Defensive stars, on field and on sidelines, expected to shine

October 23, 2009

By Ken Rogers

On the week of his first start against Tennessee, Greg McElroy showed what separates him from most other first-year starting quarterbacks in the SEC.

Not only does he know the difference from the traditional Cover 2 defense and the Tampa 2 generally credited to Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, he offers explanations why it was so effective in the NFL.

“Tampa 2 is actually a form of Cover 3,” McElroy said. “You actually do it when you have a very good middle linebacker, somebody like coach Kiffin had at Tampa in Derrick Brooks. The safeties get extremely wide off the hash and the middle linebacker shoots straight to the back, so it actually develops a three-deep look.”

McElroy knows Monte Kiffin developed that defense.

“I never thought I’d be playing against him. That’s pretty neat,” McElroy said.

Tennessee hasn’t played a ton of Tampa 2, but Alabama and has seen it this season.

“We’ve seen that look on numerous occasions. It’s a very popular defense, especially at the college level,” McElroy said. “It’s just a good way to develop things and disguise. It’s something that we’ll be ready for and it’s something we’ll spend a lot of time on this week. It’s something that we’ve been around and had glimpses of.”

McElroy sees more of it from the Alabama defense.

“Our defense plays quite a bit of it. We’ve had some looks against it,” he said. “Especially when you have a middle linebacker like Rolando (McClain). He’s so rangy, he just gets back there so fast. It starts with a middle-open look and you think, ‘OK, we can get maybe a post down the middle or something like that.’ And the linebacker will just fly out right underneath it and catch you off-guard, and you have to do a double-take.”

McClain and Tennessee strong safety Eric Berry both affect offenses.

“The two best defensive players in college football are playing in this game,” CBS analyst Gary Danielson said. “The two defensive players that will be drafted the highest in this year’s draft are playing in this game: Eric Berry for Tennessee and Rolando McClain for Alabama.”

What’s more impressive is that McClain and Berry are both juniors. Neither has said what his NFL draft plans would be. However, it would be difficult to turn down the draft if, indeed, they would be the first two defensive players chosen.