectively worse stats?

Of course, watching the actual games, you can see that the difference between the two quarterbacks is night and day: one quarterback makes one read and mainly throws it to receivers a couple of yards away, while the other is making full field reads, working through his progressions, and throws the ball all over the field. And don’t even get me started with the way people will try to compare Texas Tech’s running back to Jaydn Ott. Comparing pretty much any running back to Ott is offensive, as Ott is obviously in a league of his own. And you’d know that if you were watching games instead of box scores.

We know Ott is going to get his yards, and I would be surprised if he hit the century mark by halftime. But I think Mendoza will be hitting Jeremiah Hunter and Trond Grizzell deep down the field, and it will be Mendoza’s play that drives Cal to victory.

See you all in Louisiana.

GO BEARS.

Full clips here.