3/23/2021 football Edit

Indiana's 'Bull' position will be major cog in defensive scheme

Paul Gable • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

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When he was looking for a new defensive coordinator, Indiana head football coach Tom Allen made it crystal clear that the new coordinator would be someone who would run Allen's 4-2-5 defense and put their own touch on it.

In Charlton Warren, he found his man to run the defense and make some tweaks to it. One of those tweaks will be the continued tweaks will be the use of the bull position -- a hybrid defensive end/linebacker. On paper, the player who assumes the role of the Bull lines up on the line of scrimmage as a defensive end, but is able to either drop back into coverage or attack the quarterback.

The Bull will always line up on the line of scrimmage exactly where a defensive end would line up. The difference is, the Bull will be standing instead of down in a three-point stance, which gives the Bull the option of either rushing the quarterback or dropping back in coverage. From a standing position, it’s easier to do that without engaging with an offensive tackle.

Meeting with the media this week for the first time since spring practice started, Warren laid out his vision for the position.

“We haven’t changed our defense to be a 3-3-5,” Warren said. “We’re a 4-2-5 and the Bull is the fourth guy all the time on the line of scrimmage. That position is just very versatile because he’s a guy that can rush, a guy that can cover, a guy that can blitz. It takes a special skill set to be that position.

"You’re looking for that hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker. He’s got to be athletic enough and quick enough to drop in coverage, carry tight ends, to bull, there’s a lot of things we ask that guy to do which makes him a really specialized player. For us, it’s exciting because there’s a lot of things you can do with that guy. In the course of a game, the course of a drive, the course of a series that can keep an offense off-balance.”

A season ago, D.K. Bonhomme assumed the role of the Bull after kickstarting his career with the Hoosiers as a linebacker. In eight games in 2020, Bonhomme amassed 15 tackles, one sack, two TFLs and got into the scorebook with a safety against Maryland.

Allen notes he and his defensive coaching staff made some changes to the schemes that generated success.

"This is kind of first time we've really kind of branched out ---- we changed the way the coach to position this past fall," Allen said. "We actually made an adjustment during the year. It wasn't even before the season, it was during the season. And it just seemed to kind of make sense."

It did more than just make sense, it opened up a defense that was able to force 20 takeaways through eight games, helped the team lead the Big Ten with 25 sacks and ranked fourth in the Big Ten in scoring defense at 20.3 ppg and fifth in total defense at 378.1 yards per game.

Factor in Indiana bringing back All-American linebacker Micah McFadden and All-American cornerback Tiawan Mullen, who both were among the top in sacks, as well as defensive backs Devon Matthews, Reese Taylor and Jaylin Williams, and Indiana has pieces that can create havoc for opposing quarterbacks and offenses again in 2021.

And that includes the Bull, according to Warren, who said the position is special because it requires a different, unique skill set.

“You look for a guy that’s a smaller defensive end or a guy that's a bigger linebacker and merge the two together,” Warren said. “The great thing about the Bull position, you could have four guys and have four different skill sets. This guy is on the field when you need this, this guy is on the field when you need this, by down, distance and situation. So the great thing about that is because there’s only one of them on the field, they don’t have to be the clone of each other. One can be bigger and more physical, one can be smaller and more athletic. One can be quick. One can do a little bit of everything. That's what makes it exciting.

"If you get a nose guard, they have to be 300 pounds and big and you need a bunch of those guys. The Bull is different. You can have a 260 guy, you can have a 225 guy, you can have a 245 guy. It really just depends on what you’re doing.”