Q&A: Purdue co-defensive coordinator Nick Holt
Day 2: Defense is 'linebacker friendly' | Analysis ($)
Assistant coach Q&As: Brian Brohm
Nick Holt has spent his first couple practices getting to know and evaluate his defensive players.
The real work might start Friday, when Purdue puts on pads for the first time. But the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach gave his early impressions following the Boilermakers' second practice on Wednesday:
GoldandBlack.com: What have you thought of the first two days?
Holt: “We’ve got a long way to go, really sloppy. I think the effort is good, I like the effort. I like the kids' attitude, they’re willing to learn and willing to work hard. We’ve got a long, long way to go and we’ll know a lot more when we get some pads on and (have) more practices. It’s still so early, so early.”
GoldandBlack.com: What are you particularly interested in seeing early in these practices?
Holt: “I think No. 1 is that we’d like to get our base installation, our base defensive concepts installed. But the biggest thing for us is that we need to find our best 11 players and find positions for them where they can be really successful and we have a chance to be good. We’re kind of in a fact-finding mode right now, with trying to find our best 11 or our best 12, 13, 14 guys and then put them in those positions.
"You’re going to see a lot of guys in different positions, linebackers here, D-linemen here, safeties maybe here, corners here, whatever. And you’ve got to do a good job of finding our best players and putting them in so they’re successful.”’
GoldandBlack.com: It seems you're putting a lot in schematically. Is that accurate?
Holt: “It probably is accurate, yeah, and it gets a little sloppy out there, because it was Day 2 installation, so we’ve doubled the stuff they had on the first day and obviously the first day they weren’t perfect, but we keep adding. There’s going to be a time (when) we stop, then we keep redoing it. But that’s going to be in a couple more days. We have to try to get our basic stuff in, which will hopefully be by next week, and then find what we’re good at and then use all that stuff. We have all the right stuff, but we’ve got to put the players in those positions to do the right stuff.”
GoldandBlack.com: Is there anywhere you feel good right now?
Holt: “Not really. What I do like is that they’re very willing and eager to learn, eager to please. And I like our attitude, when the kids are like that, it’s fun to coach them because they’re giving good effort. But we’ve got to keep on plugging away. But it’s early. We’ve been in underwear (no pads) for two days. We’ll get in pads on Friday and really see who the football players are.”
Q: You've called the defense 'linebacker friendly?' What makes it so?
Holt: “Well, probably the style of defense, I think linebackers like to play in it. I think the terminology, there’s a lot of things that when a linebacker plays, they say, ‘Man, that’s a fun system,’ because they get to do a lot of things. I think we have some guys who hopefully can do all that stuff, that have all those qualities for the job description.”
Q: You want those guys flowing to the football, right?
Holt: “Yeah, absolutely. And we’ve got to have great D-linemen and they’ve got to control the gaps and stuff like that and our linbackers have to make tackles.”
Q: Evaluate the top of the depth chart at linebacker.
Holt: “Well, they could be the strength of our football eam, especially on defense. You have two or three guys who have played a lot of football, plus we have a transfer here (T.J. McCollum) who is really going to help eventually because he knows the package and can help get everybody lined up. They’re all good athletes, most of them, the linebackers and they all can run and are strong and are very bright, so they’ll be fun to coach … eventually … they’re not all there yet now. But I think that’s a position where we might be eventually be pretty good at.”
GoldandBlack.com: You think they have the instincts you want?
Holt: “Yeah, I do. A couple guys have good football awareness, intelligence, can get lined up. They’ve picked it up pretty easy. Some of the things are similar to what they’ve done in the past, but we call it a bit different and maybe coach a lot differently than they’re used to but I think they’re having fun.”
GoldandBlack.com: Rob Simmons is a young player who you have moved to linebacker, and he gives you a big, athletic body there.
Holt: “Well, you look at him and he doesn’t have a clue right now. But he’s one of those body types where we need to find a place for him and highlight what he can do. He’ll show up. He might not do everything right right now, which he doesn’t, but you can notice him out there. He can move, he’s sudden, he’s long, he takes up a lot of space and that’s important. Hopefully, he can continue to improve. It’s so early.”
GoldandBlack.com: Gelen Robinson is playing inside at defensive tackle, a move from end.
Holt: “He needs to. When you’re 280 pounds or whatever he is now, he needs to be inside. He’s quick. He’s a good athlete for an inside guy. He causes havoc. That’s one of the positions where we’re searching for guys and he’s a perfect example of trying to find a great position for him, where he’s really going to have success and help our defense out too.”
GoldandBlack.com: Is it a permanent move?
Holt: “Oh, we don’t know that. But when we’re playing all these fast (opponents), we need to be fast. Not that Gelen is fast, but he gives us a little more quickness inside than some other guys.”
GoldandBlack.com: What are your early thoughts on the secondary?
Holt: “I like their attitude, they’re really coachable. When it’s all said and done, I think they’re going to be coached up and be a really sound group. And like the rest of the defense, it will hopefully be a really solid unit.”
GoldandBlack.com: Safety T.J. Jallow looks the part.
Holt: “He does, and he’s explosive and has range. When he’s playing middle safety, when the ball is in the air, he can kind of get off the hash and get there, where some guys don’t have that type of range. We need more of them.”
GoldandBlack.com: You talked about putting your best 11 on the field. What if four linebackers are in your best 11? Will you play four linebackers?
Holt: “That’s what we have to do this spring, find our best guys. And hopefully it’s not all at one position where you get stacked up, so that’s why we’ve got to find our best players. But that’s what spring ball is for, and we’re so new too, we’ve got to get to know these kids and see what they can do.”
Q: What kind of attitude, ID do you want your defense to have?
Holt: “Well, you’ll come to practice and see, but we want to play with great energy and play with great effort and we want to be fast and be physical and be tenacious and be confident and we’re going to have some class when it’s all said and done, too. So when you come to practice and come watch us play, you’re going to say, ‘Wow, that team plays hard.’ So that’s what we want when we get it all put together, and hopefully it will be this year, hopefully you guys will say, ‘Man, that Purdue defense, they play hard. They play their butts off.’ And that’s what we want.”
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