Film at 11: Indiana Defense
Editor’s Note: Each week during the season, the FTB Staff will release its scouting report on Penn State’s upcoming opponent. Normally, these blogs will be posted at 11 a.m. EST Thursday and Friday…but we’re a little premature this week. Hey, happens to the best of us.
Despite Tom Allen’s undeniable enthusiasm (see above) coaching defense at Indiana isn’t always the most pleasant experience. Even last season, the Hoosiers’ winningest campaign since 1993, Indiana ended a pedestrian 9th among Big Ten teams in Scoring Defense (24.4 Pts/Gm), Total Defense (352.2 Yds/Gm), and Sacks (25). No Indiana player on this side of the ball made any All-Big Ten teams last season.
To Allen’s credit – and to a lesser degree DC Kane Wommack’s credit, although Allen’s thumbprint is on everything the Hoosiers do defensively – he squeezes all the juice out of players who are juuust a few inches too short or juuust a few pounds too light to play on bigger stages than the community theater that is Memorial Stadium.
Tried to come up with an analogy, and this is the best I could do: Recruiting defenders at Indiana is like shopping for clothes at an Outlet Mall…no matter what/who you get, there’s something slightly irregular going on. However, once in a blue moon you’ll find that Marge Simpson Chanel Suit. Sophomore cornerback Tiawan Mullen is that pink Chanel suit. (More on this Lion Tamer later).
To scout Indiana, we examined the Hoosiers’ Gator Bowl appearance against Tennessee. We also plucked a few plays from MSU in late September. Like yesterday, not everyone you’ll see in clips remains on the team. We’ll highlight the ones who are.
FORMATION
Indiana is a base 4-2-5 defense with two-high safeties and a hybrid named HUSKY that should really be called KNIGHT (homage to IU’s basketball past, plus Husky just gives me unpleasant flashbacks of clothes shopping as a kid.) Allen brought this defense to Bloomington in 2016, ditching the 3-4 the previous defensive coordinator ran. The 4-2-5 is defensive coordinators’ counter to the proliferation of spread offenses in college football.
PHILOSOPHY
PASSIVE IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD! Lots of stunts, lots of twists, lots of different, unorthodox looks, and lots of aggression. Allen isn’t stubborn. He’s smart enough to realize many weekends he’s holding a spork in a knife fight, so he’d rather be proactive than reactive – even if taking the initiative burns him.
In some 2017 clip where Jon Gruden visited Bloomington, Allen threatened to make the Hooters spokesman do 25 pushups because he used the words “turnovers” not “takeaways.” Takeaway is a forceful act, Allen explained. Proactive not reactive, remember? This pedal-on-the-gas approach is designed to confuse and make superior offenses with superior talent think and slow down, thus evening the playing field.
Tinder profiles are more accurate when it comes to height and weight than what’s printed on the Indiana roster. These Hoosiers aren’t that big, and they aren’t that tall. Because of that, there are plays where Indiana’s defensive front almost gets swallowed whole by blue-chippers from SEC Football Factories:
Indiana defensive tackle 50-Sio Nofoagtot’a is the exception. At 327 pounds, he looks like his listed weight. Primarily a backup last season for reasons we can’t quite explain after seeing him on film, Nofoagtot’a should be an upgrade at DT for Indiana now that he’s a starter. The big guy isn’t content with just occupying blockers, he wants to make plays even if he’s double-teamed, seen here:
Nofoagtot’a’s neighbor on the edge 6-James Head Jr., plays better than his stats indicate (2.5 sacks, 4 TFL, 5 QB Hurries in 2019. He’s decently quick, flashes a bit of a bend, and is apparently strong enough to bull-rush offensive tackles unaware of the plates he puts up in the weight room:
The best thing that can be said about the other defensive end 87-Michael Ziemba is that he’s got cool hair. Not a huge fan of his game. He’s undersized and not super instinctual…but great hair.
POTENTIAL LION TAMERS
3- TIAWAN MULLEN, CORNERBACK: SMH, another find from Florida. Give Allen and his staff a cookie; they do a great job of recruiting kids the Gators, Hurricanes and Seminoles overlook. Penn State finally woke up and decided to join the club in recent years with the hire of Ja’Juan Seider. Smart, but long overdue, move.
But, anyway, back to Mullen.
If Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade didn’t opt-back-in once the Big Ten got its act together, Mullen would be the best cornerback in the conference. As a true freshman last season, Allen tossed Mullen into the deep end without any water wings and all the 5-10 (listed, he’s probably 5-8) defensive back did was swim like a fish.
Mullen topped the Big Ten with 13 pass breakups even though he only started 8 games. The Athletic and 247Sports dubbed him a Freshman All-American. The fact Mullen wasn’t on the First, Second, or Third All-Big Ten teams shows how worthless those distinctions are, because the guy did freaking everything last season.
Here’s 34 seconds of excellence:
And that’s just a sampling. Trust us.
Mullen has mastered the Lost Art of Poise. When the ball is in the air, he never panics. He’s in control. Calm. Just wait, time it up, and make a play. It’s incredibly impressive at such a young age. Even though he’s truly a great corner, Mullen’s NFL Draft ceiling (whether it’s in two or three years) is probably the early 3rd Round because of his short stature. On this play, Mullen is in perfect position, but can’t climb as high as the receiver:
OK, Mullen can cover. What about tackling and run support? Does he shy away from that? Naw, the dude is Scrappy Doo.
Problem Areas (Red Tint Players)
47-MICAH McFADDEN, LINEBACKER: By default, McFadden will be the best Micah playing linebacker this Saturday. McFadden recorded a team-best 61 tackles in 2019 and somehow was named Indiana’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player. How or why that happened? We don’t have a clue. McFadden played pretty poorly in the bowl game.
Here’s one missed tackle:
Here’s another missed tackle:
Here’s McFadden getting BLOWED up while blitzing:
And here he is not staying true to his gap assignment:
At 235 pounds (listed), McFadden isn’t big enough or strong enough to be competitive on a lot of second-level blocks. He’s also not quick enough. So what’s a Most Outstanding Defensive Player to do? Um, turn to the side, bend at the waist, and let the game-winning touchdown scoot right past you without a fight, duh.
Yeah, not great.
31-BRYANT FITZGERALD, HUSKY, err KNIGHT: Couple weeks ago, the Hoosiers lost returning KNIGHT Marcelino Ball for the season when the fifth-year senior tore an ACL during practice. Not sure why doctors waited this long, but Ball will finally have surgery this week. Allen said on Monday multiple players will audition for the vacant KNIGHT role.
Bryant Fitzgerald, you’re up first.
Fitzgerald is smaller than Ball, but he makes up for that by not being very fast.
In 2016, The Indianapolis Star named Fitzgerald the best prep defensive back in the entire state…that explains why the Hoosiers staff recruits Florida so hard.
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