New Defensive Coordinator Robb Smith

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Not very impressive defenses lately, but the SEC is a much different animal offensively than the B1G. Only time will tell.
 


gopherfield said:
Robb's defense had epic meltdowns against lowly Mizzou at the end of the year, and in the Belk Bowl against VA Tech. He won't have SEC defensive talent here. Could have done better.
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Don't ignore the brutal turnovers the offense had in those games.
 

Arkansas fan here.

Smith is a hard DC to figure out. He blitzed a lot at Rutgers (and had good defenses there) but rarely blitzed here and played very soft coverage. We had a top 10 defense in his first year led by three NFL draftees in our front 7 and thought we had gotten a steal. His second year our rush defense was still very good but our pass defense was really bad. Then this year our rush defense turned into the worst in school history and our pass defense got better but still wasn't great. With 9 returning starters we have no idea how we had such a big dropoff in our rush defense. Smith might have been the scapegoat but it was so bad it makes me wonder if there is something else going on there. We gave up 543 rushing yards to Auburn. Overall he has shown he can be a good DC before and I'm not sure what to make of him to be honest but someone had to go for the way we played this year. Maybe he just needs a change of scenery. His 2014 defense was really creative. We had the "Bermuda Triangle" where we put our three best defensive players (Trey Flowers, Martrell Spaight and Darius Philon) on one side of the formation and overloaded the other side with the other 8 defensive players. Made offenses choose whether they wanted to attack quality or quantity.
 

Didn't like the Arkansas defenses I saw on TV. This doesn't seem to speak to the elite level this head coach Fleck has been pushing. Arkansas certainly was anything but elite in the SEC in defense this season. Bielema is probably laughing at us.
 


gohogs14 said:
Arkansas fan here.

Smith is a hard DC to figure out. He blitzed a lot at Rutgers (and had good defenses there) but rarely blitzed here and played very soft coverage. We had a top 10 defense in his first year led by three NFL draftees in our front 7 and thought we had gotten a steal. His second year our rush defense was still very good but our pass defense was really bad. Then this year our rush defense turned into the worst in school history and our pass defense got better but still wasn't great. With 9 returning starters we have no idea how we had such a big dropoff in our rush defense. Smith might have been the scapegoat but it was so bad it makes me wonder if there is something else going on there. We gave up 543 rushing yards to Auburn. Overall he has shown he can be a good DC before and I'm not sure what to make of him to be honest but someone had to go for the way we played this year. Maybe he just needs a change of scenery. His 2014 defense was really creative. We had the "Bermuda Triangle" where we put our three best defensive players (Trey Flowers, Martrell Spaight and Darius Philon) on one side of the formation and overloaded the other side with the other 8 defensive players. Made offenses choose whether they wanted to attack quality or quantity.
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Humm, well recently we've started to blitz a lot here... hopefully that helps...
 


Justin Wilcox had the 66th and 94th ranked defenses at USC before he was hired at Wisconsin. Everything worked out well for both of them this year.

I wouldn't get too worked up until we see what he can do here.
 






GopherWeatherGuy said:
Justin Wilcox had the 66th and 94th ranked defenses at USC before he was hired at Wisconsin. Everything worked out well for both of them this year.

I wouldn't get too worked up until we see what he can do here.
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This^^^^


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nsmike said:
It raises the possibility that either Claeys or Sawvel land at Arkansas. Robb Smith had previously been linked to the job at Wake Forest so that's another potential landing spot.
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I hear Western Michigan is hiring too.
 




GopherWeatherGuy said:
Justin Wilcox had the 66th and 94th ranked defenses at USC before he was hired at Wisconsin. Everything worked out well for both of them this year.

I wouldn't get too worked up until we see what he can do here.
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Are you saying we should have hired someone with a worse record?

Man we've been going about this the wrong way all along.......
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
How many 2nd half leads has Minnesota given up the last 2 years?
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Huh? Part of the reason that Claeys was let go was because of blown second half leads. Then we hire a DC who blows second half leads.

