In Part One of our Bears' Football Season Preview, we looked at the team's offense, finding that they will be returning a solid percentage of their productive players from 2009. For the second part of our Season Preview, we will look at the Bears' Defense, and try to get a sense of how things will shape up for this unit in 2010.
In 2009, the Bears' defense was about average for Division III. They gave up slightly more points per game (25.3 to 25.1) and a few more yards per game (374 to 344) than the average DIII defense. The unit was far superior when compared to the team's offense, which was significantly below average in both categories (19.4 ppg, 285 yds/gm).
We will be looking at some statistics courtesy of the WUSTL Athletics Site, which provides all the raw numbers used here. You will see a couple new stats here called wAst and wTkl. wAst is the number of assisted tackles a player makes multiplied by .46, a number taken from the average number of players assisting on a tackle. wTkl is simply wAst plus Solo tackles. This is more accurate in assessing production that simply adding assists plus tackles, since it rewards players for making the more difficult solo tackles.
In order to see how the Wash U. Defense can continue and improve on this success, we will look at each level of defense: the defensive line, the linebackers, and the secondary.
Defensive Line
The Bears used four different starting lineups in 2009, the most common being the lineup they used for the last 5 games of the season, with senior Brendan O'Mahony, sophomore Dan Sufranski, junior John Schneider, and senior Nick Gialessas.
Sufranski started every game at defensive tackle, while O'Mahony took the other DT spot for the last nine games after junior Todd Palmer started the first game at DT. At defensive end, senior Tim Taylor started off the season as a starter before being replaced by Schneider in the sixth game of the season. Nick Gialessas was consistently in the starting lineup as a DE, starting nine of ten games.
John Schneider was the most productive member of the DL, leading the unit in both Solo tackles and assisted tackles. Brendan O'Mahony and Nick Gialessas were able to get some good tackles for loss, as both of them made over 20% of their tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Despite starting all ten games, sophomore Dan Sufranski was able to accumulate just 12 wTkls, including just one TFL.
With O'Mahony and Gialesses graduated, Schneider and Sufranski have to really step it up in 2010 as the Bears will need some unproven players to step up on the defensive line. DT Todd Palmer and DE Greg Larson with both be seniors next year, and Coach Kindbom will likely count on them to fill the shoes of the productive defensive linemen that graduated last year.
Linebackers
The Bears' linebacker corp had a similar pattern to the DL as they used a few different lineups in the beginning of the season before settling into a consistent crew for the second half. The alarming thing you can see from the above chart is that only one non-senior started multiple games in 2009.
Luckily, there were a couple linebackers who managed to be productive without starting games.
You can see here that while WU has lost a solid trio in Berryman, Schiffman, and Buchanan, they still have some talent that remains from 2009. Kyle Huber, who will be a senior this year, lead the entire defense in both solo tackles and assists. His 6 tackles for loss shows his ability to get into the backfield at will. Huber will be a player to watch for the Bears in 2010, as he will be one of the top LBs in the conference.
Sophomores Kyle Larkin and Nick Hilliard will have to replace Berryman and Schiffman in the starting lineup, but you can see that they got some experience in 2009 so they at least have something to build on. With these two playing as Junior and Huber returning as one of the leaders of the defense, the Bears should have a decent group at the linebacker position.
Defensive Backs
Compared to the DL and LB units, the Wash U's secondary was quite stable in 2009, as they only used 2 different starting lineups. However, one thing that is similar to the other units is the secondary's reliance on seniors, as three of the four main starters have now graduated.
The lone returning starter is Brandon Brown, who was selected to the 2010 Preseason All-American team by D3football.com after starting all ten games in 2009.
As you can see here, the Bears have lost a lot of talent in the secondary. Tim Machan had a consistent presence in '09 with 54 wTkls including an impressive 43 solo tackles. Cornerback Nick Vom Brack was second on the team in both Passes Defended and Interceptions, and Tim Olivos also did well, playing next to Machan at safety the whole season. All those players will be gone in 2010, which will leave a big whole to be filled.
You can see in the above table how important Brown will be to the secondary this year. While his pass defense numbers are comparable to Vom Brack's his additional 13 wTkls make him a better rounded player. How the team fills out the rest of the DB unit will be interesting to see, as Marcus Shelby was the only other non-senior with ten or more wTkls.
Overview:
The Bears' defense was a strength last year, and a lot of their success was due to the seniors on the team. With those player gone, the team will need some younger guys who haven't seen so much playing time to take advantage of their chance to be on the field and prove themselves. A reassuring thing is that on each unit of the defense, they have a player who played at a high level in 2009: the DL has John Schneider, the LBs have Kyle Huber, and the DBs have Brandon Brown. All three of these players will be seniors in 2010, so they should show leadership and help this defense realize its potential.
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