FAYETTEVILLE — By Bret Bielema’s reckoning, the writing was on the wall early in the 2016 season.
The Arkansas Razorbacks were going to switch their base defense to a 3-4 front, Bielema had concluded. Veteran coach Paul Rhoads was going to have a strong hand in designing the new look, almost as soon as the calendar turned to 2017.
The impetus to make the switch was overwhelming.
The Razorbacks, in their third season under coordinator Robb Smith, struggled to contain running quarterbacks Kenny Hill, Trevor Knight, Jalen Hurts and even Alcorn State’s Noah Johnson in the first half of the season. The Hogs had trouble coping with strong edge-rushing teams virtually all year.
Smith was out, and Rhoads was in by the third week of January. Rhoads spoke in plain terms about a defense punched in the gut repeatedly last season until it ranked No. 94 against the run (205.5 yards per game) and No. 85 in scoring (31.1 points per game).
“It gives a level of intensity that you don’t need to address as a coach,” Rhoads said. “Our kids, I don’t know if embarrassed is the wrong word or the right word. But nonetheless, we gave up too many yards last year, and we gave up too many points.
“We gave up too many rushing yards to quarterback-running teams. We gave up too many big plays. There were a lot of things that they know they did wrong that created us not playing great defense, and they’ve had the mindset to improve upon that. I’ve seen that mindset on a daily basis. They are not pleased when they don’t perform well individually and collectively right now.”
No other off-season development, with the possible exception of the team’s massive overhaul in the receiving corps, will impact the course of the 2017 season for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, like the move from an even, 4-man front, to the base 3-4.
Bielema, asked often about the change during the offseason, distilled his argument for making the move to two essentials: necessity and versatility.
The necessity came in the form of recruiting.
“The [small] number of top defensive linemen in the country make it probably the hardest position to recruit,” Bielema said. “Here at Arkansas the 3-4 allows us to get more of those under-recruited, under-sized speed guys on the field, guys who play well in space.”
A three-man front helps with depth-chart numbers as well.
“You don’t have to have eight to have a two-deep; you have to have six to have a two-deep,” Rhoads said, referencing the defensive line. “I think we can get to a quality depth position.”
The versatility comes from the options available for blitzing by a fourth, fifth or even sixth defender, who will be standing up at the snap almost all the time.
“We have a lot more options trying to bring pressure from strong, weak, boundary, field formation,” Bielema said. “One of the things that was pretty consistent in our play was we didn’t vary a lot from where we set the formation. I think that came back to bite us, and we’ll do a lot of variation moving forward.”
That means the Razorbacks’ defense will present more movement and adjustments before the snap, hoping to confuse blocking schemes or slow the recognition and reaction by offenses.
As Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen phrased it, “the ‘might’ parts are extremely crucial in a three-man front.
“They might bring a safety down from somewhere on the field or something like that,” Allen said. “There’s a lot of moving parts with it. They can drop guys [into coverage]. That’s kind of what the teams we play against do. Alabama and LSU run that defense.”
Rhoads, who instituted a change to a 3-4 front late in his head coaching tenure at Iowa State, told Bielema he wished he’d done it sooner to combat Spread offenses.
The Spread, often fueled by an up-tempo pace that puts a strain on defensive substitutions, works by getting the ball to playmakers in all areas of the field and exploiting matchups. It was prevalent in the Big 12 during Rhoads’ tenure at Iowa State (2009-15), and now a large swath of the SEC is using it in some fashion.
Rhoads, asked about the fundamental necessities of running a successful 3-4 defense, launched into a point-by-point explanation in his booming voice early in camp.
“I can tell you exactly,” Rhoads said. “The nose guard has to have his hands on the center and take care of his A-gap. The ends have to have their hands on the tackle and take care of the B-gap.
“Our outside linebackers have to set the edge on anything that comes at them and be involved in the quick passing game. Our linebackers have to go where the backs go.
“And our secondary can’t let people go behind them. If 11 guys are doing those things on a play-by-play basis, regardless of the call, we have chance to play good, competitive defense.”
Bielema noted that three-man fronts are a growing trend in college football.
South Carolina Coach Will Muschamp, also a defensive specialist, agreed.
“It’s a lack of being able to find quality defensive linemen,” Muschamp said. “It’s easier to find a flexible 240-pound hybrid defensive end-linebacker who can play in space. And it creates some problems for offenses. Some run plays work well against a four-man front, but they’re not so good against a three-man front.”
Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn, whose defense enjoyed a revival under coordinator Kevin Steele while employing 3-4 and 4-3 looks last year, talked up the former at SEC media days.
“Kevin likes to mix it up,” Malzahn said. “The thing about a three-down front, obviously they can do some different things with athletes on the edge.
“It puts a little more pressure on your [offensive] tackles. The thing about an odd-front team, you better have some pretty strong offensive tackles, especially in the run game if they have some good anchors. And it puts the center on the island a little more than it would a four-down front.”
Malzahn said the SEC used to be pretty evenly split between three-man and four-man fronts, but now he expects the balance to be tipped more toward the base 3-4.
Eight men up
Bielema said the move to the 3-4 has other advantages.
“You’ve got eight guys on two feet being able to change and run,” he said. “You naturally become more athletic with the 3-4 scheme with athletes on the field.
“There will be a lot of the same schemes, a lot of the same coverages, but coming at it with the ability to bring different pressure. More importantly, I think in today’s world, too, the 3-4 aligns quicker and a little bit more simplistic to multiple offenses in a shorter amount of time, and that should help us.”
