When a football program hires a new coordinator, while most of the staff on that side of the ball stays the same, a vital dilemma comes to mind - will the new coordinator teach the entire staff and players the scheme he's bringing in, or will the staff teach the new coordinator what they've been accustomed to doing and what they players already know and understand. What often ends up happening is a mix of the two approaches, after all, the new coordinator doesn't understand what his new group of players are capable of quite like the assistants who have been around do.
That's largely the situation Oregon has found itself in, while they've replaced a few defensive coaches, the question on the direction of scheme remains - especially since the Ducks finished in the top 50 nationally in both scoring defense and rushing defense.
However, as new defensive coordinator Andy Avalos shares, scheme is taking a bit of a backseat during his first spring in Eugene.
Avalos believes that emphasizing a few things in particular will end up making the scheme in the long run.
"What we really want to get a hold of, is number one, our fundamentals and our technique and our consistency within those at all levels of the defense. And then, how we operate presnap and how we finish plays. That is a huge deal right now...and that will make the scheme," he shared.
"What happens from presnap to how we finish, everything that happens in between is fundamentals and technique. So we need to break it up like that. The things that we can emphasize, and how we emphasize, that's what we'll get."
See Avalos' full comments below.