2007 Preview: Stanford Defense
What you need to know: New defensive
coordinator Scott Shafer is scrapping the 3-4 this year in favor of an
attacking 4-3 that is designed to create more turnovers and more plays for
negative yards. The Cardinal is open to suggestions after finishing last
in the Pac-10 in just about every defensive category in 2006. There are
holes, to be sure, but Shafer will also inherit some exciting young talent at
each unit, such as sophomore tackle Ekom Udofia, sophomore linebacker Clinton
Snyder and junior cornerback Wopamo Osaisai. Above all else, the defense
has to find some answers against the run after being humiliated for more than
2,500 yards and nearly five yards a carry a year ago.
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Star of the defense: Sophomore LB Clinton Snyder
Egboh has substantial upside, but still needs help on the opposite side from
senior Udeme Udofia, a former
linebacker making the switch from end to help the pass rush. A pure speed
rusher at 240 pounds who could struggle in run defense, he had 39 tackles in
2006, but just one behind the line.
Udeme’s younger brother, Ekom Udofia,
is the team’s best interior lineman and the likely starter at nose tackle
once he fully recovers from shoulder surgery. An explosive and very
powerful sophomore in the middle, he’s a former can’t-miss recruit
with the ingredients to be the type of impact player that the line is currently
missing.
After seeing considerable action as a true freshman in 2006, Levirt Griffin is ready to watch his role
on the line expand. At 6-4 and 255 pounds, he’s got the size and
acceleration of an end, but will have trouble disengaging from blocks this
fall, especially when forced to become a more physical run defender. If
there was more depth at the position,
Projected Top Reserves: If
Udofia’s shoulder acts up at any point during the season, senior Chris Horn is more than ready to step into
the starting role. A 6-5, 270-pound two-time letterwinner, he was the
program’s top run-stuffing reserve with 27 tackles and four tackles for
loss.
A wild card at defensive end this year will be sophomore Erik Lorig, who, like Horn, came to
Stanford as a top tight end prospect before switching sides of the ball.
The move was made partially out of need and partially because he’s a
terrific all-around athlete with the explosion off the snap to eventually be a
contributor. Lorig is the kind of project that has the defensive staff
cautiously excited about the upcoming season.
Watch Out For… Egboh
and Ekom Udofia to begin attracting the interest of NFL scouts, but the unit as
a whole to be a weak link in the defensive chain again in 2007. Although
the line can’t get any worse from last year and a four-man front should
help, counting on a metamorphosis from this group is unrealistic.
Projected Starters: Jim
Harbaugh’s top priority at linebacker in year one will be to decide on a
middle linebacker. The slight frontrunner to replace all-Pac-10 performer
Michael Okwo is junior Pat Maynor,
who started nine games last year and contributed 44 tackles and three tackles
for loss. An intense competitor that goes hard on every play, he’ll
rely on his motor and straight-line speed to offset being one of the smallest
players at the position.
If there’s a future star at linebacker for the Cardinal, it’ll be
sophomore Clinton Snyder,
who’s coming off a terrific debut season. As an 11-game starter, he
was third on the team with 83 tackles and added a pair of sacks. At 6-4
and 230 pounds, he’s a thumper with the instincts and quickness to make
plays all over the field.
Snyder is likely to be joined on the outside with Peter Griffin, a fifth-year senior that began his Stanford
career as a walk-on strong safety. Undersized at 6-1 and 215 pounds, he
moves well in space, but has yet to do much besides make plays on special
teams.
Projected Top Reserves:
The depth is pretty good at linebacker, which should make for some heated
competition in August and beyond. Pressing Maynor in the middle will be
sophomores Tom McAndrew and Will Powers. McAndrew is an
interesting story because last year he was a 6-5, 270-pound end, but this year,
he’s right in the mix in the middle. Now 250 pounds with a mere 10%
body fat, he brings a physical presence to a unit that’s short on
intimidation.
