Spring practice insight: Defense shows flaws but plenty of potential
Defensive coordinator Robb Akey instructs his defense and tells them to "have a little more swagger" after forcing three consecutive three-and-outs April 13 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
Junior wide receiver JaCorey Sullivan sprung out of his stance as the ball was snapped and closed the space between him and freshman cornerback Demarcus Governor. Two yards into the endzone, Sullivan throttled down and cut outside, leaving Governor a step behind.
The ball departed from the hand of quarterback Quinten Dormady and flew in the direction of Sullivan.
Governor never saw it. Sullivan hauled in the pass for a touchdown to end the first drive of the intrasquad scrimmage.
At Central Michigan’s open spring practice on April 13, the offense torched the defense to start the live scrimmage put on for the fans that came to Kelly/Shorts Stadium to observe CMU's progress under new head coach Jim McElwain.
The offense marched down the field on their opening drive behind the strength of catches down the sideline by Sullivan and junior wideout Brandon Childress.
Only one possession into the scrimmage, it was gut-check time for the Chippewas' defense.
They responded well.
On the next series, the defense forced a quick stop, prompting defensive coordinator Robb Akey to clap his hands in approval.
“That’s a three-and-out, homies,” he enthused to his defense. “That’s our style.”
From that point forward, the two sides of the ball traded blows.
The offensive consistently found holes over the middle of the field and moved the ball efficiently by converting back-shoulder throws down the seam and 8-yard posts that snuck behind the linebackers and stayed short of the safeties.
The speed of senior running back Jonathan Ward also gave the defense trouble at times, but even on Ward’s best carries, the defensive line did a solid job of disrupting the designed running lane and bouncing the play outside.
In particular, the motors of senior Joshuwa Eldridge and junior Leon Page stood out on several plays that were snuffed out at the line of scrimmage. The pair did a fine job of shucking their blocks and clogging the interior, giving the ballcarrier nowhere to go but the waiting arms of another defender.
The defensive line also succeeded in flushing the quarterback out of the pocket and forcing throws that sometimes fell harmlessly out of bounds or drifted off-target.
One offensive possession ended on a rushed throw on the run by freshman quarterback Daniel Richardson that was intercepted by redshirt sophomore safety Devonni Reed.
Reed had a very good season in his first year on the field as a Chippewa, amassing almost 100 tackles at the safety position in 2018. He put together a good performance in this year’s spring practice as well, showing impressive closing speed.
Fellow safety Da’Quaun Jamison also played well. The redshirt senior was unquestionably the voice of the defense in the scrimmage, directing the younger players on where to line up and communicating with the rest of the secondary. Jamison also broke up at least three passes, once undercutting a short route on an instantaneous read off the snap and almost picking the ball off.
Reed and Jamison took the bulk of the reps in the scrimmage and will almost certainly be the starting safeties this season.
The biggest question mark comes at the cornerback position due to the fact that stars Sean Bunting and Xavier Crawford have moved to the professional level. A plethora of cornerbacks saw significant time in the open practice, the most capable of which appeared to be redshirt sophomores Brandon Brown and Darius Bracy.
“Bracy is the more physical one, so you gotta use your body against him,” Sullivan said of going against the Chippewa corner duo. “Brown, he’s faster, so whatever you do, you gotta do it as fast as you can just to get rid of him.”
Sullivan added that he thinks both Bracy and Brown are “outstanding” cornerbacks.
Malik Fountain and Alex Briones, who anchored the defense at linebacker in seasons prior, are gone as well. Three linebackers stood out at the spring practice: senior Michael Oliver and redshirt sophomores George Douglas and Andrew Ward.
Oliver is the veteran of the group and was all over the field in the scrimmage, cleaning up spillage outside the tackle box and landing a pair of jarring hits that caused a whoop of celebration to go up from the defensive sideline.
On a crucial third-and-short play, Douglas timed his jump and batted down a sure completion to force the offense off the field. Meanwhile, Ward, a transfer from Nebraska, made several stops throughout the practice by corking the running lane on quick reads.
At one point in the scrimmage, the Chippewa defense made three consecutive stops, looking more confident with each snap.
As the 11 players quietly trotted to the sideline following the third stop, Akey quickly gathered his defense and beseeched his group to get energized when the defense holds strong.
"I got one request now, dammit,” Akey said. “Back-to-back-to-back three-and-outs: why do you just walk off the field? How come I don’t see a little swagger?”
There’s a lot of room for improvement on the defensive side of the ball, but during stretches of time in the scrimmage, the unit’s potential broke through.
If the Chippewas can iron out responsibilities and communicate effectively on defense by the time the regular season arrives, they’ll have plenty of opportunity to show off that “swagger” to the rest of the Mid-American Conference.
