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Featherston: Duke Defensive Line Comes Of Age
8/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Al Featherston, GoDuke.com
Great defensive linemen are not created overnight.
The position requires physical strength and mental maturity that are more common in upperclassmen than kids. There are exceptions, but, in the vast majority of cases, 21- and 22-year-old defensive tackles and ends are going to be more effective than 18- and 19-year-olds.
Chris Combs learned that lesson in the late 1990s. The Roanoke, Va., product redshirted his freshman season at Duke in 1995 before emerging as Duke's finest defensive lineman in modern times. He was a dominant player who recorded 20.0 career sacks and was honored as a second team All-ACC pick in 1997 and a two-time first-team choice in 1998 and 1999.
But all that success didn't come quickly or easily.
“When I got here, I wasn't nearly as strong and physical as I needed to be to play defensive tackle,” Combs, now Duke's assistant strength and conditioning coach, said. “It was a big process of me gaining weight and getting stronger. Once I came close to where I needed to be there, then the next obstacle is learning how to play technical-sound football -- learning how to keep your hands down and use your hands and use leverage and learn how to pass rush ... all the fundamentals that come with playing defensive line.
“Once you learn those things, then the next obstacle is transferring those fundamentals into a game situation, where things are coming at you full speed and you've got to adjust and adapt. As your experience grows ... you're going to see so much more as a senior than you ever saw as a freshman.
“I guess it's like anything else, there's no substitute for that on-the-job training.”
Combs' experience is significant because Duke's 2007 defensive line is largely composed of players who have endured that on-the-job training and appear ready for their breakout seasons. Third-year sophomores Vince Oghobaase, Ayanga Okpokowuruk and Ryan Radloff are starting up front, along with fourth-year senior Patrick Bailey.
“I think all of them have the tools you need to play at this level,” Combs said. “They're a talented group. The big thing is learning to play hard every play, then fighting through some injuries. In four years, it's rare that a guy playing that position is going to escape uninjured. So dealing with those injuries is part of it.”
Injuries have already played a major role in the career development of Oghobaase, Okpokowuruk and Radloff.
That trio was at the heart of Coach Ted Roof's 2005 recruiting class and was a big reason the 25-man group was rated higher than any Duke recruiting class in more than a decade. Oghobaase, a massive defensive tackle from Texas, picked the Blue Devils over such suitors as Miami and Oklahoma. Okpokowuruk, a Charlotte, N.C., native who played at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., was a major recruiting target for Tennessee. Radloff, a Hilton Head, S.C., native who played at a Charlotte prep school, was pursued by Clemson, North Carolina and others.
The class also included promising prospects Greg Akinbiyi out of Miami, Clifford Respress from Georgia and Kinney Rucker from nearby Jordan High School in Durham, N.C.
But of that heralded group, just two ? Akinbiyi and Respress ? played as true freshmen in the fall of 2005. Injuries forced Oghobaase, Okpokowuruk and Radloff to sit out their first season on campus. And while that may have slowed the development of Roof's prize trio, there's little doubt that Duke will get more from each of them as fifth-year seniors in 2009 than it would have gotten from them as true freshmen in 2005.
“It was unfortunate my first year here, but I've rehabbed, got through it and I'm a better player now because of it,” Oghobaase said.
It remains to be seen just how much better Oghobaase and his classmates are going to be this season.
That's what Roof is waiting to see. In the spring of 2006, he addressed a group of boosters and told them that in two years, Duke's line play would match that of the Blue Devils ACC opponents. This is the season he's hoping to see his defensive line close the gap with the rest of the league.
“I'd say we're real close,” Roof said after watching th Devils' last preseason scrimmage. “I think we're gaining on it, but we're not there yet.”
Asked to critique the defensive line as a whole, he said, “From a size standpoint, you'd say [we're there]. From an experience standpoint, we've still got a lot to prove -- everything to prove.”
It starts with Oghobaase, the most heralded recruit in the Roof era.
The 6-6 Houston product enrolled at Duke early, arriving for the spring semester in 2005. He was hoping to get a jump on his freshman season, but midway through the offseason workouts, he suffered the knee injury that forced him to sit out the 2005 season.
He started every game as a redshirt freshmen and showed flashes of the talent that made him such a highly sought prospect. He finished the year with one sack, eight tackles-for-loss, a safety and 28 total tackles. His best games were early as fatigue and a series of nagging injuries slowed him late in the season.
“Vince had a great first three-quarters of a year before he got a little banged up,” Roof said.
Oghobaase responded by trimming his body down from near 340 pounds to right at 300 pounds this fall.
“I've dropped a lot of weight this summer,” he said. “I have better stamina and I'm lighter and quicker on my feet.”
He's certainly impressed his teammates during preseason drills.
“Vince, wherever he goes, he does hard,” Bailey said. “He's been training as hard as he can. He's taking on two blockers and learning how to rip off them.”
Or, as quarterback Thaddeus Lewis said: “Vince Oghobaase can't be blocked!”
Okpokowuruk has been nearly as impressive at nose tackle.
The 6-4, 280-pounder was recruited as a defensive end, but he started five games last season at nose tackle, finishing with 16 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a share of a sack.
The plan was to move him back to defensive end and he emerged from spring practice listed as the starter at the end opposite Bailey. But the emergence of Radloff and Okpokowuruk's proven ability in the middle led Roof to move him back inside.
“Ayanga, he's done an exceptional job for us,” Bailey said. “He's learning that nose position. I know we thought he was going to be an end, but now he's that true nose. He's learning to use his hands and get up field. He's a pretty stout guy, but he carries his weight well.”
Okpokowuruk is comfortable back in his nose guard spot.
“At nose, everything's a lot faster ... a lot quicker,” he said. “At end, you have a little more time to react to stuff. I think I'm good for the position. I still have my speed and my quickness and I'm pretty strong for my size. I'm stronger than most people, so I'm able to hold my own inside.”
Bailey, the D-Line's most experienced player, is excited about what he's seen in preseason.
“Everybody's stepping up and becoming a unit, rather than just individuals,” he said. “It's been a great building process for us.”
The success of Duke's defensive line play this season may depend on how well Roof is able to develop depth at the position. He was concerned about his starters wearing down last season and hopes to limit their snaps this season.
“They've got to give us some help, so we can roll guys in and out of there,” he said. “We need to make sure our top guys are playing 40 snaps and not 75 snaps a game.”
Akinbiyi, who had 26 tackles last season (including 2.5 tackles for loss) offers a proven backup to Bailey at rush end. Inside, Rucker has impressed the Duke coach with his work this preseason.
“He's doing some good things and has become a much more physical player than he was last spring,” Roof said. “Those other guys have to keep coming. We're talking about sophomores and redshirt freshmen.”
Those guys ? such as sophomore Brandon Harper and redshirt freshmen Patrick Egboh and Ifreke Okpokowuruk (Ayanga's 285-pound “little” brother) ? are still going through the growing and learning process that Oghobaase and company have undergone. Those first and second year players ought to be major contributors in the future.
But for the members of Roof's Class of 2005, the time is now.
“I think this is the time where we're going to show who we are,” Okpokowuruk said. “Last year was our first year of playing. We were just learning the ropes last year. I think this is the year we come in full stride and really show what we can do.”
That's important to Oghobaase too. He caught a lot of heat from his football-crazy friends back at Houston when he elected to pass up all the gridiron powers that were recruiting him and sign with Duke.
“When I first committed here, they would say, ?Are you going to Duke to play basketball? Do you know Duke hasn't won in x-amount of years?' Just stuff like that.
“I just tell them I came to Duke for a reason and that's to turn the program around. I believe it can still be done.”
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