Three-man front
Jason Blalock, a former Appalachian State defensive lineman who now coaches the defensive front, wasn’t sold at first on the idea of switching to a 3-4 defense – he honed his skills in the 4-3 – but he has become a believer.
“You start looking at everything you can do with it,” Blalock said. “You can bring a lot of pressure, you dictate to the offense what they’re going to do, how they’ve got to block everything. You get more solo blocks (less double-teaming) on the defensive lineman…. There’s a lot we can do out of it. You can really keep the offense guessing.”
And, he said, it’s a good fit for the personnel he has up front, and an effort to recruit more size a couple of years ago is paying off. The Mountaineers top three down linemen this spring – nose tackle Dan Wylie (6-1, 285) and ends Gordy Witte (6-6, 290) and Will Corbin (6-6, 290) – all have offer size with athleticism.
Lanston Tanyi (6-2, 250), an outstanding pass rusher who sat out last season recovering from a toe injury, will fit at end or outside linebacker and John Rizor (6-2, 235), a defensive end in the four-man front, will play at outside linebacker.
Chris Aiken (6-1, 310) will fit into the rotation on the defensive line, and former offensive lineman Chris Marshall (6-4, 300), Anthony Wilson (6-1, 290) and Derrick Shuemake (6-4, 285) will add depth up front.
Wylie, a senior, is expected to play a key role in the middle.
“He’s one of the most explosive guys off the ball,” Blalock said. “That’s what we saw when we watched him at Georgia Military, how quickly he was off the ball and into that center.”
The transition to a 3-4 hasn’t been difficult for Wylie, who was a nose tackle in a three-man front at Georgia Military College.
“I’m very comfortable with it, because that’s what I did at GMC,” Wylie said. “I really like what we do out of this defense.”
Read more on ASU spring football, and the move of Michael Frazier from defense to offense, in Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal