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• Mar 25, 2008 8:54 pm US/Central
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  As Spring Practice Opens, All Eyes On MN Defense

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As Spring Practice Opens, All Eyes On MN Defense

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ― Deon Hightower knows he could try to sugarcoat things and say that Minnesota's defense wasn't as bad as it looked last year.

But the numbers are so glaring, even he knows it wouldn't do any good.

"I think the stuff in the books you can't lie about," the senior linebacker said. "It's fact. I look at that stuff before it even hits the media. It hurts. As a group, we hurt."

No doubt, it was painful at times to watch the Golden Gophers play defense last season. They gave up more yards (6,224 in 12 games) than any team in Division I. They were also near the bottom in pass defense, run defense and points allowed.

So as the Gophers prepare to open spring practice later this week, they know improvement on defense is the only way to avoid another 1-11 season like last year.

"Offense was not our issue," second-year coach Tim Brewster said Tuesday. "Defense was our issue."

Defensive coordinator Everett Withers left for North Carolina, and Brewster hired former Duke head coach Ted Roof to take over the battered and bruised unit.

"His teams have always done more with less," Brewster said of Roof, who helped turn around the defenses at Georgia Tech and Duke. "I think obviously from where we're at right now on the defensive side of the ball, we've got to do more with less. We've got to take what we've got and make them better. I think Ted will do a great job with that."

Roof won't be the only new addition to the moribund unit. Brewster and his staff scoured the country for the top recruits on defense and were praised by experts on signing day for their surprising success.

Of the 31 new signees, Brewster said 20 of them will play defense next season, creating a competition for starting jobs that simply wasn't there last year.

"I felt that was something we were missing, the competition part," linebacker Steve Davis said. "That's going to increase. People who really want to play will get better."

Even before the first spring practice, it has already started.

Brewster signed several junior college transfers to get immediate help on defense, including highly touted defensive back Tramaine Brock and linebacker Rex Sharpe. Already on campus, they have served notice to the rest of the returning Gophers that they better be ready to compete.

"There will be (new) guys that come in who are going to play. No doubt in my mind," Hightower said. "As a player here right now, you have to have the attitude that you're going to play and that if the person behind you is good, one of you is going to have to move positions."

Brewster and the rest of his coaches haven't been shy about letting the returning players know that nothing is guaranteed. While Hightower and Davis sat in the media room for the press conference, Brewster sang the praises of Sharpe and Brock.

"They let us know that there's competition coming in and we're going to be competing every day," Davis said. "In order for us to get where we want to go, we're going to have to increase the intensity."

There have already been some goals set for the new season, and coaches will begin teaching things this spring to make it happen. In general, Brewster wants to see his defense put more pressure on the quarterback, create more turnovers and get off the field on third down.

Last year, Brewster said, the Gophers created a turnover an average of once every 65.2 plays. He wants to see that increase to once every 25 snaps.

He also wants a tackle-for-loss, interception or fumble recovery once every 10 plays, a ratio that he realizes some will think is out of the question. And he also needs to see better tackling to limit big plays.

"This whole spring, all 15 practices, it's going to be extremely competitive," Brewster vowed. "We're going to tackle as much as the NCAA will allow us to tackle. We're going to improve our football team from a competitive nature."

Spring practice starts Thursday, and Hightower finds solace in a startling yet indisputable fact.

"There's no where to go," he said, "but up."

 

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)