Linebackers Coach Jason Tarver (8.7.23)
So I guess, how is the linebacker position different in this scheme than maybe what you guys did last year, a couple of years before?
“It’s very similar in how we line up, but our aggressiveness has increased. We can get downhill in certain situations and help take blocks off the D line. So in our scheme, our D line’s job is to mess stuff up and attack it, and our job is to fix it. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to be off the ball, we’re going to be fixing a lot of things, and then when we get our chance to blitz in this system, it’s pretty awesome. We got to go as fast as the D line and so we do a lot of things with the D line, like competitions to see who can take off on the ball the fastest. And we’ll do some of those today in practice, actually.”
And when you look at the guys, you know, obviously, I know Taki (Sione Takitaki) hasn’t gotten out there and he’s still coming back same with A-Walk (Anthony Walker), J-O-K (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah). All those guys, how do they kind of fit in that almost like just go attack mode?
“What’s great about it is the positions, most of our guys are learning every position, so the position flexibility is great. They’ll all get a chance to blitz and drop and do things, so they all fit well. And what’s cool is they all have slightly different skill sets and they know it, and it allows us as coaches to use them for what they do best. And so, you’ll see rotations of linebackers by situations this year, knock on wood, we stay healthy this year, but it allows us to use their strengths to help us make plays.”
We were talking to Brandon (Lynch) yesterday about the cornerbacks, and it’s kind of the same thing, right? Like those guys’ roles might change week to week. Is that sort of how it might be with your guys?
“Yeah. If certain guys are covering better, we can use them in situations. If certain guys are blitzing better, we can use them in situations. So, you’re going to see a rotation anyway, because we want to rotate our linebackers so they’re fresh and allow them to play the spots that do what they do best and give us matchups from week to week if we need that.”
With that rotation. How important is it that you guys have been focusing on maybe cleaning up or simplifying the communications? A linebacker seems like the position that it means the most, right? So how does that affect when you have that rotation of guys?
“To answer that, we have two roles on our defense. One is the nerve center, like you said, right. The nerve center of the brain makes quick communications. The linebackers and the safeties working together to tell everybody else what to do so they can go fast, right? The corners and the D lineman – the D lineman have people six inches in front of their faces and they need direct things so that they can attack people. And what Coach Schwartz does is he simplifies the scheme so that we can play fast. So, it’s our job to keep it simple and do that. It’s like times tables versus really hard equations, right? I studied hard equations in college. We don’t need that. We need to know two times four equals eight and go, alright? I got that right. right? No I’m kidding. And then the second thing is to control because of the D line attacking and who ever isrushing. Could be us, could be DBs, whoever is rushing. We need to have our eyes in the right places to make that right. So, when you play this style, they need to go knock things around and make plays. There were some good examples yesterday in practice and we need to be in position to make them right. So physical and then getting calls out to the nerve center.”
How have the guys responded to that. I mean, is this something they’re excited about or is this maybe a learning curve for them?
“Well anytime you learn things, you get it and you know the words, but then you got to go put it to effect, so then it goes down and then you keep wavering and then you master it. So, we’re coming up. One of our goals for Greenbrier was to own the scheme. We’re coming back out of that. We’re getting close. They like it because they all get a chance to do things and it’s quick communication. So the guys are real excited about that part.”
Coach, JOK (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) is one of the main guys were dealing with and physically he had some expectations last season. He’s made little changes, he’s clean-shaven. You’re making sure he’s good and everything. How do you feel his mindset has really been different in transition going into this?
“I think Jeremiah, most recently the past few days, has done a really nice job of letting him stay in the moment. His strength is his feel for movement. You guys have heard, everybody’s heard this from me and coaches before, his feel for how things move and where the ball is elite and he can make really quick decisions. But sometimes if he’s making things complex when they should just be simple – see ball, get ball – it’ll slow him down sometimes because he takes in so much information. His last three days, he’s really allowed himself to do that. So, we see him progressing, he needs to stay in that. As for his body, he’s become more of a pro. Ao far through camp, because you heard it from me at the end of last season, he needs to get strong, right?
