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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 26, Digital 6

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 6 50 COORDINATOR'S CORNER In the offseason, Ross Els took over as Purdue's defensive coordinator, hoping to spark a group that finished near the bottom of the Big Ten. Gold and Black: What did you like about your defense coming out of the spring? Els: "I liked us up front at times with the first unit. I thought we were pretty physical to be able to handle some of the blocking schemes we're going to see in the Big Ten. I thought that was pretty good. Then every once in a while, you get a coverage guy that's OK. We're a long, long way away from being able to play some of the good throwing teams in this conference. But we put them in some bad situations to see what they can do, so we get them some help and I think that will help. "Maybe up front, just with our physicality and athleticism, is our strength right now." Gold and Black: You want to run a matchup, multi-DB defense, but in the Big Ten West, against teams like Iowa or Wisconsin, it might have to adjust. How much varia- tion could it have from week to week? Els: "If the offenses are a lot different, we're going to be a lot differ- ent. We just mirror what they do. If they're like Northwestern, a big zone-read, spread-them-out, throw-the-heck-out-of-the-football (team), we're going to have to be able to do some great cover- age things to be able to handle the quarterback run. "If it's Iowa, who is going to be under center, be in '21' (or) '12' personnel, we have to have more big people in there. We've got to be able to adjust. A guy told me a long time ago, if you try to defend everything, you defend nothing. If you have a defensive package that can be good against every single situation, it's probably just OK and it may just be mediocre. You can survive in it, no question, but if you really want to stop people, you better have an answer for every single thing they do, otherwise, why wouldn't they just run the same plays all the time?" Gold and Black: You've emphasized ball disrup- tion, creating turnovers, like any good defense. What does it mean to you? Els: "When we talk about ball disruption, it starts with the guys up front making the quarterback uncomfortable or getting a piece of the ball. When a DB picks the ball off, people think, 'Ah, that kid made a great play.' Yeah, well, it probably was because someone was the in the dude's face and made him throw over. Or maybe it was such great coverage everywhere else that he didn't have a choice. A lot of times that gets overlooked. But it starts with pass rush." — Kyle Charters Tom Campbell

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