The Deep Dig
WVU Part I: Defense
presented by Wendy Swantkowksi, DDS
Looking for experienced, family and cosmetic dental care in the Houston-Memorial area? Go with the best! OB sponsor Wendy Swantkowski, DDS. Call 281-293-9140 and find out why so many Orangebloods members are her patients!
All WVU game photos via Texas Athletics
Market Shares and Futures
Here’s how the productivity rankings are tallied, as always, Deep Dig data and statistics are likely to differ from “official” statistics kept by the university:
Solo Tackles: 1 point
Assisted and Boundary-Assisted Tackles: .5 points
Touches-Down and Untouched Force-Outs: 0 points
Sacks: 2 points
QB Hits: 1 point
QB Pressures: 1 point
TFL: 2 points
Batted Passes: 1 point
Fumbles Caused: 3 points
Fumbles Recovered: 1.5 points
Run-Stuffs: 1 point (on top of tackle if applicable)
Pass Break-Ups: 1 point
Blowups (a PBU that ‘blows up’ the opposing WR): 2 points
Interceptions: 3 points
Defensive Touchdowns: 6 points
Missed Tackles: -1 point
Safeties: 4 points*
FOR DBs ONLY (new in 2016)
Lockdown Bonus: A bonus awarded (3 points for CB, 2 points for S and Nickel**) that can be whittled down by the following negatives stats:
Completions allowed: -.5 points
Burns: -2 points
* the “Paul Boyette Rule” (adopted in November of 2016) says that defensive players who cause offensive holding penalties in the opposing end-zone with result in safeties will be awarded a safety.
** points per total snaps in the game. If a player was only a 50% snap participant as an outside cornerback, the lockdown bonus he’d start out with would be only 1.5 points.
Standings in the Deep Dig’s Productivity Market Share Rankings represent the number of points the player has scored to this point in the season per the Deep Dig’s official records.
The rankings will be updated weekly through the season as players move in and out of the Top 10 and market-shares shift toward the future. For now, the race for No. 1 in the Deep Dig’s rankings is appearing more and more wide-open heading down the homestretch.
THE TOP 10 RANKINGS (through 10 games)
(Player) (% total team productivity created) (movement in ranking from last week)
1. FOX Breckyn Hager (even) 7.89%
2. LB Malik Jefferson (even) 7.54%
3. DT Poona Ford (even) 6.85%
4. S Jason Hall (+1) 6.60%
5. FOX Malcolm Roach (+2) 6.44%
6. LB Anthony Wheeler (-3) 6.27%
7. DT Chris Nelson (-1) 6.03%
8. CB Kris Boyd (+2) 5.41%
9. DT Paul Boyette (-1) 5.05%
10. DE Charles Omenihu (-1) 4.93%
Falling out of the Top 10: none (Curator’s Note: nickel CB PJ Locke has vaulted his way up into 11th position; the closest he’s been to the Top 10 during his time at Texas).
Defensive Snap Counts and Quick Hits
Click here for the official participation chart
NOSE
93 Paul Boyette - 42 snaps (41 at NT, 1 at DT)
97 Chris Nelson - 24 snaps (20 at NT, 4 at DT)
94 Gerald Wilbon - 5 snaps
TACKLE
95 Poona Ford - 57 snaps (49 at DT, 5 at NT, 3 at SDE)
98 D’Andre Christmas - 9 snaps (7 at DT, 2 at NT)
- It’s been easy to forget that Poona Ford has likely been the most important defensive player on the Texas roster all things considered. While Breckyn Hager and Malcolm Roach have been huge surprises as edge-weapons — and even with Malik Jefferson returning somewhat to the high-level form many expected — Ford has been a steadily above-average option for the interior d-line. Let’s not forget one thing: coming into the season, Texas had a starting QB and a starting center who were true freshmen. The first two people to touch the football on every play of the game had never touched a football on any play of any game before setting foot in DKR on September 4, 2016. Even with this being the case, the biggest concern on the entire Texas team was the state of the defensive line which appeared in absolute and epic disaster. Ford has led the group as a veteran junior and been more productive than senior Paul Boyette game-in and game-out.
