Tag Archives: Averee Robinson

08.26.16
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Where’s The Beef?

Leon Johnson and Michael Dogbe are now grizzled veterans.

Every once in awhile, an advertising agency comes up with something brilliant and the 1984 Wendy’s commercial “Where’s The Beef?” was certainly an example of that.

That, incidentally, was one of the questions many of the Temple fans had filing out of the Boca Raton Bowl. They knew the Owls were losing a big beefster, Matt Ioannidis, on one side of the line and Kyle Friend on the other.

Without an official depth chart, it’s hard to tell but, at least on the defensive side of the ball the Owls have the potential of fielding a speedy defensive line that can not only hunt down opposing quarterbacks, but is beefy enough to be lock-down run-stoppers.

jacob

Jacob Martin (left) and Ventell Bryant

My dream starting lineup would be a 5-2 with Haason Reddick (6-1, 230) and Jacob Martin (6-2, 240) at the ends, Michael Dogbe (6-3, 280) and Praise Martin-Oguike (6-1, 255) at the tackles and Averee Robinson (6-0, 285) at the position he was born to play, 5-2 nose guard.  Robinson was a two-time heavyweight Class AAAA (largest school) wrestling champion and those same gap leverage skills would make any opposing center’s life a nightmare. Lining him up right on top of the center would create havoc right away.

Instead, defensive coordinator Phil Snow is more comfortable with the 4-3 and that’s what we will probably see.

Martin, who earned a single digit on Wednesday (No. 9), would be a surprise starter at DE. Since that was Ioannidis’ number and Muhammad Wilkerson’s number, I believe the message was clear that is Martin will be a starter. Martin had one of the 10 sacks in last year’s opener against Penn State, so he’s a proven Prime Time player long before the single digits.

Either the 5-2 or the 4-3 lineup will give the Owls more than enough beef up front. Another possibility is that former defensive line starter Brian Carter (2014 game at UCF), who lost his starting offensive guard job on offense could be moved back to defense.  It’s quite possible that Carter is more suited to defense than offense and that would give the Owls a 6-1, 304-pound body should one of the converted defensive ends (Martin-Oguike or Dogbe) not work out at tackle. It’s good to have that kind of flexibility.

Monday: Game Week Starts

 

02.25.16
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The Case for A 5-2 Defense At Temple

charter

A possible two-deep using a 5-2 alignment

Some people wonder what football coaches do at this time of year, the few days after signing day and the few days before spring camp begins.

While the players do some conditioning drills outside and some weightlifting inside, the really good staffs are inside trying to figure out how to best utilize the talent that is available on the team. That was shown a year ago when Temple head coach Matt Rhule was reviewing film of a loss at Houston, saw his former offensive coordinator line up with five wides on a first and goal at the 1 and said he got physically ill watching that alignment. After a visit to the porcelain throne, Rhule scraped the Satterfield offense and went with his own.



“Give me a great
wrestler as a nose
guard and I will
show you a guy
who is going to
blow up the center
every time”
_ Vince Hoch
former TU DC

The result was a new offensive philosophy built around the talent at hand, a mix that (largely) saw two tight ends, a fullback and a heavy dose of play-action in the passing game. The result was a tie for the most points ever scored by a Temple offense and a 30 percent improvement in third-down efficiency.

That’s using your head for more than a hat rack.

Conversely, with the collection of depth and new high-end talent coming in, a strong case can be made for a 5-2 defense. With the number of quality linemen the Owls have on that side of the ball, they can cause havoc in opposing backfields by blowing up the point of attack with five guys across the front, instead of four. Imagine speedy defensive ends like Sharif Finch and Haason Reddick containing mobile quarterbacks when interior linemen like Karamo Dioubate and Greg Webb are on each side of nose guard Averee Robinson, a two-time Pennsylvania State Class AAAA (large school) heavyweight wrestling champion at Susquehanna Township. Former Temple defensive coordinator Vince Hoch was fond of saying “give me a great wrestler as a nose guard and I will show you a guy who is going to blow up the center every time.” Robinson has that kind of gap leverage potential as a nose guard. Like his brother, Adrian, he is playing out of position at Temple. Adrian was a natural OLB, his future position in the NFL, who was forced into DE duty as an Owl. Averee’s future is as a nose guard at the next level, whether it is the NFL or Canada.

I like the two linebackers for a couple of reasons. In Avery Williams (2) and Stephaun Marshall (6), you have two proven single-digit tough guys to carry the linebacker load. If I’m only going to use two LBs, I’m comforted by the fact that they are among the nine toughest guys on the team already. Then I can still use another proven tough guy, Nick Sharga (4), in the same role he had last year (roughly 10-15 plays on offense and 10-15 plays on defense as a backup LB).

There is experience all over the place with this defense, and a couple of big-time playmakers coming in to flank Robinson in Greg Webb and Karamo Dioubate. With Robinson blowing up the center, and Dioubate and Webb during their thing, these mobile quarterbacks are hit as soon as (or right after) they get the snap and do not get a chance to turn a corner or build up a head of steam.

Robinson and Freddy Booth-Lloyd playing nose guard could just be the disruption along the DL the Owls need to stop those mobile quarterbacks. The experiment is worth a try in spring practice.