In the crosshairs: Harris will be key vs Ducks
Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher
Talk about it in The Underground Bunker
EAST LANSING - In today's era of spread option football, no defensive player gets stretched by run-pass conflicts more than the slot-area linebacker.
Michigan State refers to this player as the 'star' linebacker. At other programs that institute a 4-2-5 defense, the player in the slot area might be a safety or basically a third cornerback.
Some programs, such as Virginia Tech, opt to play press man-to-man on the slot receiver with a cornerback.
MSU opts to keep a third linebacker on the field, and play several steps off of the slot receiver. This makes MSU susceptible to short hitches to the slot, as Baylor showed in the Cotton Bowl. And MSU must cover ground quickly versus bubble screens to that area, something the Spartans did exceedingly well against Western Michigan last week, but almost paid for its post-snap aggression against bubbles on one occasion when WMU faked the bubble and then released the slot receiver on a deep wheel route against 'star' linebacker Darien Harris. The receiver was wide open but dropped the pass inside the 10-yard line.
MSU prefers to go relatively heavy at 'star' linebacker with the 6-foot, 220-pound Darien Harris. In addition to being a first-responder to bubble screens, he also has an interior gap responsibility on inside running plays. Basically, that 'star' linebacker in MSU's system is asked to be two places at once. Offenses will stretch him with run-pass conflicts, showing a run action to get him sucked in, and then delivering a pass to his perimeter area. Or offenses may send a slot receiver to the sideline to threaten the bubble, and get Harris to move in that direction, and instead hit MSU inside with a running play, challenging Harris to close the daylight.
Sometimes, offenses like Oregon read Harris and decide whether the play is going to be a run or a pass several beats after the snap, depending on Harris' positioning.
Harris will be a key player at 8 p.m. on Saturday when No. 5 Michigan State plays host to No. 7 Oregon at Spartan Stadium.
A year ago, Harris started 11 of 13 games for the Spartans at 'star' linebacker. But Michigan State started pseudo defensive back Mylan Hicks in the slot linebacker position against Oregon and Baylor. Hicks wasn't great in those games, but his role revealed an evolution within MSU's system, to opt for more of a pure nickel back against some teams rather than keeping three thump-oriented linebackers on the field at all times.
Defenses have gone to nickel backs in passing situations for more than 30 years. Increasingly, nickel defenses have become base defenses in the modern game. Under Mark Dantonio and Pat Narduzzi,MSU resisted the idea of playing a 4-2-5 as a base defense, in first-and-10 situations. But, the use of Hicks in place of Harris as a starter against Oregon and Baylor signaled the beginning of a change.
With Hicks having graduated, MSU sought to improve Harris' versatility and speed for 2015, in anticipation of having him play more snaps against tempo-based spread teams such as Oregon.
Harris has dropped nearly 10 pounds since last year and is capable of playing faster, but seemed to be a bit winded a few times in patrolling the flat in the fourth quarter last week against Western Michigan.
Dantonio talks about the importance of maintaining knee-bend at pre-snap. Don't become a statue. Don't react late. Harris seemed to be one of the players guilty of becoming a bit straight-legged at times last week. Last year against Oregon, he was noticeably winded in failing to sprint to the sideline as a late fourth-and-two play broke to the outside for a touchdown.
As for last week's victory over Western Michigan in which the Spartans allowed 365 yards passing, co-defensive coordinator Mike Tressel felt the Spartans unnecessarily sagged midway through the second half.
"We gave up our first touchdown drive of the entire game came in the third quarter and all of the sudden we thought the sky was falling," Tressel said. "We need to keep our swag about ourselves and we would have been fine."
In terms of a speed and strength package, there might not be a more gifted player on the team than Harris - who has a 400-pound bench and can break 4.6 in the 40. But can he play down-after-down with the quickness and endurance needed to keep Oregon hemmed in at the slot area? That will be a key area of evaluation as Saturday's game progresses.
During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Dantonio seemed to be challenging Harris.
"Darien is in his fifth-year, he's been elected captain, with that comes an added responsibility in terms of how you play and perform on the field as well," Dantonio said. "He's got tremendous speed. We clocked him under 4.5, and he needs to play like a 4.5 player.
"So sometimes you're trying to do everything right and it slows you down a little bit. You've got to be a reactionary player out there, especially at the starting linebacker position.