- Ford has out-snapped Boyette 468 to 427 on the season and causes production as measured by the Deep Dig every 7.83 snaps compared to Boyette’s every 9.82. Ford (3) has missed one fewer tackle than Boyette (4) on the season, generated more Deep Dig points for tackles (24 to 15.5), has six times the QB hits (3 to .5), twice the QB pressures (6 to 3), three times the TFLs (7.5 to 2.5) and the exact same number of run-stuffs at 13.
- Chris Nelson played his lowest snap-total of the season which resulted in his dropping in the rankings as things are tightening up down the home stretch. He’d only played less than 30 total snaps in one other game all season, and that was against UTEP where many starters got pulled early to let backups get some reps in a blowout. Peculiar.
- Everyone wants to know about the true-freshmen d-linemen that were the basis of so many preseason narratives, but the fact is, none of them have been the impact player most envisioned. Depending on how you look at it, this is good news — it means that Boyette, Nelson and Ford have remained healthy for the most part. At this time, at the twilight of the 2016 season and possibly the Charlie Strong era in Austin, we don’t really have much to look back on to evaluate these players. Marcell Southall and Chris Daniels have redshirted. Jordan Elliott was on his way to being the leading producer of the group before injury ended his season. At the time of Elliott’s injury, he’d seen 60 snaps on the season and had generated production at a once-per-every-7.06-snaps clip. Gerald Wilbon has been off-and-on the field with injury but has played on defense in six of 10 games; however, he’s never eclipsed 10 snaps in one and has produced production only once per every 10 snaps based on a small 30-snap sample. D’Andre Christmas had the biggest flash plays of all mentioned in 2016, combining with Breckyn Hager and Erick Fowler for a sack and also recovering a garbage-time fumble, but he’s produced even less frequently than Wilbon on a per-snap basis after 55 total, generating production once every 13.75 snaps.
END
90 Charles Omenihu - 30 snaps
91 Bryce Cottrell - 20 snaps
FOX/SAM/“Double Fox”/Overhang
44 Breckyn Hager - 47 snaps
32 Malcolm Roach - 38 snaps
40 Naashon Hughes - 25 snaps
- News has filtered down to our dark basement that it’s been a tough few weeks for many in the world of predictive analytics, but that will not dissuade us from partaking as usual within the parameters of our database. We can say with certainty that if Charles Omenihu does not pick it up for the final two games of the season, he’s in serious risk of falling out of the Top 10 standings. While Omenihu has seemingly taken over the starting SDE position from Bryce Cottrell, the position as a whole has been being phased out.
- By this, we mean that — since Charlie Strong has taken over as Texas defensive coordinator — he doesn’t want big, edge-setting long-types like Omenihu on the field just because they are big and long and look like traditional DEs. He wants guys like Breckyn Hager and Malcolm Roach on the edges who, despite being the epitome of “tweeters” physically, seem to be more proficient at getting pressure on the QB.
MIKE
30 Tim Cole - 26 snaps
23 Jeffrey McCulloch - 31 snaps (16 at MLB, 15 at WLB)
45 Anthony Wheeler - 25 snaps (16 at MLB, 9 at WLB)
46 Malik Jefferson - 12 snaps
WILL
35 Edwin Freeman - 52 snaps (48 at WLB, 4 at MLB)
- It was an interesting week at linebacker versus WVU as the unit was certainly a focal point of the Mountaineer attack in the passing game. The WVU offense picked on the Texas LBs in coverage using the middle of the field and the seam to exploit mismatches with speedier players who would have done much more damage had they not caught a disastrous drop disease prior to the game. (Some of our regulars have verbalized suspicions the WVU receivers may have drank out of the same Gatorade bottle John Burt had touched earlier in the day, and somehow gotten infected).
- It was eye-opening to see, in the absence of Malik Jefferson, that Anthony Wheeler actually played more mike than will, bumping to the middle while Freeman primarily handled will-duties.
