Film at 11: Wisconsin 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.
Sponsor: Hey, it’s us! For The Blogy! Join our 2021 FTB Donors Club – the best way for you to show your support and keep this train rolling – and receive an exclusive FTB zipper bottle Koozie as a gift! Sign up HERE.
*Please remember to click the ‘Share My Address With For The Blogy’ box when checking out so we know where to mail your gift!
Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s life is a John Cougar Mellencamp song waiting to be written.
Reared in Tony, Wisconsin, a ‘town’ of 113 people, Leonhard’s Herculean high school athletic accomplishments – gaining 500 total yards from scrimmage in a single football game, nailing 10 3-pointers in a basketball game, striking out 19 of 21 batters in 7 innings – sound so fantastical even Al Bundy and Uncle Rico call BS. But, apparently, it’s all true…or at least that’s how it reads on the giant wood Jim Leonard sign near the edge of town; you know, the one a guy in a “dusty, dented and scratched red Chevrolet Silverado 4×4 pickup truck” constructed few years back.
When no Division I school offered Leonhard a scholarship, he walked-on at Wisconsin, played four years, and was named All-American three times despite not earning a full-ride until his senior season (according to Wikipedia, anyway. This can’t be right, can it?!?! Dude was paying for his own Meal Plan while an All-American safety??!?!)
When no NFL team bothered drafting Leonhard, the 5-foot-8 Scrappy Doo made the Buffalo Bills roster as an UDFA and stuck around the league for decade, earning $9 million in the process.
And this past winter, when the bigger-than-Jesus (in Wisconsin, anyway) Green Bay Packers wooed and courted Leonhard to fill their vacant DC position, the Badgers’ 38-year-old X’s and O’s prodigy turned them down, explaining to madison.com, “I love being back here at my alma mater and honestly trying to take this program to places it hasn’t been.”
With all due respect to the players he coaches — meaning we’re about to get super disrespectful — no other Big Ten coordinator does more with less than Leonhard. Collectively, during Leonhard’s four years as the Badgers DC, Wisconsin ranks Top 5 nationally in Total Defense, Points Allowed Per Game, Rush Defense, Pass Efficiency Defense, and Takeaways. In those same four years, ONE Wisconsin defender – LB Zack Baun, a freaking former high school QB! – got picked before the 4th round of the NFL Draft. Baun went No. 74 overall to the New Orleans Saints last year.
To make sense of this defensive wizardry, we once again scouted the Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Wake Forest and browsed Wisconsin’s 49-11 bludgeoning of Michigan in The Big House.
Starters
Formations
Despite operating as a base 3-4 defense, Wisconsin probably won’t play much 3-4 on Saturday if Mike Yurcich’s offense at Penn State mirrors his ‘Power Spread’ approach seen at Texas and Oklahoma State. But for funsies, here’s Wisconsin’s 3-4 alignment:
Unlike Penn State’s standard 4-3 front (DE-DT-DT-DE), an aggressive scheme that leaves each lineman responsible for a single gap, Wisconsin’s 3-4 look (DE-NT-DE) requires more discipline and patience from linemen as they’re asked to handle two gaps – holes on either side of the o-lineman breathing the same air as them pre-snap. If 4-3 d-linemen are the players dunking the alley-oop – racking up highlight reel sacks and TFLs – then 3-4 d-linemen are the guys lobbing the ball at the rim – space eaters but not stat guys.
Observe:
Okie Front: NT in a 0-tech, two DE’s lineup inside the offensive tackles. All three beefy Badgers just sort of ride the playside wave of the Michigan offensive line. No one’s out of position. No one’s trying to be a hero. And because of that, no defined run lane materializes. Strongside OLB 41-Noah Burks does an A+ job cementing the edge against a kick-out block by the Michigan RG. That effort, coupled with the 3 DLs muddying the waters, allows untouched weakside OLB 19-Nick Herbig to track down 5-Joe Milton from behind.