Arkansas’ top defenders have professed their eagerness to play in the 3-4 alignment, another element that could play in their favor.
Sophomore end McTelvin “Sosa” Agim, the team’s most experienced pass rusher, says he loves it.
“The 3-4, when you’re playing it, the offense really doesn’t really know where the next rusher is coming from,” Agim said.
Junior Randy Ramsey, who primarily plays the “Razor” outside linebacker spot, is viewed as the prototypical athlete at 6-4, 228 pounds, to unleash in a 3-4 scheme. Ramsey combines a pass-rushing skill set with good hip turn and agility that will allow him to track running backs in space in the passing game.
“I’m able to play faster than I was last year,” Ramsey said. “It’s a great fit. I think the whole defense is able to play way faster.”
Arkansas defensive back Kevin Richardson, a team captain, said success in a 3-4 begins in the trenches.
“It involves guys up front being physical and being able to dictate things, control gaps and be able to make plays in those holes that are going to be there,” Richardson said.
Quality play from the nose guard in the 3-4 scheme, manned by 6-1, 339-pound senior Bijhon Jackson, 6-4, 300-pound Austin Capps and 6-3, 298-pound redshirt freshman Dylan Hays, is crucial to the operation.
“The main thing for us is just keeping the center from climbing up on the linebackers and stretching the zone plays,” Jackson said. “Other than that, we just try and dominate the center. Try to dominate him every play.”
Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos has had to do plenty of scheming against 3-4 defenses, run by some of the top units in the country like Alabama and LSU.
“The thing about the three down is where are they aligned?” Enos said, referencing the various spots the defensive lineman can take or shift into. “I think that creates the most communication and the most issues for offenses. … Whether it’s protections and/or the running game, it makes you have to talk more. You can’t just assume.
“The other thing it does is they create four potential rushers very close to the ball any time, and that becomes a situation where you have to identify who their rushers are. You’ve got to try to get keys, and our defense has been doing a good job. They’re bringing [blitzes] from a lot of different places.”
Bielema and Enos have seen a lot of 3-4 schemes on opposing defenses the last few years.
“Being on the other side of the ball, offensively, watching 3-4 schemes, the unknown of their pre-snap keys is one of the bigger things,” Bielema said. “The ability to get lined up in a quicker fashion, too. You can’t put a price tag on that.”
Arkansas center Frank Ragnow knows the best way to attack a 3-4 since the Razorbacks have seen it more often.
“We need to get to the second level,” Ragnow said. “I think that’s the key, because they’ve got four guys now that can run around as linebackers and are off the ball and get in space. … To be able to get our double teams to the second level is probably the most important part.”
Bielema said the Razorbacks’ recruiting at the linebacker positions has improved the last few years, and that’s a big key in the 3-4. Ramsey and seniors Karl Roesler and Dwayne Eugene are the veterans at the outside spots. The coaching staff hopes inexperienced hands like Gabe Richardson, Derrick Munson, Hayden Henry and Alexy Jean-Baptiste, when he returns from a foot injury, can provide much-needed depth at the “Razor” and “Hog” positions.
Arkansas outside linebackers coach Chad Walker said the specifics of playing Razor and Hog begin with establishing the edge against the run and forcing ball carriers to go east and west, rather than straight downfield.
“So we’re the edge setters,” Walker said. “We’ve got to be stout on the outside, play with great leverage and be able to turn the ball back inside. And then when it’s our turn to spill, sometimes we’ve got to be able to spill the football.
“The next thing we’ve got to be able to do is affect the quarterback. Whether that’s getting the quarterback off the spot, getting batted balls, that type of stuff. When our number’s called in the pass game, we’ve got to go after it, we’ve got to get him off the spot.”
The play of the inside linebackers, led by Dre Greenlaw and De’Jon Harris, also looms large for the Razorbacks. Ideally, the inside backers stay clear of firing guards, but encroaching linemen will be an obstacle.
“With this defense obviously you’ve got to be able to run on the edge and defeat blocks,” inside linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves said. “Because there are going to be times those guys have a chance to come off blocks and get on you, and we’ve got to able to beat them and then get back downhill and make those tackles in the backfield.
“But the lateral movement is the key, man, because of what people are going to try to do us. They’re not going to try to pound us down inside. They’re going to try to get on the edges, so we’ve got to get on the edges.”
Bielema described the process of teaming with Rhoads and putting together the 3-4 concepts Arkansas will employ as fun.
“We’ve had the idea of what we want, what he’s used in the past, what I’ve used in the past,” Bielema said. “That will be a very seamless transition from what we’ve already been doing.”
Bielema and Rhoads changed all the verbiage but tried to keep the terms and the concepts easy to learn and to make adjustments.
“It’s not hard to learn the 3-4,” Harris said halfway through camp. “Less calls, simple checks, so I think I’m coming a long way with it.”
The defensive brain trust hopes that attitude prevails among the Razorbacks defenders embarking on the new scheme.
“The place that we’re trying to find is, what’s the best personnel? Where to put it?” Bielema said during the winter. “What coach is going to be working with what? And then try to make that as adjustable as soon as possible for our players.
“I think we’ve recruited a higher caliber of athlete here since Year 1 to where we are now. I really like the fact that we’ll have eight guys on their feet before the ball is snapped. Athletically, I think we should be able to do that.”
The Razorbacks will find out soon whether the move to the 3-4 can lead to big-time improvement.