Yeah, we blew a few of them. We were led to believe the new upgraded staff would not.


I am cool with the hire. It just highlights how stupid Coyle's statement were.
 

Robb Smith made $750,000/year at Arkansas. In comparison, Claeys was paid $600,000 as D-coordinator in 2014 and Sawvell was paid $550,000 in 2016. Makes you wonder what they will be paying Smith per year at Minnesota? Either way, it looks like the University of Minnesota is stepping up their game when it comes to coaching staff salaries in football.
 


gopherhoopsguy said:
What a brutal hire.
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He's had two top-10 defenses in four years as a FBS defensive coordinator, I'm not ready to call it brutal yet. Unknown, sure, but he has shown an ability to coach a top-flight defense. If he brings in the croots, all the better.
 

My wife the Arkansas fan just sent me this text. "He is okay but makes dumb decisions on 2nd half and never does good in overtime."


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It could also mean

lmh839 said:
Robb Smith made $750,000/year at Arkansas. In comparison, Claeys was paid $600,000 as D-coordinator in 2014 and Sawvell was paid $550,000 in 2016. Makes you wonder what they will be paying Smith per year at Minnesota? Either way, it looks like the University of Minnesota is stepping up their game when it comes to coaching staff salaries in football.
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That Bret Bielema told Robb Smith to take a hike, and look elsewhere and it just wasn't announced yet. Arkansas fans seem to be rejoicing he is gone, not a good sign.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
My wife the Arkansas fan just sent me this text. "He is okay but makes dumb decisions on 2nd half and never does good in overtime."


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I wonder if any defense "does good in overtime".

Most every OT seems to be score score score score until finally someone lucks out with a stop.
 

gopherfield said:
Robb's defense had epic meltdowns against lowly Mizzou at the end of the year, and in the Belk Bowl against VA Tech. He won't have SEC defensive talent here. Could have done better.
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Arkansas gave up 30+ points eight times this season. Out of those eight games, seven of them were against top 25 opponents (3 in the top 15). I think its safe to say Smith's defense won't be seeing the same type of offensive talent in the B1G as well...
 


I was initially pretty upset with the hire and still am disappointed. However, we can't trust Arkansas fans when it comes to football. They rejoiced when Chris Ash was hired away by Ohio State.
 

gohogs14 said:
Arkansas fan here.

Smith is a hard DC to figure out. He blitzed a lot at Rutgers (and had good defenses there) but rarely blitzed here and played very soft coverage. We had a top 10 defense in his first year led by three NFL draftees in our front 7 and thought we had gotten a steal. His second year our rush defense was still very good but our pass defense was really bad. Then this year our rush defense turned into the worst in school history and our pass defense got better but still wasn't great. With 9 returning starters we have no idea how we had such a big dropoff in our rush defense. Smith might have been the scapegoat but it was so bad it makes me wonder if there is something else going on there. We gave up 543 rushing yards to Auburn. Overall he has shown he can be a good DC before and I'm not sure what to make of him to be honest but someone had to go for the way we played this year. Maybe he just needs a change of scenery. His 2014 defense was really creative. We had the "Bermuda Triangle" where we put our three best defensive players (Trey Flowers, Martrell Spaight and Darius Philon) on one side of the formation and overloaded the other side with the other 8 defensive players. Made offenses choose whether they wanted to attack quality or quantity.
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Thanks for your info. Does Bellamah make a lot of the calls (game prep and/or game day) on the defensive side of the ball? Is this a situation where the DC and HC don't see eye-to-eye on what to do, or do you think Smith pretty much got his way on the defense?
 

Maybe he's a solid recruiter? In any case, let's trust Fleck to know what he's doing. There's a reason he brought HIM in, and not someone else.


Stayin' positive.
 

savagerube said:
Arkansas gave up 30+ points eight times this season. Out of those eight games, seven of them were against top 25 opponents (3 in the top 15). I think its safe to say Smith's defense won't be seeing the same type of offensive talent in the B1G as well...
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Yup no top 25 teams in the big ten.
 


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