Illini Film Review: When Illinois DTs Get Vertical, Great Things Happen

Illinois had eight tackles for loss Saturday with half of them coming from play of defensive tackle Jamal Milan

Purdue quarterback Jack Plummer said Saturday the one major complaint by his head coach was the redshirt freshman’s inability to step up in the pocket to make a play.

“He wants me to step up,” Plummer said. “First drive (of the game), second or third down, I kind of drifted back in the pocket when I didn’t need to. The next drive, I drifted to the right--didn’t need to. I gotta sit in there and trust it more.”

When taking a look at the film, despite the Boilermakers starting quarterback having an awful game in Illinois’ 24-6 win this past weekend, a counter to this argument (which was and always will be obviously one-sided by anybody who saw the Big Ten Network broadcast) is: Where exactly was he supposed to step up in the pocket? Trust what?

The answers to these questions may be a reason why Brohm retracted on his open quarterback competition comments from Saturday and announced less than 48 hours later that Plummer would start against Nebraska this weekend. 

On rushing plays, where was Purdue tailback King Doerue supposed to go?

It these questions where we start our film review this week and the point of focus is the defensive line play and specifically, how the Illini defensive tackles got vertically up the field to disrupt the leverage of any play called by Brohm’s offense Saturday.

NOTE: We should always preface this by explaining to the reader that we aren’t exactly sure what each Illinois player is being asked to accomplish in this scheme. So this is never intended to be an individual indictment or applause on a player’s success or failure to execute his job but simply pointing out a noticeable flaw. In this case, the flaw is Purdue’s inability to maintain a line-of-scrimmage or a reasonable pocket for the quarterback to drive a throw.

On this handoff run, Illinois has all four defensive lineman in the backfield before Purdue tailback King Doerue can make his first cut. 

In this first screenshot of a Doerue carry that goes for a three-yard loss, look at how Illinois’ front four defensive linemen properly get vertically up the field without showing any discipline issues in their gap. The bright green line on the photo shows where the original line-of-scrimmage was located. Tymir Oliver, a senior defensive tackle, will get no statistical credit on this play but this photo effectively shows how less than two seconds after the snap, he has walked Purdue center Sam Garvin a full three yards into the backfield before Doerue has made a cut on this off-tackle handoff play. Doerue is also unable to bounce the play outside, which is what Minnesota did a few weeks back, because both Illinois defensive ends have their outside arm free and the proper leverage to maintain the edge. Owen Carney Jr. has completely shed the block of Mark Stickford and Ayo Shogbonyo has been blocked by left tackle Grant Hermanns but maintains his outside arm in case the tailback tries to jumpcut the run toward the sideline. The only option left for Doerue is to cut inside where Jamal Milan, who had four tackles for loss Saturday, is waiting because he’s shed the double-team block he got from the right guard and the H-back or fullback on the play. Even if Milan had missed this tackle, Illini linebacker Dele Harding is unblocked (due to the H-back never being able to get to the second level) to make a play as well.

The following link is a full video of this play thanks to tweets from former Illinois offensive linemen and Fighting Illini radio broadcast color analyst Martin O’Donnell. We at Illini Maven/SI want to thank O’Donnell for these tweets because it’s a perfect view and a different view from the telecast of the disruption by the Illinois defensive line that sometimes can’t be fully appreciated.

#TrenchWork pic.twitter.com/0xHo66yte0

— Martin O'Donnell (@MartinOD64) October 27, 2019

The next screenshot below shows the pocket, or lack thereof, Plummer had to work within on Saturday. 

Illinois collapses the pocket for Purdue quarterback Jack Plummer and Jamal Milan ends up with a sack

The dashed orange box is supposedly where Plummer could step into in order to drive a throw down the field even in these wet, sloppy, rainy conditions. Shogbonyo has attempted to crash the outside but Plummer can’t go forward much because Milan’s engagement with the left guard is near perfect. When Plummer wants to, as Brohm is stressing with him, step up in the pocket, Milan keeps his left arm free to disrupt the window for a pass attempt. Plummer could slide to his right but if you read his eyes, he wants to throw it toward the left sideline so sliding in that direction makes the throw across his body and even more difficult. When Plummer sees the pocket collapse, Milan frees his right arm in order to get a pursuit of the quarterback because the perimeter is exposed due to Shogbonyo’s outside pass rush.

Once again we thank O’Donnell for this link to the full video from the back end zone showing Illinois’ front four pursuit fundamentals as a four-man tandem.

Another One pic.twitter.com/ZkdenYi7Hi

— Martin O'Donnell (@MartinOD64) October 27, 2019

Finally, we look at the interception returned by Tony Adams for a touchdown. Was it another great read by Adams? Of course it was. Was it a horrible decision by Plummer, which eventually got him pulled by Brohm, to make that throw at all? Of course, it was. 

The pick-six by Plummer to Tony Adams shows how a collapsing pocket again forced an obvious bad decision but also poor footwork fundamentals on this throw. 

However, even on this play, this screenshot above will show Plummer isn’t able to step up and make a powerful throw. Due to the collapse of the inside of the pocket, again by Milan dominating his matchup against Sam Garvin, a walk-on who was starting in place of injured preseason starter Viktor Beach, Plummer isn’t able to put any velocity on this pass and essentially throws it flat-footed with his body leaning away from the target.

Despite maybe a quarterback pressure being given on this play, the defensive line gets little to no statistical credit for causing this turnover resulting in six points. However, it is a perfect example of how a chain reaction occurs when the defensive line causes issues allowing the linebackers (defense’s second unit) or secondary (defenses’ third and final unit) to make a play on the football. This, more than anything, is how Lovie Smith’s defenses historically have won the turnover battle.