12-26-2022, 05:59 PM
The other piece I wanted to look at was Wisconsin's defensive personnel usage.
Judging by the participation report lists of starters, they run a mix of nickel (2-4-5) and 3-4, with more games starting in 3-4 and arguably trending more in that direction the last three years, though it's generally stable in terms of being in 3-4 a bit more than nickel. Over the last three years I counted 18 games starting in 3-4, 12 games starting in nickel, and one game starting in a dime (1-4-6). On paper this seems like a significant difference from Stanford's 2022 defense, though some of this is terminological and guys labeled as DEs in one system can be OLBs in another.
For what it's worth, by PFF's classification of positions the top 15 contributors in Stanford's 2022 defense included three defensive interior, three edge, four linebackers, two safeties, and three cornerbacks while Wisconsin's 2022 defense includes three defensive interior, three edge, three linebackers, two safeties, and four cornerbacks. Wisconsin's 2021 defense was four defensive interior, two edge, two linebackers, three safeties, and four cornerbacks. Wisconsin's 2020 defense was four defensive interior, three edge, two linebackers, three safeties, and three cornerbacks. I don't want to read too much into the technical classification of positions and vagaries between years but this is suggestive of the Wisconsin defense requiring more defensive interior and fewer linebackers. To test the proposition a bit I went a bit further back and see that they had four key contributor defensive interior in 2019 and 2016 and FIVE (holy crap) in 2018. In contrast, Stanford last had four key contributor defensive interior in 2019. In short, Wisconsin has had four key big uglies on defense four of the last seven years (2021, 2020, 2019, and 2016) and Stanford has only twice (2018, 2017).
This emerges for me as another big question about bringing April on board. The Wisconsin defense does use meat up front. Can Stanford replicate that? If the Stanford defense uses fundamentally different personnel than what April succeeded with at Wisconsin, that's a major variable that would significantly decrease confidence in his ability to translate. In the short term, one wonders if Keneley or Armitage can be essentially full time up at the line.
Judging by the participation report lists of starters, they run a mix of nickel (2-4-5) and 3-4, with more games starting in 3-4 and arguably trending more in that direction the last three years, though it's generally stable in terms of being in 3-4 a bit more than nickel. Over the last three years I counted 18 games starting in 3-4, 12 games starting in nickel, and one game starting in a dime (1-4-6). On paper this seems like a significant difference from Stanford's 2022 defense, though some of this is terminological and guys labeled as DEs in one system can be OLBs in another.
For what it's worth, by PFF's classification of positions the top 15 contributors in Stanford's 2022 defense included three defensive interior, three edge, four linebackers, two safeties, and three cornerbacks while Wisconsin's 2022 defense includes three defensive interior, three edge, three linebackers, two safeties, and four cornerbacks. Wisconsin's 2021 defense was four defensive interior, two edge, two linebackers, three safeties, and four cornerbacks. Wisconsin's 2020 defense was four defensive interior, three edge, two linebackers, three safeties, and three cornerbacks. I don't want to read too much into the technical classification of positions and vagaries between years but this is suggestive of the Wisconsin defense requiring more defensive interior and fewer linebackers. To test the proposition a bit I went a bit further back and see that they had four key contributor defensive interior in 2019 and 2016 and FIVE (holy crap) in 2018. In contrast, Stanford last had four key contributor defensive interior in 2019. In short, Wisconsin has had four key big uglies on defense four of the last seven years (2021, 2020, 2019, and 2016) and Stanford has only twice (2018, 2017).
This emerges for me as another big question about bringing April on board. The Wisconsin defense does use meat up front. Can Stanford replicate that? If the Stanford defense uses fundamentally different personnel than what April succeeded with at Wisconsin, that's a major variable that would significantly decrease confidence in his ability to translate. In the short term, one wonders if Keneley or Armitage can be essentially full time up at the line.