Figuring Out What Hetherman's Defense Looks Like

HARRISONBURG — If James Madison players have learned anything about their new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman and his system through two weeks of spring practice, it’s that he’s planning to bring pressure in all different ways.

“It’s super aggressive,” senior defensive end Ron’Dell Carter said. “You blitz every play.”

Hetherman is slowly installing the defense from one workout to the next, but everything defensive players do during a practice is geared to prepare them to play within the scheme that worked so well at Maine this past year.

The Black Bears reached the FCS semifinals riding their defense, which allowed the fewest rushing yards (79.2 yards per game), tallied the second most sacks (47) and forced the third most turnovers (31) in the country with Hetherman holding the same job.

JMU’s assistant coaches have not been made available to the media this spring, but Carter said him and his teammates understand what’s important to the new defensive staff.

It involves being adaptable because Hetherman likes to change personnel on the fly, according to first-year Dukes coach Curt Cignetti.

“Corey does a good job moving those guys around based on down and distance,” Cignetti said.

For clear passing situations, Hetherman wants to put speed on the field.

“He moves his D-ends inside,” Carter said. “Then he takes the quicker guys like [defensive end John] Daka and [defensive end Isaac] Ukwu and leaves them outside. He’ll probably put me and [defensive end] Matt Terrell inside, so it’s going to be a big speed package. And you’ll probably see [linebacker] Landan Word rushing off the edge, too.”

In the secondary, senior cornerback Rashad Robinson said his position group is readying to play plenty of man coverage.

With new cornerbacks coach Matt Birkett, who was with Hetherman at Maine, Robinson and his fellow cornerbacks are trying to master their footwork during individual drills so it holds up one-on-one against wide receivers.

“We’re playing a lot of press[-man coverage],” Robinson said, “which is something we’ve got to get used to, but it is something we did in [former defensive coordinator Bob] Trott’s defense, but it’s still a lot of press.

“And that’s why we were working that mirror technique with Coach Birkett so much. With us blitzing so much, no one is going to be there to help over the top. We’re all alone out there and one mistake can cost you seven points easily.”

Cornerback isn’t the only position vulnerable on the field when Hetherman calls for a blitz. Whether playing against the pass or the run, Carter said linebackers and defensive linemen have to execute their responsibilities during a blitz.

“You’ve got to worry about there being empty gaps,” Carter said. “If you blitz so much and you don’t fill a gap the correct way, there’s going to be an empty hole. Somebody [on the defense] has to fill it. All the offense has to do is some kind of gap scheme, have a guard pull or tackle pull and if you blitz in the wrong gap, there’s an empty hole somewhere.

“But if the D-line does their job up front, we have nothing to worry about. We’re pretty confident we can do that and I think Coach Hetherman is confident we can do that or else he wouldn’t be running this defense.”

The defensive line is being coached differently this season than in the past.

Hetherman works with defensive ends and assistant coach Andrew Jackson works with defensive tackles. Last year, Madison had one coach assigned to work with the entire defensive line.

“Having a D-tackle coach, we get to focus more on stuff we do,” junior defensive tackle Mike Greene said, “like breaking a double team and then our pass rush, which is a little different than D-ends, so [Jackson] makes us focus on that a little more.”

Carter said splitting the defensive ends and defensive tackles with different coaches provide him and his fellow defensive linemen more time to learn their specific roles within Hetherman’s defense as well.

Carter, Greene, Daka, Ukwu, Terrell and Adeeb Atariwa have taken reps with the first-team defense, though Daka has been limited in practice due to a minor injury.

“We’re looking for more depth on the defensive line both at end and inside,” Cignetti said. “We’re a little thin there and have some freshmen coming in that’ll be given an opportunity.”

At linebacker, Word, Dimitri Holloway and Diamonte-Tucker Dorsey are working with the first group along with safeties D’Angelo Amos and Que Reid. Two defensive starters from last season — Wayne Davis and Adam Smith — have yet to practice this spring while recovering from injuries.

Cignetti said he is not sure how Hetherman will use Davis because Davis hasn’t practice yet. Last year in his first season after transferring from Ohio State, Davis played a hybrid nickel cornerback-outside linebacker spot for the Dukes and had 45 tackles, two interceptions and six pass breakups.

“Coach Birkett and Coach Hetherman told us that they plan on playing a lot of different defensive backs in different packages, and everybody has to be ready to go,” Robinson said.

Along with Robinson, junior Wesley McCormick has worked with the first team.