Over at Football Study Hall. An interesting feature of the Gophers under Fleck, besides the fact that they’ll be running a smashmouth spread with huge OL and tight ends, is Robb Smith’s Under defense.
You don’t see a ton of Under in the Big 12 and I’m curious to see how his defense works this coming year in the Big 10. If you’ve read Coach Alexander’s “Cautious Aggression”
He’s a big fan of setting the 3-technique to the field to wall off runs to the wide side and forcing teams to operate in confined space in the boundary. Smith is doing the exact opposite at Minnesota, setting his nose to the field alongside a big strong side end. Didn’t really work out too well the last few years at Arkansas but he’ll have Steven Richardson now so that could change in a big way.