"So I think he's right on the money in terms of what he's got to do. He understands what he has to do. These are opportunities, and these are things he'll talk about with his children at some point in time. Games like this, opportunities like this, that's what this is about."
What About The Back-Up?
Does Harris have a quality back-up, like he did at times in 2014?
Well, last year at this time, Hicks wasn't a proven player at 'star' linebacker, or anywhere else. He had gotten on the field a handful of times on special teams and in mop-up duty heading into his senior year. Then, in 2014, MSU elevated him to a specialized role as a nickel back of sorts against uptempo spread teams.
Hicks was a surprise starter against Oregon, and registered a pass break-up on the second play of the game. Later, there were struggles when he didn't get adequate reroutes on receivers. He was a solid contributor. He provided depth. He was lost for five games at midseason to a broken arm, and returned to post a career-high four tackles in the Cotton Bowl against Baylor.
MSU was in the process of trying to develop Jalyn Powell as a DB-type option at 'star' linebacker for 2015, '16 and '17, in moving Powell from safety to linebacker last spring. However, Powell didn't like the move and allowed redshirt freshman T.J. Harrell to edge ahead of him in the depth chart by the end of spring practice. Powell then transferred to Youngstown State, saying he did not want to play linebacker.
Harrell was regarded as a riser at the 'star' linebacker position heading into August camp. But he was overtaken by true freshman Andrew Dowell for second-string status by the end of camp. Among other things, coaches said Harrell needed to show better tackling ability.
Now, Dowell (6-0, 216) is seen as a rising talent in the program. However, his only playing time last week came on special teams.
Against Oregon, the Spartans want to play a two-deep, or more, at every position on the field. MSU came out of 2014 believing that one of the keys to being able to contain the best uptempo spread teams is to play more players.
That seemed like a fine idea when Harris had a back-up like Hicks, or the possibility of a guy like Powell or Harrell, or even former Nebraska player and junior college transfer Drake Martinez.
But Powell is gone, Harrell went south on the depth chart, and Martinez missed the Western Michigan game for undisclosed reasons. In addition, Martinez moved from 'star' linebacker to 'money' linebacker midway through camp in order to give MSU options at the position after starter Ed Davis went down with a season-ending injury.
So Martinez wouldn't be properly soaked with reps at 'star' linebacker, even if he were available. His status for Saturday's game is unknown.
That brings us back to the true freshman, Dowell.
Can Dowell provide quality snaps in the key run-pass conflict area of 'star' linebacker? MSU needs it. Harris needs it.
The strong play of redshirt freshman Vayante Copeland as a starting cornerback last week could result in more trust being given to a rookie like Dowell.
Harris had eight tackles and one TFL against Western Michigan, but MSU needs him to play faster and more consistently on Saturday.
Copeland was solid all day against bubble screens and the occasional deep test. He cinched victory by jamming and stacking WMU's standout receiver Corey Davis on a fade route in the end zone, and intercepted the pass with less than two minutes to play.
"Vayante handled what we put on his plate last week very well," Tressel said. "We feel now like we can put a little bit more on his plate. And we also came out of the game realizing you can't call plays to protect players; you need to let them play."
Sounds like they're talking about guys like Dowell.
"They're here at Michigan State for a reason," Tressel said, of young players who have yet to make an impact. "These are good football players. We need to let them do what they do. Whether it's Oregon or Western Michigan, whether it's at home or on the road, we need to let our guys do what they do."
If Dowell plays, and plays well, it could give Michigan State a fresher, more effective Harris rather than the worn-down Harris we saw last week, and at times in 2014 against Oregon.
A quick question & answer session with Harris regarding this game and the challenges MSU will face:
Q: What did you learn after last year's loss at Oregon?
Harris: That the little things matter. Coach D is always talking about the little things and we saw last year, a step here, a step there can be the difference between an incomplete pass and a touchdown. So we're really focusing on the little things, playing our game and playing to the moment. Just doing the things that we know how to do. We always have a great plan going into a game, we're practicing really hard and we're really confident in what we do.''
Q: What are some of the key elements necessary when playing a team such as Oregon?
Harris: You've got to be able to line up when you're tired. And sometimes, that's one of the hardest things you have to do because your mind is racing with a whole bunch of different things, you feel tired out there, you've been running a lot and you don't necessarily think that you can get into the right position. So that's why we've practiced fast this week. We practiced with a no huddle coming at us and we practiced getting back into our own positions.
