Every coach has his own ideas on how to do things. So, even when Lorenzo Ward announced in January that USC would stick with the 4-2-5 alignment as the base defense, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t change a few things from how Ellis Johnson coached it. An additional tweak could be utilizing Jadeveon Clowney in the identical role as Melvin Ingram last season - defensive end on first and second down, and then move him inside on obvious third-down passing situations in order to bolster the amount of pressure the quarterback feels up from the middle.
“We are probably going to look at that,” Ward said. “We haven’t done it much, maybe one or two times this spring. We’ll see. Again, we’re going to create as many opportunities as possible to get Jadeveon in one-on-one situations. If he’s outside, people are going to chip him.
“If you put him inside, there’s a chance of one-on-one. But teams could turn the center to him and double-team him inside as well. We’ll have to figure out the best way to use him. If that means putting him inside, that’s what we’ll do.’
Last year, Ingram avoided double teams inside because Devin Taylor and Clowney were lined up on the outside from their defensive end positions. As a result, opponents were often reluctant to double-team Ingram, and he flourished.
“When we put Melvin inside, we had Jadeveon in the game, so we had Devin on one side with him and Melvin inside. Who were they going to double?” Ward said.
“We are probably going to look at that,” Ward said. “We haven’t done it much, maybe one or two times this spring. We’ll see. Again, we’re going to create as many opportunities as possible to get Jadeveon in one-on-one situations. If he’s outside, people are going to chip him.
“If you put him inside, there’s a chance of one-on-one. But teams could turn the center to him and double-team him inside as well. We’ll have to figure out the best way to use him. If that means putting him inside, that’s what we’ll do.’
Last year, Ingram avoided double teams inside because Devin Taylor and Clowney were lined up on the outside from their defensive end positions. As a result, opponents were often reluctant to double-team Ingram, and he flourished.
“When we put Melvin inside, we had Jadeveon in the game, so we had Devin on one side with him and Melvin inside. Who were they going to double?” Ward said.