- Jeffery McCulloch also pitched in on the inside this week after spending a few weeks prior being utilized in the overhang capacity. It shows McCulloch’s versatility coming into a sophomore season where he’s sure to find a permanent home on the defense somewhere. McCulloch was used at both the mike and the will interchangeably when working with the second unit as it appears the second-group under Strong’s new scheme (as mentioned by one of our sharper regulars) does not switch sides to the offense’s strength, but rather to the field and boundary-side of the field with Tim Cole being the wide-side player and Freeman the boundary option. McCulloch’s “primary” starting role is, however, in Strong’s new third-down speed/pressure package, where McCulloch has appeared to carve out a consistent niche.
SECONDARY
NICKEL
11 PJ Locke - 59 snaps
DIME/CHEETAH
9 Davante Davis - 23 snaps (9 at dime CB, 14 at CB)
CORNER
24 John Bonney - 73 snaps
2 Kris Boyd - 59 snaps
SAFETY
31 Jason Hall - 73 snaps
14 Dylan Haines - 73 snaps
- Kris Boyd was benched in the game after giving up a coverage burn on a TD that followed three other downfield completions allowed. This didn’t keep Boyd from moving up in our Deep Dig rankings, though. While Boyd’s lockdown bonus was given up in its totality and then some, he made up quite a bit of ground with five points for tackles and also a strip/recovery. Davante Davis took over for Boyd in the final few series of the game.
- It was the first game of the season without a single sighting of Deshon Elliott on defense. Both Jason Hall and Dylan Haines were 100 percent snap-participants, joining the team’s latest and most predictable snap-leader over the last two weeks … John Bonney of course.
Snaps per production generated (through 10 games)
players who have not yet caused 2016 production not included; *players with under 100 total defensive snaps in 2016 not included
Did He Play on Defense? No He Didn’t …
scholarship players on defense that have played at least a defensive snap in 2015, but did not against WVU
This Week in Missed Tackles …
40% of them came on one play!
For a total of missed 10 tackles on defense versus WVU, In case Vance Bedford asks.
As we turn our attention to Part II: Offense, we thank you, once again, for reading.
WVU Part I: Defense
presented by Wendy Swantkowksi, DDS
Looking for experienced, family and cosmetic dental care in the Houston-Memorial area? Go with the best! OB sponsor Wendy Swantkowski, DDS. Call 281-293-9140 and find out why so many Orangebloods members are her patients!
. . .
All WVU game photos via Texas Athletics
Market Shares and Futures
Here’s how the productivity rankings are tallied, as always, Deep Dig data and statistics are likely to differ from “official” statistics kept by the university:
Solo Tackles: 1 point
Assisted and Boundary-Assisted Tackles: .5 points
Touches-Down and Untouched Force-Outs: 0 points
Sacks: 2 points
QB Hits: 1 point
QB Pressures: 1 point
TFL: 2 points
Batted Passes: 1 point
Fumbles Caused: 3 points
Fumbles Recovered: 1.5 points
Run-Stuffs: 1 point (on top of tackle if applicable)
Pass Break-Ups: 1 point
Blowups (a PBU that ‘blows up’ the opposing WR): 2 points
Interceptions: 3 points
Defensive Touchdowns: 6 points
Missed Tackles: -1 point
Safeties: 4 points*
FOR DBs ONLY (new in 2016)
Lockdown Bonus: A bonus awarded (3 points for CB, 2 points for S and Nickel**) that can be whittled down by the following negatives stats:
Completions allowed: -.5 points
Burns: -2 points
* the “Paul Boyette Rule” (adopted in November of 2016) says that defensive players who cause offensive holding penalties in the opposing end-zone with result in safeties will be awarded a safety.
** points per total snaps in the game. If a player was only a 50% snap participant as an outside cornerback, the lockdown bonus he’d start out with would be only 1.5 points.
Standings in the Deep Dig’s Productivity Market Share Rankings represent the number of points the player has scored to this point in the season per the Deep Dig’s official records.
The rankings will be updated weekly through the season as players move in and out of the Top 10 and market-shares shift toward the future. For now, the race for No. 1 in the Deep Dig’s rankings is appearing more and more wide-open heading down the homestretch.
