3B
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
As Wolverines prepare for Army, defensive line
coach Shaun Nua brings rivalry experience
Shaun Nua remembers the
last time he beat Army. That
December day in Philadelphia
four years ago, Nua was on the
sidelines,
coaching
defensive
line at Navy — the Black Knights’
fiercest rival. The Midshipmen
finished with eight tackles for
loss and three sacks in rivalry
win number four for Nua, now
Michigan’s defensive line coach.
Together, those four victories
were
Nua’s
favorite
rivalry
moments.
But Army won the next two
years — Nua’s last two. His
final taste of the rivalry was a
heartbreaking, 14-13 loss in 2017
when, with snow swirling all
around, Navy’s kicker missed a
field goal on the last play.
Nua left the next year for
Arizona State, but it would only
be two years before he got another
shot at the Black Knights, albeit
with the Wolverines. With him,
Nua brings years of experience
teaching players how to defend
the triple option — the unique
offense that is Army’s calling
card.
Addressing
reporters
Wednesday, Nua was careful to
point out that he’s far from the
only one on Michigan’s staff
who has experience with the
triple
option.
Offensive
line
coach Ed Warinner spent 12
years with the Black Knights,
including two years as their
offensive coordinator in 1998-
99. Defensive coordinator Don
Brown has seen it plenty of
times, including in 2017, when
he coached the Wolverines to an
easy win over Air Force.
A few defensive players still
remain who started that game
— safety Josh Metellus, viper
Khaleke Hudson and defensive
back Lavert Hill — with several
others playing at some point. All
the experience, from the staff
down to the backfield, only helps.
“We’ve
definitely
been
working on Army since the
spring,” said junior safety Brad
Hawkins, who also saw the
field during the 2017 game.
“Definitely started doing it more
during camp as well, but we’re
definitely gonna be prepared
for Army. … (It’s) gonna give
us a challenge. But if we play
Michigan defense, we run to the
ball, we tackle well, we should be
perfectly fine.”
When asked his main key, Nua
preferred to keep it simple.
“Don’t let them run the ball,”
he said.
That’s a near impossibility
for a team with an offense that’s
designed to always run the ball.
But there are ways to keep a team
like that contained: hold them to
short yardage and force them
into third- and fourth-and-longs.
Against the triple option, you
must prepare to play four downs
instead of three. Nua pointed
out that the Black Knights went
for it on fourth-and-1 from their
own 25 against Rice — a notion
so ridiculous for any other team
that it elicited laughs from the
reporters in attendance. But
without the threat of a downfield
shot,
Nua
and
the
players
alike noted that if they stay
disciplined, they should be just
fine. After all, this has been one
of the most elite defenses in the
country for the past four years,
and that goes the same against
any type of offense.
“It’s a unique offense, it’s
something that we don’t see
every day,” Nua said. “It’s such
a spread offensive world that
you see the triple option, it’s just
different, but other than that, it’s
still football. You still gotta get
11 guys to do their assignment
and get to the ball as hard as they
can.”
In an era when most Power
Five teams do everything they
can to avoid scheduling service
academies due to their unique
style and discipline, Michigan
coach Jim Harbaugh likes to play
them just for the fun of it.
But with experienced players
and coaches and Nua’s requisite
distaste for an old rival, it’s a
challenge the Wolverines believe
they are well equipped to handle.
“I never liked Army, but the
motivation’s
still
the
same,”
Nua said. “You want to give our
players and Michigan the best
chance to win, not because I hate
Army because I was at Navy,
that’s a personal thing, but you
want to win every game the same
way.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Defensive line coach Shaun Nua has experience facing Army’s triple-option from his time coaching at Navy.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
FootballSaturday, September 7, 2019