Blitzing Aids in Defensive Success for Hoosiers

Aaron Casey sacks Justin Fields Image: Indiana University Athletics

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers had a grand total of 27 sacks in the 13 games they played during the 2019 season. Head Coach Tom Allen and Defensive Coordinator Kane Wommack knew they needed to find ways to generate more pressure on the quarterback if their defense was going to play to its potential. They spent the offseason finding some creative ways to use their personnel to bring heat to the opposing quarterback.

“We went through and evaluated, like we always do, every area and try to find what can we do to really take the next steps as a program,” Tom Allen told the media on Monday. “We’ve always been an aggressive style of defense here and that is not going to change.”

Through only five games of the 2020 season, the Hoosiers have 17 sacks. Those quarterback takedowns have come from several different places, a product of the blitz packages dialed up by Kane Wommack. Jerome Johnson has three to lead the club, something that is not at all surprising. After that though, defensive backs Tiawan Mullen, Reese Taylor and Jaylin Williams have combined for 4.5 sacks. Linebackers Micah McFadden, Cam Jones and Aaron Casey have totaled five sacks between them. The safety and Husky positions have posted three sacks and defensive linemen James Head has added 1.5. The Hoosiers don’t have a dominant defensive end or a game-changing one on one pass rusher so getting to the quarterback has become a total team effort. The increased blitzing and evaluation of what was happening when they would bring pressure led Wommack to change how the secondary was covering as well.

“We, from a coverage standpoint on the back end, did some things where we played more vision-oriented coverages, and some cover two windows and cover three windows, and that is really what we have been able to do all season long,” Wommack said. “Our ability to pressure while still playing some base coverages on the back end has changed us, in terms of our production, both in takeaways and negative plays and sacks.”

The Maryland Terrapins come to Bloomington with a young and inexperienced quarterback. Expect the Indiana Hoosiers to bring the pressure from several different places and hope their secondary can continue to reap the rewards by creating takeaways and putting their team in a position to win.