Film at 11: Maryland Defense

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Way back in the day when I was a bright-eyed undergrad at a little school in State College, I got into the terrible habit of waiting until the last second to start projects…a procrastinator, as it’s commonly known.

Thankfully, it only took three Testing Hall panic attacks (third time’s the charm!) to crystalize the lesson my mom spent 17 years trying to drill into my brain: Work, THEN play.

While that advice eventually ushered me across the stage and got me this swell piece of paper with my name on it, turns out Mom was dead wrong…at least when it came to scouting this Jekyll-and-Hyde, Sweet-Then-Sour, Caterpillar-Turned-Butterfly-But-In-Reverse Maryland football team.

Like a responsible young man, I began this piece in late September/early October, reaching a writing crescendo at halftime of the Ohio State game when I typed:

This Terps’ defense is swarming, they’re punishing and they held Ryan Day’s offense to 3 points in the first 30 minutes. Is this iteration of THE Ohio State Buckeyes more beatable than ever, or is this Maryland defense the real deal?

What a difference (checks calendar) 26 days makes, huh? Paragraph after paragraph of glowing, flowery, masterful prose (trust me, it would have made Faulkner feel like a bum) died at the repeated finger taps of the DELETE button as Maryland has gone full ‘Maryland,’ dropping three games in a row. The Ohio State loss was certainly forgivable, but toe-stubbings against B1G West mouthbreathers Illinois and Northwestern followed the all-too-familiar script of the Terps fluttering back down to earth like a brown, crusty autumn leaf.

Starters

Philosophy

Defensive Coordinator Brian Williams is a big “Bend Don’t Break” guy. During his first year in the ceremonial Top Gun snap-back, he increased the Terps zone coverage usage (2021: 55%, 2022: 70%) and dialed back Maryland’s blitz rate (2021: 40%, 2022: 29%). He wants eyes on the ball, as many eyes as possible.

Putting more ballhawks in the secondary is a strategy that’s coming home to “roost” (rim-shot) in Williams’ second season. They matched last year’s INT total (9) in their first seven games and they’re t-3rd in the B1G in TO margin (+5). ASTERISK: I’d be remiss not to mention Penn State’s +13 leads the nation (not the conference, the NATION) but +5 is cute, too.

Our beloved Manny Diaz can be almost sadistic with the pressure he unleashes on QBs; Williams…not so much. He’s from the “sacks win battles; an interception ends the war” school of thought.

Williams takes pride in his defense’s ability to do a lot of things well: “We play every zone known to man, we play a lot of man coverages, and we mix it up.”

The key to that coverage multiplicity — really the cornerstone of the Terrapins defense, in general — is their deep and talented safety room. They have three guys they trust to rotate through each of their three safety roles (more on them later)so they can run any coverage on their play sheet from the same formation. Their aim is to never show you the same play, from the same look, twice.

That’s not to say they don’t have their tendencies. On 1st and 2nd downs Maryland plays zone coverage twice as often as man. On 3rd and 4th downs, however, the Terps play about 60/40 man coverage (as of Week 6, anyway, when my trial to Sports Info Solutions expired).

Maryland aims to be as “multiple” with its personnel as it is schematically. It makes them a pain in the backside to chart and scout but their strength is in their depth. They’ll let you be the better team in the first quarter; they think they’ll be better when it counts.

Formation

Note: (key: DL=green square, LB=yellow circle, CB=red X, S=orange circled X)

Steelers fans will recognize the Terps’ 3-4 base defense. Three down linemen, flanked on each side by an outside linebacker, with a pair of interior linebackers prowling just behind. This is the look they came out with the first play of the MSU game:

In 2023, Maryland has played with five or more DBs 75% of its defensive snaps. If you look closely, often one of those LBs is a box safety. Gone are the days of the 3-4/4-3 base defenses; their identity is a 3-3-5 “big nickel”:

The nickel back (no, Nickelback, you look at this photograph) is most often shadowing a shifty slot receiver or bringing pressure off the edge. The prototype is a small, quick corner; the “big” modifier means the fifth defensive back is a safety, instead. With that established, the Terps  take the “big” label pretty literally with the 6-foot-4 Glendon Miller, who nicknamed Maryland’s safety group “The Reapers.” Isn’t that fun?