. . .
THE TOP 10 RANKINGS (through 10 games)
(Player) (% total team productivity created) (movement in ranking from last week)
1. FOX Breckyn Hager (even) 7.89%
2. LB Malik Jefferson (even) 7.54%
3. DT Poona Ford (even) 6.85%
4. S Jason Hall (+1) 6.60%
5. FOX Malcolm Roach (+2) 6.44%
6. LB Anthony Wheeler (-3) 6.27%
7. DT Chris Nelson (-1) 6.03%
8. CB Kris Boyd (+2) 5.41%
9. DT Paul Boyette (-1) 5.05%
10. DE Charles Omenihu (-1) 4.93%
Falling out of the Top 10: none (Curator’s Note: nickel CB PJ Locke has vaulted his way up into 11th position; the closest he’s been to the Top 10 during his time at Texas).
. . .
Defensive Snap Counts and Quick Hits
Click here for the official participation chart
NOSE
93 Paul Boyette - 42 snaps (41 at NT, 1 at DT)
97 Chris Nelson - 24 snaps (20 at NT, 4 at DT)
94 Gerald Wilbon - 5 snaps
TACKLE
95 Poona Ford - 57 snaps (49 at DT, 5 at NT, 3 at SDE)
98 D’Andre Christmas - 9 snaps (7 at DT, 2 at NT)
- It’s been easy to forget that Poona Ford has likely been the most important defensive player on the Texas roster all things considered. While Breckyn Hager and Malcolm Roach have been huge surprises as edge-weapons — and even with Malik Jefferson returning somewhat to the high-level form many expected — Ford has been a steadily above-average option for the interior d-line. Let’s not forget one thing: coming into the season, Texas had a starting QB and a starting center who were true freshmen. The first two people to touch the football on every play of the game had never touched a football on any play of any game before setting foot in DKR on September 4, 2016. Even with this being the case, the biggest concern on the entire Texas team was the state of the defensive line which appeared in absolute and epic disaster. Ford has led the group as a veteran junior and been more productive than senior Paul Boyette game-in and game-out.
- Ford has out-snapped Boyette 468 to 427 on the season and causes production as measured by the Deep Dig every 7.83 snaps compared to Boyette’s every 9.82. Ford (3) has missed one fewer tackle than Boyette (4) on the season, generated more Deep Dig points for tackles (24 to 15.5), has six times the QB hits (3 to .5), twice the QB pressures (6 to 3), three times the TFLs (7.5 to 2.5) and the exact same number of run-stuffs at 13.
- Chris Nelson played his lowest snap-total of the season which resulted in his dropping in the rankings as things are tightening up down the home stretch. He’d only played less than 30 total snaps in one other game all season, and that was against UTEP where many starters got pulled early to let backups get some reps in a blowout. Peculiar.
- Everyone wants to know about the true-freshmen d-linemen that were the basis of so many preseason narratives, but the fact is, none of them have been the impact player most envisioned. Depending on how you look at it, this is good news — it means that Boyette, Nelson and Ford have remained healthy for the most part. At this time, at the twilight of the 2016 season and possibly the Charlie Strong era in Austin, we don’t really have much to look back on to evaluate these players. Marcell Southall and Chris Daniels have redshirted. Jordan Elliott was on his way to being the leading producer of the group before injury ended his season. At the time of Elliott’s injury, he’d seen 60 snaps on the season and had generated production at a once-per-every-7.06-snaps clip. Gerald Wilbon has been off-and-on the field with injury but has played on defense in six of 10 games; however, he’s never eclipsed 10 snaps in one and has produced production only once per every 10 snaps based on a small 30-snap sample. D’Andre Christmas had the biggest flash plays of all mentioned in 2016, combining with Breckyn Hager and Erick Fowler for a sack and also recovering a garbage-time fumble, but he’s produced even less frequently than Wilbon on a per-snap basis after 55 total, generating production once every 13.75 snaps.
