Tim DeRuyter came to Texas Tech a veteran defensive coordinator. With experience at Oregon standing out in particular, the Red Raider faithful were excited to see what he can do. And I the results have largely been positive, as the defensive gameplan week to week appears to have a real cohesive plan of attack, and the defense makes adjustments as the game goes something you just love to see.

DeRuyter brought with him a hybrid scheme, leaning on a 3-4 and 3-3-5 base shell. The scheme takes three down linemen, two inside backers, an extra outside backer who doubles as a coverage player, and the STAR (a nickel corner) to double as additional run support and coverage. The scheme sees a lot of zone coverages, with the rush defense anchored by the play of the ILBs. With Tech’s history of strong linebacker play the last several years (look for Ben Roberts this season to make a huge leap forward into true stardom) the scheme has worked wonders in improving Tech’s rush defense.

The issue is that naturally, you might be thinking is that wouldn’t it be harder to generate pressure with just three down linemen? For DeRuyter the solution is a “crapload” of blitz packages. Tech blitzes, a lot, and will keep doing that this season. Pass rush was lacking last season which hurt, so generating what I refer to nonorganic pressure was critical. Hopefully with better pass rushing (another Tyree Wilson clone would be very helpful), the blitzes can be utilized less as a desperate option and more as a change of pace move.