Need to get strong. Because the stronger he is, the more plays he can play right and the more consistent he’ll be. He has been productive in his snaps throughout his career, but as he continues to keep his strength plan and let himself play in the moment, that’s the progression we need to see again. The last three days are starting to come up. He’s had some of what we call teach reps that are perfect execution of reps, either taking the quarterback off of throws or making plays. I mean, he had four yesterday that are like, do this every time man, this is perfect.”
We saw he’s got his one hand wrapped up pretty good. He was kind of fighting through an injury.
“You know, Coach Stefanski talked about injuries, but he is doing well with whatever is bothering him. With all young players, you got to work through bumps, bruises, things that are hurt to play this game. Because that’s what happens. You got to play through different things. And he’s doing that right now, so that’s good. “
With Anthony (Walker), you know, bringing him back after you lost him last year, how important is he to that room? Just the leadership, everything he brings.
“Yeah, everything he does. Anthony, he is locked in. He loves football. He’s all about football. And he approaches it a lot like coaches (do) where he wants to know the rules and why. And he’s really good, like with some of our younger players throughout camp and the Browns internal TV, have done some things on it. But even yesterday, the two rookies are in and before I can get to them, A-Walk’s got them and he’s coaching them on the right way to do things. So, it’s really cool. His role of helping and he’s so unselfish that it really helps not only as a team but now he’s starting to get some reps. So it’s cool to see him back out there and doing it right so everybody else can see him doing it right.”
You mentioned Jeremiah’s (Owusu-Koramoah) skill set and then you also mentioned what Jim Schwartz does with the D line and how linebackers are going to have the job of cleaning things up. How much does that weigh in having the ability to just have that instinct of reading guys, knowing where to go? How much will that actually play into Jim Schwartz’s defense in this scheme?
“Yeah, not just Jeremiah, but all of them. Like you said, our job is to keep it simple enough so when something moves and the D line makes somebody move somewhere to be able to move to the right spot, fix it. And of course, that is one of Jeremiah’s strengths. So as long as his mind is clear. And again, we keep it simple, we don’t need to make things harder than they are and go play fast. That’s why he’s here. That’s why we’re here. So that part’s exciting.”
A lot has been made about Jeremiah’s (Owusu-Koramoah) size. Obviously, you just commented on it with tight ends being such a big factor in the passing game in the NFL today. Is there a science to getting Jeremiah in the right body frame so he can kind of cover those faster, quicker, tight ends, but kind of keep someone like Lamar Jackson from beating him with his legs?
“Oh, yeah. So how Jeremiah is built, he has length for his body and he’s quick. He has a great ability to keep his feet apart. And he’s played in space throughout. I don’t know if you’ve seen his basketball highlights but he’s pretty good. But he’s played in space and he has the ability to keep his feet apart. And he has enough length and height in his body to play the bigger framed guys as well as being able to match backside of the backfield. So some of that in certain types of our match coverages, whether it’s man or match zone, that can be really good for this young man. So that’s why we got to keep it simple and keep him cupping. And he’s very confident in those things. And that’s good. We need him to do that.”
When we talk about matchups and guys playing different roles, how important is it? I mean, you guys have so many different body types in that room. How important is that? How valuable is that to you and to Jim (Schwartz) to just have guys that look different, play different, all of that stuff?
“Yeah, I think what’s really cool about where we are right now, and we need to keep going is the different body types in all the position groups on defense. Because now it gives you – it’s change-ups, right? You can’t throw the same pitch all the time, right? Even those that throw over 100 mph know that, right? Even (Emmanuel) Clase. So what it allows us to do is match by situations or whatever. So say you got power rushers, you got power backers, they run a run downhill. We’ll put those guys in there, and then every once in a while, the next guy might go and slip a block and make a play. So in all three of the defensive position groups right now, we like our flexibility and we like both the mentality and what our guys bring. And what’s cool, like we said about the scheme, is use our guys, use the scheme so that we can maximize each player’s ability to be their best.”
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