END
90 Charles Omenihu - 30 snaps
91 Bryce Cottrell - 20 snaps
FOX/SAM/“Double Fox”/Overhang
44 Breckyn Hager - 47 snaps
32 Malcolm Roach - 38 snaps
40 Naashon Hughes - 25 snaps
- News has filtered down to our dark basement that it’s been a tough few weeks for many in the world of predictive analytics, but that will not dissuade us from partaking as usual within the parameters of our database. We can say with certainty that if Charles Omenihu does not pick it up for the final two games of the season, he’s in serious risk of falling out of the Top 10 standings. While Omenihu has seemingly taken over the starting SDE position from Bryce Cottrell, the position as a whole has been being phased out.
- By this, we mean that — since Charlie Strong has taken over as Texas defensive coordinator — he doesn’t want big, edge-setting long-types like Omenihu on the field just because they are big and long and look like traditional DEs. He wants guys like Breckyn Hager and Malcolm Roach on the edges who, despite being the epitome of “tweeters” physically, seem to be more proficient at getting pressure on the QB.
MIKE
30 Tim Cole - 26 snaps
23 Jeffrey McCulloch - 31 snaps (16 at MLB, 15 at WLB)
45 Anthony Wheeler - 25 snaps (16 at MLB, 9 at WLB)
46 Malik Jefferson - 12 snaps
WILL
35 Edwin Freeman - 52 snaps (48 at WLB, 4 at MLB)
- It was an interesting week at linebacker versus WVU as the unit was certainly a focal point of the Mountaineer attack in the passing game. The WVU offense picked on the Texas LBs in coverage using the middle of the field and the seam to exploit mismatches with speedier players who would have done much more damage had they not caught a disastrous drop disease prior to the game. (Some of our regulars have verbalized suspicions the WVU receivers may have drank out of the same Gatorade bottle John Burt had touched earlier in the day, and somehow gotten infected).
- It was eye-opening to see, in the absence of Malik Jefferson, that Anthony Wheeler actually played more mike than will, bumping to the middle while Freeman primarily handled will-duties.
- Jeffery McCulloch also pitched in on the inside this week after spending a few weeks prior being utilized in the overhang capacity. It shows McCulloch’s versatility coming into a sophomore season where he’s sure to find a permanent home on the defense somewhere. McCulloch was used at both the mike and the will interchangeably when working with the second unit as it appears the second-group under Strong’s new scheme (as mentioned by one of our sharper regulars) does not switch sides to the offense’s strength, but rather to the field and boundary-side of the field with Tim Cole being the wide-side player and Freeman the boundary option. McCulloch’s “primary” starting role is, however, in Strong’s new third-down speed/pressure package, where McCulloch has appeared to carve out a consistent niche.
SECONDARY
NICKEL
11 PJ Locke - 59 snaps
DIME/CHEETAH
9 Davante Davis - 23 snaps (9 at dime CB, 14 at CB)
CORNER
24 John Bonney - 73 snaps
2 Kris Boyd - 59 snaps
SAFETY
31 Jason Hall - 73 snaps
14 Dylan Haines - 73 snaps
- Kris Boyd was benched in the game after giving up a coverage burn on a TD that followed three other downfield completions allowed. This didn’t keep Boyd from moving up in our Deep Dig rankings, though. While Boyd’s lockdown bonus was given up in its totality and then some, he made up quite a bit of ground with five points for tackles and also a strip/recovery. Davante Davis took over for Boyd in the final few series of the game.
- It was the first game of the season without a single sighting of Deshon Elliott on defense. Both Jason Hall and Dylan Haines were 100 percent snap-participants, joining the team’s latest and most predictable snap-leader over the last two weeks … John Bonney of course.
. . .
Snaps per production generated (through 10 games)
players who have not yet caused 2016 production not included; *players with under 100 total defensive snaps in 2016 not included
. . .
Did He Play on Defense? No He Didn’t …
scholarship players on defense that have played at least a defensive snap in 2015, but did not against WVU
. . .
This Week in Missed Tackles …
40% of them came on one play!
For a total of missed 10 tackles on defense versus WVU, In case Vance Bedford asks.
. . .
As we turn our attention to Part II: Offense, we thank you, once again, for reading.
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