Q: Your defense had some missed tackles against Western Michigan. What will you do to correct that against a team like Oregon, who could make you pay for a missed tackle
Harris: Western had a lot of athletes that made a lot of plays for them but we've got to go back to the fundamentals this week. A lot of tackling drills, leveraging the ball, tackling in space, like Coach D always talks about. Obviously, that will be a real key for this game because Oregon does have a lot of athletes that can get free and create on the perimeter. So our project is going to be, getting back to the fundamentals, getting back to the basics and really focusing on the details.''
Specifically for linebackers, do you have to take a differing approach when playing Oregon than you would in other games?
Harris: Yeah, definitely. We can't be downhill thumpers, like we like to be. There's a lot of Big Ten teams that kind of line up in I-Pro and run the ball downhill. But we're going to have to be able to play in space out there and we saw that a lot last year but I feel like we have the athletes to do that in the linebackers room. The game's changing and we've got to be more of cover linebackers rather than run-stopping linebackers and I think everyone's up for the challenge.'
What is your role and your message, on and off the field for this game, as a linebacker and captain for a game like this. Does your role change somewhat?
Harris: I think so. With me being the only one, me and Riley (Bullough), and with Ed (Davis) as the only guys who played in the game last year, it's just a matter of preaching to your guys that you have to be in shape for this game. You can't bulk up in the weight room as much as you want to. You've got to be in shape, nimble, you've got to be able to move, you've got to have loose hips out there. So just being able to preach that to my guys, they took it very well I thought, kind of changed up their habits this summer and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they're going to be able to do.
Have you prepared yourself for the possibility that there could be a lot of points scored Saturday night?
Harris: I don't think that ever comes out of our minds, that they're going to score a lot of points. I think the way that we approach that situation is that there's going to be a lot of adversity out there no matter what. We saw that in our first game, that there was going to adverse situations playing against Western and that it's more about how we were able to play through that. And the same will be for this week and any week after that. That it's just understanding that there's going to be adversity and that it's up to the leaders to get the team to regroup, whether it's the defense or the offense because we know that this is a team game.
Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher
Talk about it in The Underground Bunker
EAST LANSING - In today's era of spread option football, no defensive player gets stretched by run-pass conflicts more than the slot-area linebacker.
Michigan State refers to this player as the 'star' linebacker. At other programs that institute a 4-2-5 defense, the player in the slot area might be a safety or basically a third cornerback.
Some programs, such as Virginia Tech, opt to play press man-to-man on the slot receiver with a cornerback.
MSU opts to keep a third linebacker on the field, and play several steps off of the slot receiver. This makes MSU susceptible to short hitches to the slot, as Baylor showed in the Cotton Bowl. And MSU must cover ground quickly versus bubble screens to that area, something the Spartans did exceedingly well against Western Michigan last week, but almost paid for its post-snap aggression against bubbles on one occasion when WMU faked the bubble and then released the slot receiver on a deep wheel route against 'star' linebacker Darien Harris. The receiver was wide open but dropped the pass inside the 10-yard line.
MSU prefers to go relatively heavy at 'star' linebacker with the 6-foot, 220-pound Darien Harris. In addition to being a first-responder to bubble screens, he also has an interior gap responsibility on inside running plays. Basically, that 'star' linebacker in MSU's system is asked to be two places at once. Offenses will stretch him with run-pass conflicts, showing a run action to get him sucked in, and then delivering a pass to his perimeter area. Or offenses may send a slot receiver to the sideline to threaten the bubble, and get Harris to move in that direction, and instead hit MSU inside with a running play, challenging Harris to close the daylight.
Sometimes, offenses like Oregon read Harris and decide whether the play is going to be a run or a pass several beats after the snap, depending on Harris' positioning.
Harris will be a key player at 8 p.m. on Saturday when No. 5 Michigan State plays host to No. 7 Oregon at Spartan Stadium.
A year ago, Harris started 11 of 13 games for the Spartans at 'star' linebacker. But Michigan State started pseudo defensive back Mylan Hicks in the slot linebacker position against Oregon and Baylor. Hicks wasn't great in those games, but his role revealed an evolution within MSU's system, to opt for more of a pure nickel back against some teams rather than keeping three thump-oriented linebackers on the field at all times.
