What’s Wrong with Vanderbilt’s Pass Coverage – and Can They Fix It?

With their backs to the endzone, the task of the Vanderbilt defense was simple and impossible at the same time. Alignment, assignment, execution. That’s a high school coach's life mantra (shout out coach Chandler) and the bare minimum for a defense if they hope to stop an SEC attack in the redzone. Before the play even starts, that mantra requires a unit to line up properly and know who they are assigned to in coverage.

Across from Vanderbilt was a stacked Rebel offense, with a heavy personnel in the game that gave the appearance of a run play. In fact, Ole Miss was running multiple men in the backfield, even including defensive lineman Jamarious Brown as a supposed lead blocker. 

What should have been a simple example of “knowing your job” turned into disaster when the entire backend of the defense overplayed the run, leading to a touchdown pass caught by – who else – #96, the big man, Jamarious Brown.

If Vanderbilt expects to compete with the likes of the SEC, plays like that (and games like Saturday for that matter) are unacceptable. It feels disrespectful to compare the play of Vanderbilt’s defense to the likes of a high-school team, and yet if basic fundamentals aren’t followed, there’s no other way to put it.

The final piece of the initial mantra? Execution. Make the play when you have the opportunity to do so. That means open field tackles, contested break ups, and it hurts to say it, but pick-6 opportunities.

“[Safety] Mason Lewis had one come to him in the slot,” head coach Clark Lea brought up when addressing the defensive struggles, “The way he broke on the ball, I thought he was going to have a chance to go all the way. We didn’t finish the play, and it’s hard in those moments, when you’re one play away from a big momentum swing.”

If there’s anything good that Vanderbilt’s secondary can take from the game, it’s the play of veteran leader CJ Heard at safety. Whether it was his takeaway or absolute textbook tackle early in the game (coach Chandler would have loved that one), Heard’s impact was on full display in the loss. Still, the errors of the entire defense made Heard look helpless at times. 

The fourth Ole Miss touchdown of the day was an ugly one for multiple Vanderbilt defensive backs, Heard included. From about 40 yards out, Chambliss dropped back and found Deuce Alexander over the middle. The receiver ran a post route, broke into safety Ricardo Jones’ zone, and made the catch that would end up as a touchdown. 

The route was passed off from the outside cornerback, and while Jones looked to be in a good position initially, his hips were flipped to the sideline. Again, a lapse in technique from a player who is so much better than the film showed. With his hips committed to the sideline, all it took was one across his body from Alexander to turn Jones completely around. 

The receiver then broke the route off flat, caught the ball in stride, and raced past the aforementioned CJ Heard on the way to the endzone, who frankly didn’t look like he expected he’d need to help cover Alexander.

There are more plays and mistakes you could pick apart from the game, but you get the picture. The point is, how is it fair to expect consistency from a defense that lacks fundamentals. I’m not calling for anyone’s heads or jobs, but if a player is going to suit up against SEC opponents next Saturday, they need to be confident in their assignment and have the ability to make the play. 

That’s a responsibility that falls on the coaches and players alike. It’s a common tendency for zone-based defenses to have to rely on communication and correct alignment in respect to the other players on the field, which means these problems will continue to occur until improvements are made or the defensive gameplan is changed.

It’s not just the defense that needs to clean up their play. Running back MK Young believes there needs to be improvement across the board, telling reporters the team “didn’t play good enough football at the end of the day.” 

Whatever message needs to be sent to the locker room, the time is now. And the same can be said for whatever changes need to be made on the backend of the defense. Continuous breakdowns in coverage are unacceptable, and every defensive back (and coach) should know that – or need to be replaced.

There is potential to this team, to this defense. We saw it last year, a defense that played well enough to earn a spot in College Football Playoff conversations. And yet this season, for a unit that actually has decent carryover in personnel from a year before, their mindset from a year ago looks gone.

For my final high school football reference of the day, I’d like to turn your attention to the mantra: “Be the hammer, not the nail.” This represents a mentality of playing fast, physical, and trusting your instincts to make a play. 

The problem is, it doesn’t even matter if the Vanderbilt defense is full of hammers, when no one can find the instruction manual. If a defensive player is unclear of their job in the first place, just like a hammer with no assignment, every nail is going to get off scot-free, and every offense will continue to pick apart the Vanderbilt defense.

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