Barry Odom lays out his plan to restore UNLV defense

6-8 minutes 7/22/2023
Published Saturday, July 22, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Updated Saturday, July 22, 2023 | 9:57 a.m.
It’s been a long, long time since UNLV football fielded a respectable defense.
The Scarlet and Gray have allowed at least 30 points per game in 14 of the last 15 seasons, an incredible, institutional display of non-resistance that spans four head coaches. Bobby Hauck (2010-14) and Tony Sanchez (2015-19) each coached five years and never managed to post a points-against average under 30.
Marcus Arroyo’s squad actually did break the streak in 2022, as UNLV allowed 28.5 points (good for 86th in the nation). But his defense faltered badly down the stretch, allowing 34.7 points during a six-game losing streak that knocked UNLV out of bowl contention.
Now it’s up to new head coach Barry Odom to try to fix one of the most broken units in college sports. A former linebacker at Missouri, Odom has a strong résumé as a defensive mind, both from his time as head coach at Missouri and his most recent stint as defensive coordinator at Arkansas, but he’s never faced as task as tall as the one in front of him now.
At this week’s Mountain West media day, Odom laid out his plan to turn around the defense.
Run-stuffers wanted
When he took the job in December, Odom did his best to re-recruit the roster and evaluate potential holdovers. What was he looking for? His very first priority, he said, was identifying players who could impact the game in the trenches.
Simply put, he wants big bodies.
“I’m going to try to do everything I can to establish the line of scrimmage,” Odom said. “On defense, to be able to stop the run, that starts up front. I think if you have that ability within your program, the depth that that looks like, then your program takes off a little bit quicker.”
The good news on that front is that UNLV has some pieces in place along the defensive line. Senior tackle Naki Fahina figures to start in the middle after an injury-shortened 2022 campaign, and he checks in at a very solid 6-foot, 300 pounds. Next to him, senior Darius Johnson is coming off a productive year and measures 6-foot-3, 300 pounds.
The biggest concern is depth. Odom brought in Ben Key, a 6-foot-3, 315-pound senior transfer from Missouri, but he appeared in just two games last year. The rest of the depth chart at defensive tackle is populated by junior college transfers and true freshmen.
Odom is going to devote lots of manpower to the line of scrimmage and do everything in his power to not get run over.
Make them earn it
For the better part of two decades, UNLV has specialized in giving away free points to opponents. In last year’s most devastating defeat, a 31-25 loss at Hawaii, the Scarlet and Gray allowed five gains of 20-plus yards in the second half as Hawaii mounted the comeback that ultimately cost Arroyo his job.
Odom wants to prevent those game-changing plays.
“No. 1, defensively, we’ve got to do everything we can to eliminate explosive plays,” he said. “Make the offense go earn it. Make them drive the field.”
That is easier said than done. One simple mistake — a lineman not getting off a block, a linebacker filling the wrong gap, a safety taking a bad angle — can turn any routine play into a long gain.
Odom plans to coach his defenders on the details that can make or break a play. Football IQ is prized by his staff, and he said a good portion of training camp will be devoted to practicing situational football.
Fahina cited Odom’s attention to detail as one reason why the players have bought into the plan.
“His work ethic is great,” Fahina said. “From the first time I met him, I knew he was going to be the one to turn this program around.”
Gameplan for success
One thing Odom doesn’t want to do is lose games because he put his players in a no-win situation. If one of his linebackers is good in space but a little light at the point of attack, Odom is not going to assign him to take a head-on block from a 300-pound guard and expect him to win that matchup.
He believes in the football coach’s version of the Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm.
So when asking what kind of scheme he is going to employ this season, it’s not as simple as installing a base defense and assuming the players will be able to pull it off. Odom is going to have to adapt to his personnel, calling the plays they are capable of executing and scrapping the calls they cannot carry out.
Odom described that thought process at media day, noting that UNLV’s defensive gameplan will be fluid from week to week.
“It’s about, ‘Okay, what are we going to look like schematically? Are we able to run a 4-2-5? Are we a true 4-3 team? Are we an odd-front stack? What does that look like?’ And then developing the skills and finding out what each individual player can do, and giving them position where they can go have success doing that.”
Training camp will be crucial in allowing Odom and the defensive coaches to figure out how to best utilize the roster. Once they’ve nailed down the basics, Odom can then flex some of his play-calling muscle with more exotic gameplan wrinkles.
Will it all come together this season? Judging Odom on the performance of the defense in 2023 seems unfair, as it’s almost impossible to envision a way UNLV conquers its history of miserable defenses in a single offseason.
Odom can see it quite clearly, however.
“[We want to] be opportunistic in creating takeaways,” he said. “And then if we can ever find a way to get an offense behind the sticks—they want to be in 1st-and-10, well we need it to be 2nd-and-12. Get ‘em tackled for a loss, quarterback sacks, harassing the quarterback. Those things are all really key components of playing good defensive ball.”