Defenses have gone to nickel backs in passing situations for more than 30 years. Increasingly, nickel defenses have become base defenses in the modern game. Under Mark Dantonio and Pat Narduzzi,MSU resisted the idea of playing a 4-2-5 as a base defense, in first-and-10 situations. But, the use of Hicks in place of Harris as a starter against Oregon and Baylor signaled the beginning of a change.
With Hicks having graduated, MSU sought to improve Harris' versatility and speed for 2015, in anticipation of having him play more snaps against tempo-based spread teams such as Oregon.
Harris has dropped nearly 10 pounds since last year and is capable of playing faster, but seemed to be a bit winded a few times in patrolling the flat in the fourth quarter last week against Western Michigan.
Dantonio talks about the importance of maintaining knee-bend at pre-snap. Don't become a statue. Don't react late. Harris seemed to be one of the players guilty of becoming a bit straight-legged at times last week. Last year against Oregon, he was noticeably winded in failing to sprint to the sideline as a late fourth-and-two play broke to the outside for a touchdown.
As for last week's victory over Western Michigan in which the Spartans allowed 365 yards passing, co-defensive coordinator Mike Tressel felt the Spartans unnecessarily sagged midway through the second half.
"We gave up our first touchdown drive of the entire game came in the third quarter and all of the sudden we thought the sky was falling," Tressel said. "We need to keep our swag about ourselves and we would have been fine."
In terms of a speed and strength package, there might not be a more gifted player on the team than Harris - who has a 400-pound bench and can break 4.6 in the 40. But can he play down-after-down with the quickness and endurance needed to keep Oregon hemmed in at the slot area? That will be a key area of evaluation as Saturday's game progresses.
During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Dantonio seemed to be challenging Harris.
"Darien is in his fifth-year, he's been elected captain, with that comes an added responsibility in terms of how you play and perform on the field as well," Dantonio said. "He's got tremendous speed. We clocked him under 4.5, and he needs to play like a 4.5 player.
"So sometimes you're trying to do everything right and it slows you down a little bit. You've got to be a reactionary player out there, especially at the starting linebacker position.
"So I think he's right on the money in terms of what he's got to do. He understands what he has to do. These are opportunities, and these are things he'll talk about with his children at some point in time. Games like this, opportunities like this, that's what this is about."
What About The Back-Up?
Does Harris have a quality back-up, like he did at times in 2014?
Well, last year at this time, Hicks wasn't a proven player at 'star' linebacker, or anywhere else. He had gotten on the field a handful of times on special teams and in mop-up duty heading into his senior year. Then, in 2014, MSU elevated him to a specialized role as a nickel back of sorts against uptempo spread teams.
Hicks was a surprise starter against Oregon, and registered a pass break-up on the second play of the game. Later, there were struggles when he didn't get adequate reroutes on receivers. He was a solid contributor. He provided depth. He was lost for five games at midseason to a broken arm, and returned to post a career-high four tackles in the Cotton Bowl against Baylor.
MSU was in the process of trying to develop Jalyn Powell as a DB-type option at 'star' linebacker for 2015, '16 and '17, in moving Powell from safety to linebacker last spring. However, Powell didn't like the move and allowed redshirt freshman T.J. Harrell to edge ahead of him in the depth chart by the end of spring practice. Powell then transferred to Youngstown State, saying he did not want to play linebacker.
Harrell was regarded as a riser at the 'star' linebacker position heading into August camp. But he was overtaken by true freshman Andrew Dowell for second-string status by the end of camp. Among other things, coaches said Harrell needed to show better tackling ability.
Now, Dowell (6-0, 216) is seen as a rising talent in the program. However, his only playing time last week came on special teams.
Against Oregon, the Spartans want to play a two-deep, or more, at every position on the field. MSU came out of 2014 believing that one of the keys to being able to contain the best uptempo spread teams is to play more players.
That seemed like a fine idea when Harris had a back-up like Hicks, or the possibility of a guy like Powell or Harrell, or even former Nebraska player and junior college transfer Drake Martinez.
But Powell is gone, Harrell went south on the depth chart, and Martinez missed the Western Michigan game for undisclosed reasons. In addition, Martinez moved from 'star' linebacker to 'money' linebacker midway through camp in order to give MSU options at the position after starter Ed Davis went down with a season-ending injury.
