In 2019 our rushing defense was ranked #48 in the nation, our pass defense was ranked #16 in the nation, total defense came in at #23, and scoring defense came in at #29. This was our best defense since 2015. jmo.
In 2020 our rushing defense improved to #41 while our pass defense fell off of a cliff, down to #106. In total defense/game we came in at #65 and our scoring defense fell to #69. This was our 5th worst defense in the last 12 years. jmo.
I was trying to figure out what the hell happened to our pass defense. We lost Warrior and Shamburger didn’t play all that much due to grades I think. Everybody else was back. jmo.
I looked at the quarterbacks we faced and specifically at how long we gave each one to throw when they went up against us. I looked at how many blockers on average they used to protect the quarterback in our game and I looked at their NCAA passer rating for that one game against us. All these numbers are specific to the QB’s game with us and us alone. We struggled mightily in pass defense. jmo.
It doesn’t look like we gave the QB all that much time to throw so I’m hesitant to think the issue was our pass rush but Darrell Taylor was off to the NFL so maybe not on average but on occasion that could have contributed to us making almost every QB we faced last year look like an all-pro. jmo.
I’m pretty sure a lot of it had to do with the lack of coverage skills by our linebackers but I also think part of it could be Pruitt’s meddling in the defensive play calls. He did that a lot. jmo.
The thing is with Willie Martinez, the guy who coached Tim Banks in college, we have a former Volunteer secondary coach that perhaps contributed to at least four of our recent defensive backs landing NFL contracts, Moseley, Sutton, Coleman, and Gaulden. He wasn’t exactly working with guys anyone outside our program had that high up the ratings board. Gaulden earned close to $5M and I think the other 3 are still getting paid. jmo.
I think maybe Beasley and Banks is an upgrade in pass coverage at linebacker compared to HT and Crouch. I guess we’ll see but I’m figuring our run defense will either sustain or improve while our overall defense may have a lot of upside surprise potential for this year owing mostly to a likely significant improvement in our pass defense. As a minimum I don't think the pass defense can get much worse than what Pruitt put on the field in 2020. jmo.