To Improve Our Team, We Need To Improve Our Fundamentals

I've spent the past week going over the 3-4 defense, what we need from each position, and who we have on our roster who can possibly fill each position. I'm going to continue to look at the 3-4 defense, what we can expect from DeRuyter and his scheme, and how we will scheme offenses in the Big 12 as the offseason goes on, but today I was reflecting on our lack of solid fundamentals.

Football is a really a simple game that requires two core fundamentals to do it well: blocking and tackling. Two years ago, during the 2008 season, we couldn't block well and we didn't tackle well, so we lost 8 games, went 4-8 on the season, and looked like a terrible football team to anyone who watched us. This was simply because in a lot of ways we were a terrible football team because we couldn't block anyone, especially on the offensive line, and we didn't tackle well at all. Last season, we started the season not being able to block well, but tackling okay. We struggled in the running game early on and struggled in pass protection because we didn't block well, but our defensive numbers were decent because we were tackling. After the Kansas State game, we made some changes in our personnel on offensive line, and we began blocking a lot better as a team after that. We became a team that could run the ball and pass the ball on anyone, because we were blocking a lot better as a team. However, our fundamentals on defense had deserted us, and we were not tackling well. As a result, it became very difficult for us to stop anyone on defense because we didn't tackle well at all. This has been a problem going back five to six seasons now. People can talk about schemes and the difficulty our players had in understanding what Joe Kines wanted them to do, but the reality is that if we had tackled a lot better, our defense would have been a lot better last season. Our strong safety, Trent Hunter, led our defense in tackles last season. How does that happen? A little bit of it is scheme, because sometimes the SS will be aligned in the box to help stop the running game, and so he'll make tackles there. A much bigger part of that is because the other players in front of Hunter didn't make the tackle, so when the opposing ballcarrier got to the second level, it was up to Hunter to make the tackle. Our second-leading tackler was Jordan Pugh, our free safety, whose main job is to be the last line of defense before the opposition reaches the end zone. He cleans up after everyone else's mistakes. How do you have your two leading tackles be your safeties, two players who by alignment are usually the furthest players away from the ball when it is snapped? You have a team that is fundamentally poor at tackling, so the two guys who are last in the secondary need to come up and make the play.

I am thrilled with what DeRuyter is going to bring to Aggieland, and I am excited about what he is going to do to our defense. I am excited about what we will be able to do with our offense with all of the returning players we have. Our biggest obstacle between having a special season and having just another year where we go to a bowl game is going to be improving in the fundamentals of the game, and we really need to improve in our tackling. If we become a fundamentally sound, tackling defense, we will give up fewer yards and fewer big plays, and we will win more games and have a better season; that is a fact.