So Martinez wouldn't be properly soaked with reps at 'star' linebacker, even if he were available. His status for Saturday's game is unknown.
That brings us back to the true freshman, Dowell.
Can Dowell provide quality snaps in the key run-pass conflict area of 'star' linebacker? MSU needs it. Harris needs it.
The strong play of redshirt freshman Vayante Copeland as a starting cornerback last week could result in more trust being given to a rookie like Dowell.
Harris had eight tackles and one TFL against Western Michigan, but MSU needs him to play faster and more consistently on Saturday.
Copeland was solid all day against bubble screens and the occasional deep test. He cinched victory by jamming and stacking WMU's standout receiver Corey Davis on a fade route in the end zone, and intercepted the pass with less than two minutes to play.
"Vayante handled what we put on his plate last week very well," Tressel said. "We feel now like we can put a little bit more on his plate. And we also came out of the game realizing you can't call plays to protect players; you need to let them play."
Sounds like they're talking about guys like Dowell.
"They're here at Michigan State for a reason," Tressel said, of young players who have yet to make an impact. "These are good football players. We need to let them do what they do. Whether it's Oregon or Western Michigan, whether it's at home or on the road, we need to let our guys do what they do."
If Dowell plays, and plays well, it could give Michigan State a fresher, more effective Harris rather than the worn-down Harris we saw last week, and at times in 2014 against Oregon.
A quick question & answer session with Harris regarding this game and the challenges MSU will face:
Q: What did you learn after last year's loss at Oregon?
Harris: That the little things matter. Coach D is always talking about the little things and we saw last year, a step here, a step there can be the difference between an incomplete pass and a touchdown. So we're really focusing on the little things, playing our game and playing to the moment. Just doing the things that we know how to do. We always have a great plan going into a game, we're practicing really hard and we're really confident in what we do.''
Q: What are some of the key elements necessary when playing a team such as Oregon?
Harris: You've got to be able to line up when you're tired. And sometimes, that's one of the hardest things you have to do because your mind is racing with a whole bunch of different things, you feel tired out there, you've been running a lot and you don't necessarily think that you can get into the right position. So that's why we've practiced fast this week. We practiced with a no huddle coming at us and we practiced getting back into our own positions.
Q: Your defense had some missed tackles against Western Michigan. What will you do to correct that against a team like Oregon, who could make you pay for a missed tackle
Harris: Western had a lot of athletes that made a lot of plays for them but we've got to go back to the fundamentals this week. A lot of tackling drills, leveraging the ball, tackling in space, like Coach D always talks about. Obviously, that will be a real key for this game because Oregon does have a lot of athletes that can get free and create on the perimeter. So our project is going to be, getting back to the fundamentals, getting back to the basics and really focusing on the details.''
Specifically for linebackers, do you have to take a differing approach when playing Oregon than you would in other games?
Harris: Yeah, definitely. We can't be downhill thumpers, like we like to be. There's a lot of Big Ten teams that kind of line up in I-Pro and run the ball downhill. But we're going to have to be able to play in space out there and we saw that a lot last year but I feel like we have the athletes to do that in the linebackers room. The game's changing and we've got to be more of cover linebackers rather than run-stopping linebackers and I think everyone's up for the challenge.'
What is your role and your message, on and off the field for this game, as a linebacker and captain for a game like this. Does your role change somewhat?
Harris: I think so. With me being the only one, me and Riley (Bullough), and with Ed (Davis) as the only guys who played in the game last year, it's just a matter of preaching to your guys that you have to be in shape for this game. You can't bulk up in the weight room as much as you want to. You've got to be in shape, nimble, you've got to be able to move, you've got to have loose hips out there. So just being able to preach that to my guys, they took it very well I thought, kind of changed up their habits this summer and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they're going to be able to do.
Have you prepared yourself for the possibility that there could be a lot of points scored Saturday night?
Harris: I don't think that ever comes out of our minds, that they're going to score a lot of points. I think the way that we approach that situation is that there's going to be a lot of adversity out there no matter what. We saw that in our first game, that there was going to adverse situations playing against Western and that it's more about how we were able to play through that. And the same will be for this week and any week after that. That it's just understanding that there's going to be adversity and that it's up to the leaders to get the team to regroup, whether it's the defense or the offense because we know that this is a team game.