Powers has the edge in experience, thanks to four starts in his freshman
season. Built like a strongside linebacker at 6-4 and 235 pounds,
he’s currently running third on the depth chart and needs to show a
little more to take the job away from Maynor. Big Brian Bulcke, a 260-pound sophomore, is
going to play somewhere, likely at defensive end if he gets his wish.
Before being slowed by nagging injuries, he had 14 tackles as a true freshman
in his only start versus Navy.
Outside, Stanford is counting on redshirt freshman Nick Macaluso and sophomore Fred
Campbell to get plenty of reps this fall. Macaluso, in
particular, has really impressed the coaching staff this off-season.
Still somewhat wide-eyed, he has the speed and drive to make a ton of plays for
this program once he adds some weight and earns more playing time.
Watch Out For… at
least six different linebackers to get starts at one time or another this
season. The talent gap between the first and second unit is marginal, and
new coordinator Scott Shafer is likely to try a few different combinations before
settling on his three best players.
The unexpected star of the secondary is junior corner Wopamo Osaisai, a genuine playmaker with
terrific ball skills and a bright future over the next two seasons. In
just a half season as a starter, he led the team in pass breakups and pitched in
on run defense with 52 tackles. Osaisai was also named Pac-10 Special
Teams Player of the Year, specializing as an outside cover man on punt
returns. Joining him will be senior Nick
Sanchez, a veteran who was slowed throughout 2006 with
injuries. When his hamstring isn’t barking, he showed his potential
as a sophomore, making 71 stops and picking off a pair of passes. A
healthy Sanchez would give a nice boost to this young group of defensive backs.
Projected Top Reserves:
Senior cornerback Tim Sims brings
20 games of experience to the second string. When Sanchez went down in
2006, Sims stepped in and led the corners with 54 tackles and 5.5 tackles for
loss. While he’s the smallest of the defensive backs at 5-11 and
190 pounds, he plays a whole lot bigger, especially in run defense.
The depth at corner has allowed Carlos McFall
to switch to free safety, a more natural position for the junior. More of
an enforcer than a finesse player, he’s bulked up to 210 pounds in the
hopes of making a run at the top job.
Watch Out For…
Osaisai to blossom into a top corner in 2007. After scratching the
surface of his potential as a part-time starter, he has the speed and natural
instincts at cornerback to contend for all-league on defense and special teams.
Projected Starters: The
big special teams news this off-season was that, for now, senior Derek Belch has beaten out last
year’s leading scorer, junior Aaron
Zagory, for the placekicking job. Belch squandered his chance
to win the job last season, but regained his consistency to go with an already
strong leg. Despite being in his final season, he has only attempted one
field goal in his Cardinal career.
Unlike the kickers, senior Jay Ottovegio
is about to begin his fourth year as the program’s punter. While
booming punts have never been his forte, he’s quite skilled at getting
hang time, forcing fair catches and pinning opponents inside their own 20.
After finishing ninth last year in the Pac-10 in both kickoff and punt returns,
the Cardinal will be looking for any spark in the return game. That could
come from exciting redshirt freshman Tyrone
McGraw, who’ll be joining Jason
Evans on kickoffs in 2007. Evans averaged a mediocre 21.8
yards a return a year ago. Things were even more futile on the punt team,
where sophomore Chris Hobbs
averaged a measly 5.6 yards a touch in his first year.
Projected Top Reserves:
Zagory is a little more accurate than Belch, but has much less leg strength, a
big concern regarding his future with the program. As the starter last
season, he connected on only 8-of-13 field goals, never delivered beyond 37
yards and missed a couple of extra points. Although he made huge strides
between 2005 and 2006, similar growth may be needed in order to win that job
back.
Player that has to step up and become a star:
Junior LB Pat Maynor
Unsung star on the rise: Junior CB
Wopamo Osaisai
Best pro prospect: Junior DE
Pannel Egboh
Top three all-star candidates: 1)
Osaisai 2) Snyder 3) DE Pannel Egboh
Strength of the defense: Depth at
cornerback
Weakness of the defense: Run
defense, safety
Projected Starters: Not
unlike it’s counterparts on the other side of the ball, the Cardinal
D-line needs to begin turning a few years of quality recruits into better
execution on Saturdays. The unit was gutted for more than 200 yards a
game on the ground last year and produced the Pac-10’s lowest sack
total. With the team switching from a 3-4 base to a 4-3, developing
enough quality linemen to fill out a two-deep just got a little tougher.
