Arizona Football: How to solve the struggles on defense

The Arizona Football defense has certainly struggled the past few seasons, but here are few suggestions from an outsiders perspective on what they could do.

Coming into week zero, we heard a lot about the improvements that this Arizona Football team has made throughout the off-season. Whether it be their size up front, hitting the weight room hard, having better depth, or having a better concept of the defensive schemes being sent in by defensive Coach Marcel Yates.

However, as we’ve now learned, it seems as if all this talk and hype was just that, as it did not translate into in-game success versus Hawaii. The defense struggled immensely to get off the field, pressure the quarterback, etc.

Arizona Wildcats

While we’re certainly not defensive experts here, this is just an outsiders perspective how they could deploy a few, simple ways/ methods in order for them to potentially see on-field improvements on defense.

For starters, lets start with our captain of the defense which is Colin Schooler. Too many times during the Hawaii game, Arizona would drop Schooler back into coverage as a way of trying help stop the Hawaii passing game.

With the veteran wide outs that Hawaii ran out there, they were able to find holes between the linebackers and safeties that often times netted them 10-to-20 yards at a time.

That’s a big mistake! Schoolers’ strength isn’t in coverage, and to be fair to him, he’s not athletic enough to be covering a guy like Cedric Byrd deep in coverage.

Ideally they should be using Schooler in more blitzing situations, or in short, flat coverages, not deep coverages.

Additionally, there’s no doubt that the Wildcats have struggled in rushing the passer and getting penetration, so while this isn’t a quick solution, there are a couple things that I think could help this defensive line.

For one, put more guys in the box. Stop leaving it up to Arizona’s players to be able to create a serviceable or formidable pass rush, when you only send three or four players. They also need to incorporate more stunt blitzes, create a lot of movement along the line the keep opposing offenses guessing and see if it frees up a guy or two.

Lastly, simplify the defense. The coverages are too complex, and it doesn’t help anyone having your corners play seven-plus yards off the defender, and not creating any disruption along the line of scrimmage. You let opposing receivers run free, and the coverage responsibilities are too complex that kids aren’t being put in a position to succeed.

These are just a few recommendations I would say as an outsider, and perhaps it would in turn create better results. Who knows?

Listen to Sumlin ahead of Arizona’s game against NAU!

Anyways, these are just our suggestions! Hopefully the defense can continue to get better and quickly! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!