Versatility Vital to Elko's Scheme

When it comes to Notre Dame and coaching positions, I've learned that it's not official until it's actually official. Technically Mike Elko is not officially the next defensive coordinator for the Fighting Irish yet. All signs point to it being official very soon, though, and that is enough of a reason for us to look deeper into what he has done that earned him the gig in South Bend.

We know statistically his defenses have overachieved relative to the raw talent he has had to work with. Wake Forest has been one of the worst teams in the Power 5 in regards to recruiting rankings in the last four seasons and it didn't stop them from ranking as the 28th best defense in S&P+ in 2016. That is above blue blood programs like Notre Dame, Georgia, UCLA, and Texas A&M.

The same goes for FEI, where they finished ranked 37th ahead of Miami, Florida State, Oklahoma, and many others with rosters filled with players who likely never considered going to Wake Forest.

It was no fluke that they held Syracuse to 114 yards less than their average. That was the same Syracuse team that put up more yards than anyone against what is considered to be an elite Virginia Tech defense. It wasn't luck that Wake allowed the least amount of points that Florida State scored in a single game all season either. As I'm sure many Notre Dame fans remember, Wake was the only team that held the Irish under 300 yards of total offense all season in 2015. In fact, no other defense allowed less than 405 yards against Notre Dame throughout that season. Even Boston College, Ohio State, and Clemson in a monsoon couldn't do that.

The results say it loudly: Mike Elko can flat out coach defense. He did a great job at Bowling Green and then Wake Forest. I think he can do an equally great job with Notre Dame's defense and he'll have more overall talent to work with as well.

I know what you're thinking. That's nice and all, but what kind of defense is he bringing with him to South Bend and can it fit the current personnel they already have?

Since his hiring seems like a formality at this point, there is no need to wait before diving into what Elko will bring to Notre Dame in terms of his scheme and philosophy.

Let's get to it.

His scheme is multiple

I think everyone wants definitive answers because of what they are familiar with when it comes to a scheme. They are thinking 4-3, 3-4, or some other base front. Technically his base defense has been labeled a 4-2-5, but that isn't really what it is. His scheme is multiple and it can vary from opponent to opponent or down to down.

The front may have 4 down on one snap or 3 down on another. Some plays it looks like a 4-4 with 8 guys in the box and a couple of plays later he may have six guys lined up on the line of scrimmage. He presents different looks to the offense frequently.

I can see how that might sound scary to some who just got done watching Brian VanGorder's defense for two and half years. The thinking was that he had too much of everything. Too many personnel packages. Too much volume in the playbook. It's much different with Elko in my opinion.

Yes, he has sub-packages, but he relies more on his players to be versatile and do multiple roles. The edge players in particular, the outside guys that would have their hand down in a 40 front, are asked to do different things. At least one of those edge players will often flip playing with his hand in the dirt or in a two point. One play he'll be rushing and the next he'll have the running back in man coverage. It really is a hybrid of a linebacker and defensive end.

Often times they'll have two of those players on the field at the same time. It's the role that I expect Daelin Hayes, Julian Okwara, and Jamir Jones to play next season. They are the type of athletes that should be a perfect fit for this defense.

As for the 5th defensive back, that is much more of a hybrid player as well. It's not that much different than some of the things they asked James Onwualu to do in the defense. Some would call it the Dime or the Money 'backer. Others may call it Rover. Whatever the terminology, it could mean playing in the box off the ball on 1st down then lining up head up on the tight end and covering that guy the following play.

That's a spot where I think Drue Tranquill is best suited. He's always been a tweener because of his size and skill set. It's a position that should fit what he can do as a blitzer, tackler, and it won't ask him to cover in the same way that he did this season at strong safety.

Okay, so maybe that is scaring you thinking that certain players will have to know too much, but it's really not as complicated as what BVG was asking some of the players to do. The coverage isn't as varied and in the six games I just watched of Elko's defenses at Bowling Green and Wake, I never saw a defensive lineman be asked to do something that he was physically incapable of doing. There is no need to worry about Jay Hayes or Daniel Cage having to drop into a zone any time soon based on what I have seen.

Elko's got scheme, but it's not overwhelming scheme. Jobs are very defined post snap and that means there are far less busts. Players can go out and play hard and make plays. If they get beat physically, then they get beat physically. But I saw very few mental mistakes that led to big plays against his defenses even though he ran multiple fronts.

His defenses get after the quarterback

It seems like every defensive coordinator talks about getting after the quarterback and how important it is, but Elko has the track record to back it up. His defenses get sacks. They have averaged 30 a season and his Wake unit had 37 in 2016. It's not an all the time thing, but if he thinks he can beat a team with the blitz, he is going to bring the heat on 3rd down.

When Bowling Green played Pitt in a bowl game, he was relentless with pressure on 3rd down. They didn't drop 8 or only rush 4 very often. There was plenty of 5 and 6 man pressure and when they did rush 4, they were creative about it like they were on this play.

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The edge player to the left is the hybrid. On another play he might rush, but he has the back in man coverage. The threat of him coming occupies to the tackle and the defensive tackle rushes outside to replace him. The left guard followed him and that is what left the linebacker with a free run at the quarterback.

