Three Defensive Changes that should be made after Aazaar Abdul-Rahim promoted to Maryland football's interim DC

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With the potential for a massive change at the top of the Maryland coaching pyramid after the Terrapins homecoming game Saturday, a change did indeed happen to the coaching staff. However, it was defensive coordinator Ted Monachino that was removed from the coaching staff after Maryland’s 5th straight loss of the season at the hand of Rutgers. Defensive backs coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim was internally promoted to defensive coordinator and will have a chance to flip the defenses fortunes. Zac Spavital will also assume the co-defensive coordinator position alongside Abdul-Rahim. Yet another coordinator changed under the Locksley regime; however, this marks the first time an in-season change has occurred. As of the bye-week this seems to be the only coaching staff change that will happen before seasons end as the next five games will seemingly be the last of the Mike Locksley era. In regards to Abdul-Rahim, the first time Power 4 coordinator has a lot to fix with the struggling Terp defense. Through conference play, Maryland ranks last in the conference in scoring defense and 17th in total defense allowing 453 yards per game. We take a look at three things the new Maryland defensive coordinator can do.

Put Players in Best Position To Produce

Much was made about Maryland’s returning production on both sides of the ball. The defense brought back Daniel Wingate, Jamare Glasker, Dontay Joyner, CJ Smith, Eyan Thomas, Dontay Joyner, and Sidney Stewart just to name a few. The expected production has not been met as the Terrapins have struggled mightily. Putting these players in the best position to make an impact is a potential quick fix to try something different. This is the case especially with Sidney Stewart. The sophomore was arguably Maryland’s best defensive player last season as a freshman finishing with a team leading 7 sacks. With the season more than halfway over, Stewart has recorded just 2 sacks and only an additional 1.5 TFLs. Throughout the season Stewart has been dropped back into coverage. Every once in a while would be reasonable, but the star edge rusher has been put in that position too many times. The Monachino 4-2-5 scheme leads to edge rushers dropping back into coverage every once in a while and it has happened too often for Stewart. Putting the star back in the position where he can thrive more often is a change that could lead to more pocket pressure.

The 4-2-5 scheme has also led to an over reliance on rushing more than 4 players. With Maryland’s pass rushing struggles this year this makes sense in practice; however, it is often that the team can’t get to the quarterback even with the numbers advantage. This has left the pass coverage vulnerable. Potential scheme tweaks could be in effect.

Secondary Changes

The Maryland secondary has been massively disappointing up until this point of the season. Even with the return of Dontay Joyner two games ago, the secondary has been mostly gashed throughout conference play. Maryland ranks 14th in the conference in passing defense allowing 218 yards per game. Returning Jamare Glasker has mostly had a down season having been beaten routinely by some of the conference's best in Jeremiah Smith and KJ Duff. Incoming transfer Amari Jackson has been underwhelming in coverage and has had major tackling issues, and younger depth such as Judah Jenkins and Darell Carey have not been able to be competitive at a consistent level. Incoming transfer Jordan Scruggs has been serviceable and Messiah Delhomme has been a strong tackler but these players still have not contributed to the whole being better off.

Abdul-Rahim has been in charge of the defensive backs for the past few seasons to mostly underwhelming results. The defensive backs have had problems in one on one coverage, turning their heads around for jump balls, penalties, and tackling. It is not expected that these traits will change with the promotion but the style on how they are positioned can change. Maryland gets burnt by explosive plays a lot with coverage being the main culprit. Perhaps a bend don’t break mentality would be beneficial for the secondary with allowing more cushion to reduce explosive plays. This would require strong tackling and rallying to the football, which the entire unit has struggled with; but a bend don’t break mentality in the long areas of the field could limit yards allowed.

Less Rotation on The Defensive Line

A big storyline in the offseason was how much depth Maryland accrued on the defensive line to combine with their returning players. Derrick LeBlanc from UCF, the Parker twins from Washington, Lavon Johnson back from Texas joined transfers from last season as well as some young talent. After a promising start against lower competition, the unit has not been up to snuff. A continued problem with stopping the run has not gotten better as Maryland allowed over 200 yards in the first three Big Ten games and Rutgers eclipsed 150 with Clay Thevenin gashing them all day long.

As mentioned previously, the pass rush has not been consistent either with 6 sacks in 4 conference games with only 1.5 coming from the interior. There is basically zero threat of an interior pressure forming with the interior being stood up on the line almost every snap. It has basically been up to Stewart and Elee to create their own pressure without the quarterback having to move or a blitz package to shake things up.

Rotating defensive tackles is important due to it being a taxing position but Maryland could potentially chop down the rotation a bit. The incoming transfers as well as players such as Joel Starlings are all being heavily rotated through to limited results. There is an argument to be made that these players were overrated entering the fold and the depth lacked front-end star power, but much more was expected than this. It may be time for the staff to identify the best players and the ones who are giving effort while also cutting down the heavy rotation. As mentioned, rotation is essential at this position but it's about putting the playmakers in position to do so.

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