Hope can be found in the form of junior end Pannel
Egboh, who’s coming off a solid season that saw him tie for
the team lead with 5.5 tackles for loss. He has an NFL body at 6-6 and
280 pounds to go along the pass rushing skills to evolve into an all-league
player.
Strength: Egboh and Ekom
Udofia. Put either player on the USC D-line and he wouldn’t look
terribly out of place. Both have next level size and quickness, but need
more help from the players around them in order to really take off.
Weakness: Stopping the
run. The pass rush won’t be featured in an upcoming Dummies series anytime soon, but the
bigger concern is inside, where the Cardinal was mauled last fall and lacks the
depth needed to stack up in a league loaded with quality offensive lines.
Outlook: As long as the
line has problems creating pressure and getting a push on run plays, the rest
of the defense is going to suffer. Only three teams in the country had
fewer plays for negative yards than Stanford last year, an issue that has no
snap solution in 2007.
Rating: 6
Strength: Speed and
athleticism. The Cardinal linebackers are a bunch of real good athletes
that have to go out this season and prove that they’re also a bunch of
good football players.
Weakness: Lack of a true
middle linebacker. Although Harbaugh has no shortage of candidates to
choose from, none look even remotely capable of doing what Okwo did a year ago.
Outlook: There are plenty
of good athletes on this unit and a potentially nice mix of size and speed, but
the key to success in 2007 lies with the underclassmen, like Snyder, McAndrew
and Macaluso making quantum leaps early in their Cardinal careers.
Rating: 6.5
Projected Starters: Was
the Stanford secondary overlooked last season, or was it just a product of
one-sided games that deterred the opposition from the putting the ball in the
air? We should know better in 2007, as the defense looks to replace two
of its better producers, safeties Brandon Harrison and Trevor Hooper. To
help out at the position, the Cardinal will be looking to a pair of sophomore
imports, former linebacker Bo McNally
to play strong safety, and converted wide receiver Austin Yancy, who has the edge at free safety. A
big-hitting defender, McNally played well in 12 games last season, making 21
tackles and two picks while scoring a pivotal touchdown in the program’s
lone win of the year. Yancy caught 16 passes in 2006, and at 6-4 and 200
pounds, has great size, but could spend most of the year adjusting to a
completely different position.
Strength: The
corners. With Osaisai, Sanchez and Sims, the Cardinal basically has three
starters for two jobs, a real luxury for a defense that’s attempting to
regroup for 2007.
Weakness: The
safeties. As if losing three key seniors at a position wasn’t bad
enough, Stanford has been forced to three players from other positions to fill
the void. They’ll survive against the run, but when forced to
cover, opposing quarterbacks will have a field day.
Outlook: There’s
hope at cornerback, but the safeties are a work-in-progress, and unless the
front seven generates more of a pass rush, the Cardinal will succumb to the
league’s better passing teams.
Rating: 6
Watch Out For…
freshman kicker David Green.
The wild card at kicker is clearly the future at the position. Around the
program, there’s hope he’ll also be the kicker of now.
Regarded by many as the nation’s premier kicking prospect, he has a great
left leg, terrific mechanics and the poise to run away with this job in August.
Strength: Ottovegio.
Yeah, the pickings are real slim here, but Ottovegio is the kind of directional
punter that can be the best friend to a feeble defense that needs every field
position advantage it can get.
Weakness: The return
game. Maybe they’ve spent too much time watching the Cardinal
offense, but the team’s returners almost never found a seam and broke off
a momentum-building return in 2006. Stanford also allowed two blocked
punts and two blocked field goals a year ago.
Outlook: The presence of
Ottovegio is the only thing that gets the Stanford special teams unit close to
average. It could get a big lift, however, if Green asserts himself in
the summer and ends the debate over who’ll be kicking field goals this
fall.
Rating: 5
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