That was all the design of that pressure that made it happen and it should have been a sack if the defensive tackle stayed outside like he was supposed to. Regardless of that, they got pressure and forced a scramble on 3rd and long. Pitt was forced to punt and went 3 and out to start the game.

Here's another example of creativity with a 4 man pressure versus Clemson in 2014.

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Again it's the edge player, the hybrid who could be rushing, but has the running back in man coverage. He doesn't rush, but the inside linebacker is blitzing and the edge player on the opposite side loops inside trailing behind him to pick up the sack. All it took was the the 3 technique to occupy the left guard for a split second and it opened up the lane for the edge player to come free.

Of course everyone wants Notre Dame to have a Myles Garrett who can come off the edge and beat a tackle with speed, but they just don't have great one on one pass rushers on the roster. They will need to scheme to get more sacks and Elko has had success doing that.

Aggressive on 1st down and winning with numbers in the running game

Like every defensive coordinator Elko wants to force the opposition into 3rd and long. One thing that stood out to me was how aggressive he was on 1st down. The best way to get a team into 3rd and long is to stop them on 1st down and he frequently dropped down a safety to for additional numbers in the box whether it was 7 or 8 for the defense. Occasionally that can result in some big chunk yardage in the running game if players miss tackles, but playing with a single high safety and having an extra defender near the line of scrimmage is beneficial in stopping the run.

Sometimes he'll split the field with his safeties and have two high, but very rarely on running downs did I see a safety not drop down.

I think that's a big reason why he isn't afraid to blitz a safety from depth either. If it gets picked up, it could end up putting the defense in a vulnerable position. But it's a risk reward type of thing whether it is run or pass and Elko seems willing to take that risk more often than others.

The very first play of the game against Notre Dame is a great example of that.

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This is cover one (man coverage with a free safety over the top) because the other safety is coming on a blitz. If DeShone Kizer gets this ball to Chris Brown, it's a huge play to start the game. He was a half-second late in releasing the ball and Josh Adams didn't recognize the blitz. Kizer got hit and floated one where Brown had no shot at it.

1st and 10 becomes 2nd and 10, then eventually a 3 and out to start the game for Wake Forest.

Elko's defenses do a good job getting off the field on 3rd down. His final two Bowling Green teams were 4th and 29th in 3rd down conversion percentage and his last two Wake defenses were 36th and 32nd. Notre Dame's 2012 defense was 36th. Some of Elko's success on 3rd down has to do with pressure, but another part is getting teams in 3rd and long situations because he is so aggressive on 1st down.

Here's another example of a safety blitz where he is trailing the inside linebacker and picking his spot on 1st down.

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This is Bowling Green vs Pitt again and the quarterback is likely thinking he will have time because of the play-action fake. He didn't realize the safety was coming in his pre-snap read and Elko's aggressiveness earned his defense a sack.

He adjusts what he does game by game

The thing I liked most about Elko's defense? He never seemed to be married to his own scheme. There was never a feeling that I got watching it where I felt he didn't tweak his game plan or make adjustments based on what he was facing.

When Bowling Green played San Jose State and all they could do was throw it, his defense looked very different than when he played Pitt and they wanted to run it down the throat of the defense with James Conner. And because he knew that Pitt had a ton of injuries on the offensive line that game, Elko ran far more 5 and 6 man pressures than I saw from him in any other game because he knew he could hit home. They ended up losing that game because Conner refused to be tackled, but they knocked Pitt quarterback Tom Savage out of the game after hitting him so many times.

His game plans were always very opponent specific.  That is something I didn't think was always the case with BVG and the adjustments to what was going wrong didn't happen often enough.

I'm not sure if this was an adjustment or part of the original game plan, but Wake sacked Kizer in 2015 because they obviously were aware of how Notre Dame's offense approached their checks. Defenses would show a certain look and Kizer would always check the protection or audible to another play. I'm sure Irish fans were very used to seeing that in every game.

Wake knew that and so they never hinted at the possibility of the corner blitzing on this 3rd and 14 play. They showed something else, Kizer adjusted, and then the corner timed it up perfectly as the play clock ran down. It resulted in this:

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Great job by the corner executing and finishing the play, but he only has that opportunity because the coach put him in that position to make the play.

After watching several games of Mike Elko's defense, I'm very excited to see what he can do with Notre Dame. I like how he uses his personnel and think that some versatile athletes on the 2017 team are going to have a chance to really make a big impact in new roles next season.

He's had success on 3rd down, in the red zone, and at getting to the quarterback. Those are three critical areas that Notre Dame has not been very good in most years under Brian Kelly.

It's not like there won't be questions about him heading into the job. He'll have to prove he can recruit at a high level and that he cares about it unlike the previous DC. He'll have to face a tougher schedule and has a very tough slate of September games to deal with as well. And although his players were usually beat physically and not mentally, there are still some holes on the defense that he will inherit.

Those will eventually have answers and it doesn't do much good to worry about them now other than in recruiting. But for now, I think Notre Dame fans should be very happy with the hire if it goes through as planned. He's a very good football coach and I think he should be able to take the defense to a much higher level than it has been for most of the last three seasons.