Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Retaining staff would be a similar move to Tom Herman. However, here are three reasons Sark should consider bringing Ash back as the DC:
There has been much debate as to who the next defensive coordinator for Texas will be. Continue reading “Three reasons to retain Chris Ash as defensive coordinator for Texas”
Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer delivered massive praise for Texas’ hiring of defensive coordinator Chris Ash.
When you receive a compliment from one of the most respected coaches in the game, it carries quite a bit of weight. Continue reading “Urban Meyer believes Texas DC Chris Ash was the best coordinator hire in CFB”
On Tuesday, Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Chris Ash talked about the Rugby style of tackling. Why is is safer and more effective.
When the Texas Longhorns decided to hire Chris Ash as the new defensive coordinator for the 2020 season, one of the first things I wanted to do was research his history. The first job people wanted to bring up was Rutgers. It was his most recent stop and it was anything but successful. Ash was relieved of his duties before he got very far into the 2019 year. However, he had a lot of success at Ohio State as the defensive coordinator on a National Championship team.
Phil Harrison of Buckeyes Wire spoke about his impact, specifically on his tackling style that helped Ohio State.
Another thing Ash brought to Ohio State was the concept of rugby-style tackling instead of traditional violent hitting and wrapping to bring a ball carrier down. It took convincing, but Meyer relented and Ohio State went from being a defense that missed a ton of tackles, to one that improved greatly. He’ll likely bring the same thing to Texas.
During media availability session on Tuesday, Ash was asked about this style of tackling. What exactly is rugby tackling?
“There is a lot of people out there that refer to a certain tackling style as rugby tackling,” Ash started out. “It’s just shoulder tackling. Years ago player safety became a really hot topic of conversation around how we coach the game. As we went and researched how we could make this game safer, a lot of those conversations were around tackling. We wanted to be on the forefront of trying to tackle in a way that we could reduce the number of blows to the head.”
#rugbytackle pic.twitter.com/ANzqIWmkQh
— Rocky Osborn 🤘🏽🏈🏀 🏉 🧡🌈 (@rockyknowsbest) September 9, 2020
“There is an old school way to do it and there is a new school way to do it. I studied a lot of Rugby. I see the physicality in those styles of tackling and they don’t have helmets, they don’t have protective gear on. They are using their shoulder. I really thought this is something that we could use in football. Some people were using it before. It was something we incorporated back in 2014.”
For the Longhorns defense, getting better at bringing down the ball carrier is a must. In the Big 12 Conference, especially a team like Oklahoma, making solid tackles in the open field is a must. Much like Harrison said, he improved the Buckeyes tackling. Plus as Chris Ash spoke about, player safety should be a forefront of everyones minds.
“I just think it is the safest way to tackle and honestly it is the most effective way. It’s the way most of the players tackle anyway. So as I studied that and looked at that, I’m like why are we not teaching that this way. And we made a huge transition several years ago. It’s been good to us ever since.”
New Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Chris Ash named the sixth-most important hire this offseason by Football Scoop.
Football Scoop writer Zach Barnett is writing a series of the 20 most important hires in college football. At number six he listed new defensive coordinator, Chris Ash. Head coach Tom Herman brought Chris Ash on after relieving Todd Orlando of his duties prior to the Valero Alamo Bowl against Utah. Ironically enough, Orlando made the list of most important hires at number seven.
So why is Ash so important to the success of Texas?
You never want to draw too many conclusions off of one game, particularly a game where the coach we’re talking about didn’t even coach. But let’s examine the 2019 Alamo Bowl.
As the clock (literally) wound down on the worst decade in the program’s modern history, Texas put together one of its best defensive performances of the 2010s. The ‘Horns limited Utah to 3.5 yards per rush, 5.5 yards per pass attempt, collected five sacks, racked up 21 yards in TFLs on rushing downs, won 10 of 14 third downs, permitted just 15 first downs and just generally kicked tail in a 38-10 win.
After playing off the ball all season, rising junior Joseph Ossai generated first-round hype in moving to an edge position in the ‘Horns’ new 4-down front, earning game MVP honors with nine tackles, six TFLs and three sacks.
The Longhorns were in desperate need of a change. The team made the Sugar Bowl the year prior and defeated a very talented Georgia Bulldogs team that was coming off a National Championship appearance the year prior. It was clear that Orlando had worn out his welcome. Following the season, defensive lineman Malcolm Roach claimed that the scheme under Orlando who came over with Herman from Houston actually did the team a disservice.
That style of play didn’t transfer to the NFL and the NFL didn’t understand what type of player this guy was. Or what type of player they would be getting because of the scheme we ran. I just feel 3-4 didn’t let us showcase our abilities the way we wanted to. But we understood why we were running it. I feel the 4-3 will help those guys to show their talents and more people will come out of Texas.”
We have already heard about the changes on the defense with DeMarvion Overshown moving from his safety spot to the weakside linebacker. Joseph Ossai will move from linebacker to more of an edge rusher. In the game against the Utes, Longhorns staff and fans saw just how impactful he can be when getting into the backfield.
For this reason alone, the Ash hire is extremely important. With the offenses in the Big 12, the Longhorns need to find a way to slow them down a bit. With an emphasis on getting to the quarterback this offseason, the Longhorns defense could be a huge difference maker and the man leading that charge will be Chris Ash.
