Tag: Bobby King

Bellator 272 adds Emmanuel Sanchez vs. Jeremy Kennedy, three other fights

Emmanuel Sanchez, Jeremy Kennedy, and Killys Mota are among the additions.

The Bellator 272 lineup continues to build with four recent additions including a bout between two top featherweight contenders.

Two-time Bellator title challenger [autotag]Emmanuel Sanchez[/autotag] (20-6 MMA, 12-5 BMMA) will look to end a recent losing skid when he battles former UFC fighter [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (16-3 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) in a three-round featherweight bout.

A promotion official informed MMA Junkie of the booking on Thursday, in addition to a lightweight booking between [autotag]Mike Hamel[/autotag] (8-5 MMA, 1-2 BMMA) and [autotag]Killys Mota[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 1-1 BMMA).

The Bellator official also confirmed a bantamweight bout between [autotag]Tommy Espinosa[/autotag] (6-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Jornel Lugo[/autotag] (7-0 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), which was initially reported by My MMA News, as well as a welterweight fight between [autotag]Levan Chokheli[/autotag] (9-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) and [autotag]Vinicius de Jesus[/autotag] (9-4 MMA, 3-2 BMMA), which was first reported by Cageside Press.

Bellator 272 takes place Friday, Dec. 3 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card airs on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.

With the additions, the Bellator 272 lineup includes:

  • Champ Sergio Pettis vs. Kyoji Horiguchi – for featherweight title
  • Jeremy Kennedy vs. Emmanuel Sanchez
  • Josh Hill vs. Jared Scoggins
  • John de Jesus vs. Keoni Diggs
  • Killys Mota vs. Mike Hamel
  • Levan Chokheli vs. Vinicius de Jesus
  • Tommy Espinosa vs. Jornel Lugo

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Texans GM Nick Caserio pleased with progress of the defensive line

Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio likes the way the defensive line is trending under new defensive line coach Bobby King.

Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio likes the direction of the new look defensive line.

The line is finishing up a transition from a 3-4 front to a 4-3 front as part of new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 scheme.

Taking over the transition for the defensive line has been Bobby King, who was the Texans’ inside linebackers coach last season.

Caserio told Texans Radio play-by-play voice Marc Vandermeer and sideline reporter John Harris on Sports Radio 610 [KILT-AM] on Monday that King has performed well handling the different strengths of the personnel.

“BK (King) has done a great job of kind of rolling those players though,” Caserio said. “When you actually look at the distribution of reps, it’s pretty balanced. It’s not the easiest thing for a coach to do that, but Bobby has handled it great.”

Defensive end Shaq Lawson told reporters on Aug. 6 that he likes the “deep group” along the defensive line, which boasts defensive ends Whitney Mercilus, Jacob Martin, Jonathan Greenard, Charles Omenihu, and defensive tackles Ross Blacklock, Maliek Collins, and Brandon Dunn.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that played a lot of ball in this league, help teams win games,” said Lawson. “It’s just been a fun group. It’s a competition in that room, so it’s been going great, well. The guys they keep, it’s going to be wonderful because we’ve got a lot of guys, and each and every guy can play in there, and they’ve helped the team in the past.”

What King and Smith will have to work with when the Texans take on the Green Bay Packers Saturday night is how to balance the personnel to provide for even snap distribution.

Said Caserio: “You want to see different people with different groups go against different players. To coordinate that and try to mix and match that, it takes some planning. So, they have some different strengths and weaknesses. Our responsibility is to be able to put them in a position to accentuate their strengths so we can maximize their performance on the defensive side of the ball.”

Houston plays Green Bay Aug. 14 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time from Lambeau Field.

Texans DL coach Bobby King says personnel is already familiar with four-man fronts

Houston Texans DL coach Bobby King says that the defense was already playing four-down fronts predominantly even though their base was a 3-4.

The Houston Texans are going from a base defense of a 3-4 to a 4-3, which seems like quite the transition as the standup outside linebackers line up in a three-point stance at the line of scrimmage.

However, defensive line coach Bobby King, who is also making the transition from inside linebackers coach to his new position, says the Texans were running four-man fronts even when their base defense was the 3-4 last season.

“We’ve done a lot of this stuff,” King told John Harris on “Texans All Access.” “Our base defense was a 3-4. There’s no doubt about that. But the big thing is we’re going to be in three-point stances a majority of the time, and that’s the big thing for defensive ends. They’re hungry to do it, and they’re loving it so far. The two-point stance, it’s not going to be around.”

The move from a 3-4 to a 4-3 means that outside linebackers Jonathan Greenard and Whitney Mercilus will line up with their hand in the dirt. Mercilus and Greenard have experience playing in 4-3 defenses going back to their college days.

How is Texans’ Whitney Mercilus adapting to playing as a defensive end?

Whitney Mercilus is adapting to the Houston Texans’ new Tampa 2 scheme. How is Mercilus looking as a defensive end?

The Houston Texans are going from a 3-4 defense, which they ran in 2011, to a Tampa 2 scheme with a 4-3 front.

What the scheme change means is that edge defenders classified as outside linebackers in the 3-4, such as Whitney Mercilus, are going to have to put their hand in the dirt and come off the ball in a three-point stance as a defensive end.

For Mercilus, playing as a 4-3 defensive end is familiar territory, although not one that he has visited since the Texans selected him in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft from Illinois. In Wade Phillips’ scheme, Mercilus was converted to a standup outside linebacker where he has tallied 54.0 sacks through 128 career games.

What’s old is new for Mercilus.

“With Whit, the funny thing is when we talked about the hand in the dirt, that’s the only thing that’s different about what’s going to be his role this year,” defensive line coach Bobby King told reporters on a Zoom call on June 8. “He said, ‘Coach, I haven’t put my hand in the dirt consistently since my junior year at Illinois.’ I said, ‘well, that was about 10 years ago.’ That’s going to be the big thing.”

According to King, after eight weeks of offseason workouts, including 10 sessions of organized team activities, the 30-year-old seems to have found his old groove.

“To be honest, he’s come in and he’s looked pretty natural doing it, hitting the sleds,” said King. “Now, we’re not going against offensive linemen, obviously, right now, but it’s been a pretty natural transition and I hope to continue to see that.”

The Texans won’t put on the pads until training camp. When they do, it will be a more accurate evaluation of how Mercilus can handle coming off the edge in a three-point stance. In shorts and no pads, Mercilus at least has good technique.

Houston Texans add Miles Smith to coaching staff, keep RB coach Danny Barrett, move Bobby King

The Houston Texans are expected to add Miles Smith as linebackers coach, shuffle Bobby King to coach the DL, and keep RB coach Danny Barrett.

The Houston Texans continue to add to their coaching staff under newly hired David Culley while also reshuffling the responsibilities of existing assistants.

According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Texans are expected to hire former Illinois linebackers coach Miles Smith, the son of new Texans defensive coordinator Lovie Smith.

The younger Smith coached linebackers under his father from 2019 until the end of their time together in Illinois. In 2018, Smith got his start with the Big Ten program as a cornerbacks coach.

From 2014-15, when the father was the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the son was defensive quality control for the team.

The Texans will also retain coaches Danny Barrett and Bobby King. Barrett will continue to coach running backs as he has since 2018 while King will move from coaching inside linebackers to coaching the defensive line, a job previously held by former defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.

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