April 4, 2007

Spring Practice: Defense steps up

Tuesday was a day for the defense. It recorded eight "takeaways" in various drills. The word takeaway is defined more broadly than the word "turnover".

You add stops on fourth down to the usual suspects, fumbles and interceptions, and you get the team statistic of "takeaways". The Hurricane defense had several stops in down and distance drills.

In position drills, the linebackers and defensive backs took turns rushing quarterbacks with running backs in the backfield for protection. It really was a one-on-one drill since the QB's green shirts mean hands off except to say hello.

The best showing in this drill cam from Alain Karatepeyan. The massive senior speed rushed the blocker, executed a perfect reverse spin move on the blocker and proceeded to "hypothetically" bury the quarterback.

The blockers were a mix of tight ends and running backs. Karatepeyan's victim, other than the quarterback, was Jacob Frank.
