Co-DC Brad Lambert: 'We want to be an attacking, Down-4 team'
First it was Nick Holt. Then, Bob Diaco. Now, it’s Brad Lambert’s turn to coordinate the Purdue defense.
Lambert’s marching orders: Be aggressive.
“We want to be an attacking, Down-4 team,” said Lambert after practice on Friday. “That's who we are. We'll slide into some Down-3 stuff, but we're gonna be an attacking, Down-4 team. That's who we were at Marshall (where Lambert ran the defense the last two seasons) and we'll bring that same mentality here. ... "
That’s what Purdue coach Jeff Brohm was preaching as the program was entering spring football last week coming off a 2-4 season and looking for its first winning record since 2017.
Be aggressive. Attack. Make plays. Brohm will get a good look at his new defense during a scrimmage Saturday morning.
"I definitely want to see us go out there and compete," said Brohm. "Challenge plays, play aggressive. I want us to be physical. I want us to get after the quarterback and I want to make sure that we have a defense that has the identity that I believe in. And I think that's going to be the goal. I want our players that when they take the field to understand that, yes, we are going to challenge things. We are going to be aggressive in our approach. We are going to gamble if we have to.”
And Brohm will be very involved in the defense, which is breaking in two other new assistants in addition to Lambert, the co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach: line coach Mark Hagen and cornerbacks coach Ron English.
Soon, another new defensive assistant will be on board to replace co-coordinator/safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, who just as spring ball started left for the same position at Penn State. A replacement likely won’t come until after spring ball concludes on March 19.
“He’s had quite a bit involvement so far,” said Lambert of Brohm. “He comes in with us every day. I enjoy it because he brings an offensive perspective. What happens to you on defense, you think you're affecting the offense in a certain way. But when you get a perspective from an offensive coach who looks at it from the other side, it can really help you. He’s been extremely helpful from that standpoint.
“He and I talked about that through the interview process. He said he wanted to be more involved. We welcome that. I really do appreciate his perspective on things on how they attack certain defenses. I'll ask him all the time: What would bother him in this situation? Does this even affect the offense? And he'll be able to tell us that and help us from that standpoint.”
Lambert arrived in West Lafayette with an extensive resume. The 56-year-old most recently was Marshall defensive coordinator/safeties coach. He also coordinated the defense at Wake Forest (2008-10) and was head coach at Charlotte (2011-18). Now, he’s in charge of reversing the fortunes of the Boilermaker defense.
“This defense is pretty much, if not the same, similar to our defense two years ago under Coach Holt,” said sixth-year senior linebacker Semisi Fakasiieiki.
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One of the big goals for Lambert: winning third down. Last year, Purdue finished No. 13 in the Big Ten, allowing opponents to convert 43.7 percent of the time (38-of-87).
“What we want is our guys to really be aggressive and we have to be really good on third down,” said Lambert. “Third down is a huge point of emphasis for us. We can't punt on defense, so we got to get off the field on third down. And that's a big deal to us and that'll be a big emphasis with our guys. We've got to win third down and get off the field, get the ball back to the offense.”
Lambert will have some talent to construct his defense, including junior end George Karlaftis and senior DaMarcus Mitchell, who has been working at “Leo,” a hybrid end/linebacker spot that Derrick Barnes played in 2019 when Holt was running the defense. Those two will be centerpieces of a defense that has to improve a pass rush that saw Purdue rank last in the Big Ten in sacks in 2020.
“George is playing extremely well,” said Lambert. “DaMarcus is an athletic guy. We had a guy similar to him at Marshall (Tavante Beckett), came out early, is going in the draft. DaMarcus is bigger. I think he's 265-270 pounds, really athletic. We got to utilize those guys. We really got to showcases those guys, utilize them and make sure that we put them in position to be successful.”
The linebacking unit also is taking shape, with Fakasiieiki at MIKE (Jaylan Alexander is out), junior Jalen Graham at SAM (field side) and perhaps the biggest surprise in the early goings of spring drills at WILL: OC Brothers, a sophomore transfer from Auburn.
“OC Brothers is a guy that transferred in, has really had a good first three or four days,” said Lambert. “I've really been pleased with him. He’s an active guy. Really active, really athletic. So, I've been pleased with that for a new guy coming in.”
Lambert says he has installed most of his defense and will refine things from here.
“We put a lot in,” said Lambert. “We’ve kind of thrown it all at them, see what sticks and then we’ll kind of scale it down as we move along.
“We've got a lot on their plate right now and that's kind of been the fun part is seeing how they're handling it.”
Graham likes what he has seen so far as the first week of spring drills draws to a close.
"I think (the aggressive approach) will be good for us in the sense just because it's gonna allow us to play fast," said Graham. "I feel like we got enough speed at the linebacker level and that's gonna let us just kind of see, react and flow to the play."
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