Nick Jackson was good for 10 tackles a game anchoring the middle of the Virginia defense the past three years, but he’s taking his 10 tackles a game to Iowa, leaving a gaping hole both in terms of productivity and maybe more so in the area of leadership.
Linebackers coach Clint Sintim is doing his best trying to sell us on how the obvious isn’t what it seems.
“Nick, you know, did a lot of great things for this program, and we’re appreciative of that. But at the same time, I’m excited about what we’ve got in the room,” Sintim said after a recent practice.
And actually, yeah, there is some talent in the linebacker corps, beginning with junior James Jackson, a Roanoke native who logged 509 snaps last season, and is sliding over to the middle this spring.
Jackson, by all accounts, seems to be getting the hang of being the guy making the calls as the quarterback of the defense.
“I feel super comfortable,” said Jackson, who Pro Football Focus graded out at 58.9 last season, with 60 tackles, 10 total QB pressures (one sack) and a 100.4 NFL passer rating against in pass coverage.
He’ll have to improve on those numbers to replace the productivity of Nick Jackson, who PFF graded out at 73.9 last season, with 104 tackles, 16 total QB pressures (five sacks) and a 107.8 NFL passer rating against in pass coverage.
Sintim likes what he has seen from James Jackson this spring.
“James is a great talent for us,” said Sintim, who you might remember as one of the anchors of Al Groh’s Virginia defense in the late ‘aughts, registering 192 tackles and 24 sacks from 2006-2008 before the New York Giants made him a second-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.
Jackson, per Sintim, “is long, he’s athletic, he can run, he can do a lot of different things, and he played from the beginning of the season last year, and then throughout the season, you saw him mature as far as his game. started to make some tackles, make some plays, and just continue to develop. So now for James, as young as we are, he’s probably the most veteran guy.”
Which is another way of saying, the rest of the room is young.
OK, so, there is Josh Ahern, a fifth-year player who was on the field for 240 snaps in 2022, graded out at 56.1, had 26 tackles, seven total QB pressures (one sack) and a 158.3 NFL passer rating against in pass coverage.
Ahern should be another veteran presence for the linebacker group.
There is some good young talent in the room in the form of sophomores Trey McDonald and Stevie Bracey, both of whom Sintim is high on going forward.
Neither got much run last season – Bracey was on the field for 28 snaps, McDonald for just six.
“Stevie came in last year as a mid-year and, you know, things kind of move fast, just as a young guy trying to figure it out. But I mean, he’s got a year under his belt, he kind of knows the expectations now, and he’s starting to get better. So, I’m appreciative of him. I see him taking a little bit more ownership and just trying to step up and just be a better player,” Sintim said.
“Trey’s developing, like the rest of those guys, he’s developing,” Sintim said. “He came in as a freshman in the fall, played a little bit of a role, and this year, he’s playing a lot more significant role. Trey’s a smart guy, Trey’s well-intentioned, and, you know, he’s a good worker. So, I’m excited about Trey, and just like the rest of those guys, he’s going to continue to develop, and hopefully he can help us this year and play a role for us.”
Bracey talked about how he’s working in spring practice to build confidence in knowing his role in the defense.
“I’m definitely a lot more confident than what I was last spring,” Bracey said. “You know, it’s, I kind of say, it was playing a completely different game, but it’s all the same thing. So, learning the new defense, coming in with Coach Elliot, Coach Rud, meeting everybody, meeting new people, it was definitely a transition. And I guess from last winter, this spring, I definitely feel a lot better, and knowing the defense, knowing my keys, reading my keys, learning coaches, Coach Rud, and kind of being able to find my way around with kind of what they want, from me and from us as defense.”
That seems to be the theme across the defensive unit, which was markedly better in terms of productivity in 2022 compared to the disaster that was 2021 – giving up 357.6 yards per game last season, a more than 100 yards per game improvement from the 466.0 yards per game that the unit gave up in 2021.
The improvement came as the unit was still getting its feet wet in terms of learning the 3-4 stack scheme that defensive coordinator John Rudzinski brought with him from Air Force.
“Last year was learning. This year, it’s more of kind of getting better and sharpening up what we put in last spring and during fall camp, and throughout the season to now,” Bracey said. “I definitely think I see a complete difference and change in our defense. Obviously, we were pretty decent last year, and I think we’re gonna be a lot better this year as well.”
“I think the main difference from last year to this year, it’s just our closeness as a team, and our team mentality,” Jackson said. “You know, it was, like you said, starting off fresh with Coach E last year, um, it was a lot of learning, you know, a lot of things that we had to get used to, with him as a head coach. And as we kind of progressed throughout the year, we learned more and more about him and how he wants our team to be, and what he kind of wants our mission to be as a team.
“I think we’re just more and more buying into that and kind of growing as a team, coming more and more together. I feel like we’re more in one accord as a team this year than last year, not saying we weren’t last year, but we’re just growing as a team,” Jackson said.
So, no, it won’t be easy to replace Nick Jackson, but that day was coming soon, one way or the other.
The future just came a year early.
“I’m excited for Stevie Bracy, James Jackson, you know, Trey McDonald, all of these young guys who are getting a ton of reps,” Sintim said. “I don’t know if there’s one guy yet who’s going to replace him, and that’s OK. But collectively, they are understanding, we’ve just got to continue to get better, and then slowly, but surely, we’ll kind of figure out who is the leader of the defense.
“The beautiful thing about spring ball, and in general, you lay the foundation for what your defense is, like, what your room is like. So, for me, I kind of started from square one,” Sintim said. “And obviously, Nick isn’t here, but in the second time around, we would have started from square one, as far as, you know, stance, alignment, eyes, keys, and then you just build from there. So, I guess my expectation is still the same. In the back of my mind, I know I’ve got younger guys, but my approach is, hey, how can we get better, and then creating demand so that way, we do get better.”
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Chris Graham