Miller’s role is commonly known as the “Rover” — an amalgamation of the aforementioned nickel back and both traditional safety positions. On any given play he could be asked to man-up a slot (or TE lined up in the slot), rush the passer, patrol the deep post, or creep into the box to offer run support.

In the 1990’s the Browns called the third safety the “Star” because Bill Belichick needed an S-word to connote the similarity between that role and the strong-side (“Sam”) linebacker. If you were wondering why the Nittany Lions have a revolving door between those two positions, the answer goes back to the old Cleveland Browns (they’re the Ravens now, grandkids).

The trade-off of having an extra body on the backend is one less dude upfront. Now, you have more gaps to control than guys to patrol them, so your NT needs to do some “two-gapping.” His job is to stand his ground, read the ball, then shed and stuff should the ball come through either of the gaps to his left or right.

The archetype there is a bigger, stronger player than your 4-3 DT’ who have one gap assignments and one job: get through that gap. You expect less from a nose tackle in terms of penetration but he needs excellent eyes, anchor and football IQ. If your guy can draw a double team and absorb those blocks to keep the second-level defenders clean, that’s just gravy. 

Lion Tamers

2-BEAU BRADE, SAFETY: Only three college football teams have a better PFF tackling grade than Maryland’s 90.2 (two of those teams play in the B1G). Blistering, punishing football has always been a staple in this conference; if Maryland is ever going to legitimately contend even in the division that trend is going to need to hold.

The leader of the group — emotionally and statistically — is Beau Brade. He’s a predator by nature; he takes pride in his physicality and sets a tone for the rest of the secondary. Receivers coming over the middle suddenly get an acute case of Alligator Arms when they know a guy like that is waiting to remove their shoulders from their skull.

He’s not just an old-school hockey enforcer out there. Brade also has the statistical resume (three picks, eight PBU since becoming full-time starter in ‘22) to make your QB think twice about throwing those hospital balls in the first place.

19-DONNELL BROWN, OLB/JACK: Donnell Brown was an FCS All-American at St. Francis and hit the ground running in his first season facing Power Five competition. He had two picks and a PBU in his first three games as a Terp. Those numbers made me double-take; I couldn’t get to the tape fast enough.

Brown is a heavy-handed, NFL-sized edge rusher (6’3”/254) who usually lines up on the boundary-side to protect him from having to set the edge against stretch runs to the field. In the backfield his athleticism plays a little better — especially if he threatens power early in the rep. He corners quite well for a man of his size and finishes with a nice rip move.

I wonder if they’ll go iron-on-iron and use him to test Olu. If I’m Maryland I’m looking at Caedan Wallace (maybe Drew Shelton?) and I’m putting my most disruptive guy over there.

Red Circles (Problem Areas)

3-JA’QUAN SHEPPARD, CORNERBACK: In the first half of the season Penn State lead the B1G in pressure rate behind three- or four-man rushes (38.7%). The Terps were notching pressures on 19.5% of non-blitz snaps — 12th of 14 teams in the conference. Consequently, only one team in the B1G (Purdue: 43%) had a higher blitz rate over that time than Maryland’s 37%.

When Maryland can’t generate pressure conventionally, Williams has to step out of his comfort zone to conjure it. If Penn State’s offense can get out to a fast start his path to victory becomes much steeper.

Mike Yurcich has been banging his head against the wall trying to establish the running game early. Everyone knows who We Are and how we want to play; they’ve been ready for it. It may be time to try establishing the pass early, getting Maryland’s defense off-platform, then probing those softened rush lanes.

The match-up to exploit in the secondary is CB Ja’Quan Sheppard. If No. 3 in Gold Script ends up iso’ed on KLS, impress your buddies by telling them where the ball is about to go.

The Terps thought they had another JPJ on their hands when they found a 6’2” CB in the transfer portal who stacked 10 PBUs last year. Instead, it’s been the exact opposite. Thus far,  Sheppard has allowed more receptions, yards, YAC AND yards/reception than anyone in the Maryland secondary.

Sheppard’s 25% missed tackled rate (highest among Maryland’s defensive starters) turns big plays into huge ones. Playing Penn State is an all-hands-on-deck tackling situation; giving Lions opportunities in space is a losing gambit for a turtle-based team.