Yeah, but didn’t you say we shouldn’t expect a lot of 3-4 from Wisconsin this weekend?
Oh right. My bad.
When facing predominantly spread offenses – like Wake Forest in the bowl game – Leonhard swaps out the nose tackle for an extra safety in this 2-4-5 nickel package.
On standard downs and short yardage situations, the remaining linemen still have two-gap responsibility. Absorb double teams. Keep the linebackers and blitzing safeties clean. In this clip below, Leonhard stays in 2-4-5 even though it’s 4th and 1. The two remaining hand-in-the-dirt defenders occupy four offensive linemen, which lets ILB 57-Jack Sanborn ‘get skinny’ and beat the back to the hole. The blitzing safety closes the Plan B escape route. Turnover on Downs.
Philosophy
A defensive disciple of Rex Ryan and Dave Aranda, Leonhard leans on his linebackers to sack the quarterback and steal possessions.
More than one newspaper article we read reported that Wisconsin ranks 2nd nationally in total takeaways (104) and interceptions (68) during Leonhard’s brief tenure as DC. Immediately, those numbers raised an eyebrow on our end because they seemed unreachably high, so we went through Wisconsin’s 2017-2020 cumulative stats and somehow came up with 88 takeaways and 54 INTs…which, to be clear, is still really good.
For those wondering, in that same span, Penn State’s defense had 77 takeaways and 37 interceptions. I wish we had a cool, smart-guy X’s and O’s explanation for the discrepancy between the PSU-Wisconsin turnover totals but we don’t. Like Penn State, Wisconsin plays a lot of soft zone Cover 3 concepts and off-man coverage with a single-high safety. And if you check out both teams’ total passes defensed between 2017-2020, they’re fairly comparable.
Maybe Under Armor gloves are stickier than Nike gloves? (insert shoulder-shrug emoji)
In the games we scouted, Wisconsin intercepted six passes, four of which had a high degree of difficulty.
While Wisconsin doggy-paddled hard enough in 2020 to keep its reputation as an opportunistic defense afloat, it’s usual disruptive pass rush sank like the fleet of Kublai Khan.
Wisconsin’s 1.57 sacks per game last season ranked 100th out of 127 FBS teams. According to PFF, Wisconsin’s 48 QB hurries — 6.86 per game – tied with Minnesota for 12th in the Big Ten, besting only Purdue’s 5.8 QB hurries per game.
Lion Tamers
INSIDE LINBACKERS 57-JACK SANBORN & 5-LEO CHENAL: Is it us, or does it feel like Wisconsin has a 3D Printer tucked away in the bowels of Camp Randall Stadium that’s calibrated to churn out under-recruited, overachieving, game-wrecking white linebackers?
Oh, it is just us? Coulda sworn…
Anyway. Regardless of how each player got to Madison – be it natural or artificial means — 57-Jack Sanborn and 5-Leo Chenal (No. 45 in 2020 clips…but he’ll be No. 5 on Saturday) are the latest links in the Badgers’ proud linebacker lineage.
Chenal, entering his second season as a starter, doesn’t garner the fanfare showered upon Sanborn but at 6-foot-2, 250 pounds he’s probably the better pro prospect. In 2020, PFF rated Chenal the 7th-best ‘Off Ball’ linebacker in college football. Fast enough to get home on the blitz and strong enough to dismiss last-line-of-defense RBs and TEs, Chenal’s 90.5 PFF pass rush grade was the best in the Big Ten last season.
On this RPO, Chenal showcases his speed and strength in the span of a few seconds as he zips past the pulling Wake Forest TE 85-Blake Whiteheart, bounces the RB out of the bar, and invades QB 10-Sam Hartman’s personal space to cause an errant throw.
Chenal also possesses average sideline-to-sideline speed that looks like above-average speed on TV because of his Mensa-qualifying football IQ and situational awareness on the field. Here, in Michigan’s sputtering end-of-half 2-minute drill, Chenal abandons his zone coverage responsibilities when 5-Joe Milton leaves the pocket. Chenal closes decisively and not only gets the TFL but keeps the clock running, too.
