Joe Gillespie wants TCU defense to take next step against West Virginia
There’s a lot TCU defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie has liked about how his defense has performed recently.
The Horned Frogs shut out Kansas State in the second half last week. The previous week they limited Oklahoma State to less than 35 yards in the fourth quarter.
The defense played a major role in the thrilling comebacks, but with just five games remaining, including Saturday’s trip to West Virginia, Gillespie says it’s time for the defense to step up.
“The things I’ve liked about the defense is this is a team that loves football, they understand the game and they have that experience under their belt,” Gillespie said. “So now they’re able to make those adjustments and not panic. The thing I want us to get better is we’ve got to get close to a full four quarter game.”
Earlier in the season, as the team got acclimated to the 3-3-5 defense in game and dealt with injuries, it was more about producing solid stretches rather than a full 60 minutes. That time has gone and past in the eyes of Gillespie.
“Early in the season you were just trying to get a good half out of it,” he said. “And then start trying to compile minutes on top of that and now here we are going into game eight and this is when you need to start honing in on a full 60 minutes. That’s what it’s going to take. Everyone has the experience now across the conference. It’s going to take a full 60 minute game if you want to accomplish what you want to do.”
The only accomplishment on the mind of the Horned Frogs is beating West Virginia for the first time since 2017. The Mountaineers won’t make that easy despite their 3-4 record.
The defensive game plan starts around figuring out JT Daniels. While TCU was in the midst of a four game Top 25 gauntlet, it was also in a grueling stretch of facing dual threat quarterbacks.
Dillon Gabriel, Jalon Daniels, Spencer Sanders, Adrian Martinez and even the backups of Kansas and Kansas State all were mobile quarterbacks that could make a defense pay with their legs. Daniels is far from that as he’s a more traditional pocket passer.
That doesn’t lessen the challenge though.
“He’s going to execute the offense. Anytime you face those dual threat quarterbacks that presents a challenge for any defense, I don’t care what defense you run,” Gillespie said. “There are some aspects you look at it as a defensive guy and say I like this a little bit better. Then there are other aspects where the perfection Daniels has with the offense, you sit there and go maybe I would rather face the dual threats. It’s a toss up either way.”
As a pure thrower, Daniels might be the best TCU has seen this year. But his lack of mobility opens up more possibilities for the defense to attack him.
“There are going to have to be a lot of different things that we do. You sit there and start comparing it to the last few weeks with a quarterback that can pull it down and hurt you with his feet real fast. You start to play some caution cards from time to time because you don’t want him banging his head on the goalpost for 80 yards out,” Gillespie said. “We’re going to have to get creative with these things, there’s nothing JT hasn’t seen and there’s nothing that offensive line hasn’t seen.”
Gillespie says TCU must win its one-on-one battles to slow West Virginia down. In terms of executing faster, he thinks the Horned Frogs will be in a better position to do so this week.
“If we can execute at a very fast pace right off the bat and not try to do more than what you’re coached to do- I think we’ve kind of gotten into that point of trying to do more because we think we’re playing an opponent that is extremely good and now it’s ‘I gotta do more than what I’ve been coached to do,’” Gillespie said. “You really have to go back and hone in on what you do and everything else will take care of itself.”
Namdi emerging
TCU is dealing with another injury to a key defensive performer as Millard Bradford was hurt against Kansas and has missed the last two games. Bradford plays the nickel safety spot, which Gillespie said is the most cerebral position of the defense.
Gillespie added that team is crossing its fingers that Bradford will be available for West Virginia, but acknowledged that would just be in an emergency capacity. He’s more likely to return next week vs. Texas Tech.
Bradford’s injury has opened the door for Namdi Obiazor to get more playing time and the safety has come up big with seven tackles each in the last two games.
“That was a big get for us. We didn’t quite understand it at the time, but we do now and what he brings to the table. Namdi is a very intelligent young man and understands the integrity of our defense. He can play three or four positions and we wouldn’t miss a beat,” Gillespie said.
Obiazor credits Gillespie’s system for why he has been able to produce so quickly.
“Part of it is the defense we run. When I’m at nickel I’m out there kind of just free and can go find the ball,” Obiazor said.
Obiazor didn’t have any offers out of high school and had to ball out at Iowa Western Community College before really gaining college interest.
He was a First-Team 2021 NJCAA All-American and now he’s becoming a contributor for a Top 10 team in the country.
“It’s kind of crazy to me, I look back in time and I’m truly grateful to be here. Coming out of high school this is the opportunity I wanted, I just had to take a different route to get here, but it all worked out,” Obiazor said.
The depth of TCU’s linebackers and safeties have been tested like no other, but through that adversity the Horned Frogs have found difference makers like Obiazor and Abe Camara to complement starters Bradford and Bud Clark.
Obiazor has big holes to fill as he’ll likely start his second straight game, but he’s shown he’s more than capable of holding the line until Bradford returns.
This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
