Steele: Missed tackles and missed assignments hurt defense during scrimmage

Kevin Steele says the second team defense has to get better

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Aug 15 14:37:24 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON – Two-a-days, hot weather and a long bus trip to Bamberg and back on Friday had the Clemson defense a little “dead-legged” during Saturday’s scrimmage, according to Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who then followed that by saying it was no excuse – they simply have to tackle better.

The offense had a productive day, hitting some big plays in both the passing and running game, and Steele said that missed tackles and missed assignments were what hurt the defense.

“In a nutshell, second scrimmage, we did not tackle very good- a kinda dead-legged tackle,” Steele said. “But, the numbers say what they are. The attack defense [first team] we had two MA’s [missed assignments] that created two big plays- in zone coverage and one on an over route. Besides that, they were 2.3 yards per rush against the attack so, I mean, 3.3 is the goal. They were effective against that. We were effective in third down. We’re not good in the goal line, but we need more work with that. Coming into the scrimmage we only had four plays of work in the goal line.

“We were effective on third down- the big thing when you look at the numbers for the attack is the run, the third down, win two minute, and then you say we didn’t tackle well. But still the numbers - they were effective numbers, but the big thing, we gave up the two big plays that resulted in a field goal and a touchdown - one was in a zone and one was in a pressure and we just let a guy get loose. The guy knew who he had; he just let him get loose. Probably the biggest thing was goal line with only four live reps going into it was just not effective and then we didn’t tackle crisp.”

Steele said that the second team defense, the swarm, still has some work to do, especially after allowing over seven yards per rush.

“The swarm, we better keep practicing a long time,” he said. “We were ineffective in the swarm. There’s players out there that will be evaluated individually that played for us last year, or played here, with guys who haven’t played. But, we gotta get those guys stepping up; we gotta get those younger guys coming. They were ineffective, didn’t tackle well, and didn’t execute well- just not a good day for that second bunch of swarm. And then the pride [third team] went out there and fought hard. The big thing is we just gotta eliminate our busts. If we eliminate those two big plays, one of them was not a huge one, but it was a big play by our standard.”

Despite the heat and the two-a-days and two long bus trips, Steele said the defense should never make excuses.

“I don’t want to make excuses. I said we did not tackle well. This is the second scrimmage and two-a-days. We looked dead-legged. I don’t know if we were, but we looked like it.”

Starting defensive end Da’Quan Bowers was out, attending his father’s funeral in Bamberg, and he was joined by his roommate, starting cornerback Byron Maxwell, giving the first team defense two key players away from the scrimmage.

“Well, I mean you have to factor in that today we scrimmaged and somebody had to step up with that attack group because Da’Quan and his roommate Maxwell were not here, that’s two starters that were not here,” he said. “We had two guys step up, and I think they performed well. [Xavier] Brewer went in for Maxwell and Malliciah [Goodman] went in for Bowers. Malliciah is a handful himself, no pun intended. We told Da’Quan yesterday when we saw him that he may have gotten beat out while he was gone.”

Steele was asked if the biggest concern at this point is the depth chart, and he said no.

“No, I wouldn’t say biggest. The biggest, I would say is that we learn how to be dominant. But depth is one of them- I would say in the top five.”

Steele finished by saying that Spencer Shuey, the redshirt freshman linebacker who is backing up starter Corico Hawkins at middle linebacker, has shown that he is ready to step in and play.

“He’s a load. He’s got really good instincts,” Steele said. “And the bottom line, it comes down to this- you gotta see video evidence. I told them the other day, ‘it’s kinda like a guy robbing a bank, if they just said you robbed a bank, that’s one thing. If they’ve got video evidence, that’s a hard deal- you’re guilty, supposed to be.’ We’ve got video evidence, and video evidence says should we play you or should we not. You know, he’s got video evidence that says he’s ready to play.”