Sanborn enters 2021 on every applicable watchlist after capping last season by winning the Duke’s Mayo Bowl MVP Trophy…which is like the Heisman if the Heisman had Twang!™
Always a formidable blitzer, Sanborn steadily matured into a dependable run defender following a hard-to-watch Week 1 individual performance last season vs. Illinois. That eventual 2020 growth was largely attributable to Sanborn’s lightbulb realization that he doesn’t need to knock the soul out of every ballcarrier to register a stop. According to PFF, Sanborn’s missed tackle rate improved by nearly 30 points last season – 38.3 in 2019 to 67.7 in 2020. Again, like we wrote in our Jayson Oweh stay-or-go piece last December, no clue how these PFF calculates these ratings but it doesn’t really matter. A 30-point improvement in anything is substantial.
Here’s a calm, cool, under control Sanborn sifting through the mess and shedding blocks to limit Wake’s ground attack on two separate plays.
Sanborn hasn’t detoxed all the Evel Knievel out of his game, though. With zero regard for his undersized 235-pound frame, Sanborn LOVES to race pulling lineman to the hole and absorb whatever punishment awaits.
Anyone else suddenly need Advil? Despite surrendering 65 pounds to Wake Forest OT 53-Je’Vionte’ Nash, Sanborn rams head-on into the blocker. The hit completely halts Nash’s momentum and actually bumps him backwards into the running back, thus blowing up the play.
One more? Fine, one more.
Same deal: Sanborn beats the pulling Nash on a designed QB draw.
It’ll be interesting to see how/if Penn State challenges Sanborn in the passing game with Brenton Strange/Theo Johnson/John Lovett because, in the games we scouted, the Wisconsin captain didn’t appear totally comfortable in hook-curl zone coverage…
…or man coverage vs. running backs.
Red Flags (Problem Areas)
21-CAESAR WILLIAMS, CORNERBACK: A sixth-year Van Wilder, Williams is a long, rangy corner who struggles keeping pace with quick, shifty wide receivers but makes up for that coverage deficiency by not tackling well.
Surprisingly, after we spent the past two weeks lurking on various Wisconsin message boards, Badgers fans seem not just comfortable with Williams in the secondary but actually confident…and we’re not quite sure why.
Opposing quarterbacks tallied a 112.2 QB Passer Rating on targets defended by Williams, completing 60 percent of those throws. Even more damning, Williams relinquished 18.8 yards per reception! For comparison, Joey Porter Jr. gave up 10.2 yards/reception, Tariq Castro-Fields 12.7 yards/reception, Lamont Wade 12.2. Daequan Hardy was Penn State’s worst performing DB in this category, and even he only surrendered 14.9 yards/reception.
Week after week, opposing offenses dared Williams to stop them deep. And week after week, Williams didn’t provide a reason for playcallers to quit trying. If Mike Yurcich doesn’t command Sean Clifford to test Williams vertically 3 or 4 times on Saturday, then, well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.
The Wake Forest receivers Williams covered hauled in 4 catches for 95 yards in the Mayo Bowl – the longest being the 46-yard bomb you just watched — but honestly, it could have (should have?) been much more.
Williams got toasted on this deep ball out of a not-to-difficult-to decipher Trips Bunch look but avoided DPI despite an blatant hold of the receiver’s arm.
Since TV doesn’t show us the whole field, here’s the All-22 view. Despite a decent-sized cushion, Williams simply cannot keep up after he turns and tries to run with the receiver.
For a guy who’s been in the program since 2016, Williams remains pretty dang raw as a corner. He’s slow to recognize routes (which you’re about to see on this RPO below), stiff when given two-way coverage decisions, and often tardy when closing on an underneath route.
Other than that, he’s great.
Leave a Comment