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"Every data set has its outliers, and when it comes to takeaways in college football, the man standing on the far end of the bell curve is Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt. If luck is the determining factor in turnovers, Pruitt's got a pocketful of four-leaf clovers.
Pruitt spent five years as a defensive coordinator at three different schools before being hired in December to head up the Volunteers' rejuvenation. In that span, Washington leads all Power 5 programs with 136 takeaways. But add up each of Pruitt's stops -- Florida State, Georgia and Alabama -- and he's got even more, 139. His defenses exceeded the Power 5 average in takeaways every season, and he ranked in the top 10 three times. At each new stop, Pruitt increased takeaways from the prior regime by an average of nearly 10 per season.
Luck? Nah, Pruitt's got to have a real strategy.
"Some of it starts with recruiting," Pruitt said. "You want defensive guys that are used to handling the ball. When you talk about playing pass plays in general, the most important thing is playing the ball. That's stressed."
Play the ball, catch the ball. Simple enough. So why is Pruitt such an outlier?
He can list off plenty of reasons. He's had great athletes. He stresses putting pressure on the quarterback, something that, as offenses increasingly add run-pass options to their playbooks, makes for even more takeaway chances. And he asks his defenses to be aggressive, to dictate the action rather than respond to it.
And that all sounds pretty good, except that the data suggests there might be some other significant factors playing into Pruitt's success that have very little to do with all that practice and scheme.
Over the past 10 years, no team has a better turnover ratio than Alabama, where Pruitt has spent five years as an assistant coach. The Crimson Tide's turnover margin is a whopping plus-93 since 2008, and they've hauled in an impressive 250 takeaways during that span. But of those 250 takeaways, 205 came when Alabama already had the lead (82 percent), and 147 came when it led by 10 points or more (59 percent). And statistics show that teams playing from behind are far more apt to cough up the ball.
Alabama also has faced the third-highest rate of pass plays over that span, and teams are about three times more likely to turn the ball over on a pass play than a run. And Alabama's defense has faced more third-and-long plays than any other FBS team in that stretch. Turnovers occur at a far higher rate on third-and-long than any other down and distance.
Those trends hold true at each of Pruitt's stops, which certainly is a credit to his defenses, though not necessarily attributable to strip drills, defensive backs with great hands or repeated team mantras about the importance of takeaways.
"It's about making your players understand the situations and opportunities, and if you rep it and stress it, over time, you can influence it," Pruitt said. "That's probably the biggest thing."
Perhaps that's right. Pruitt certainly believes in his philosophy, though this season will serve as its biggest test. Last season, Tennessee finished with just 15 takeaways, tied for 97th nationally. It was also playing from behind 58 percent of the time, faced passes on just 36 percent of its defensive snaps and faced the seventh-fewest third-and-longs in the country. Those numbers might prove far more daunting in the quest to up Tennessee's takeaway count."
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...aches-their-everlasting-quest-coach-turnovers
"Every data set has its outliers, and when it comes to takeaways in college football, the man standing on the far end of the bell curve is Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt. If luck is the determining factor in turnovers, Pruitt's got a pocketful of four-leaf clovers.
Pruitt spent five years as a defensive coordinator at three different schools before being hired in December to head up the Volunteers' rejuvenation. In that span, Washington leads all Power 5 programs with 136 takeaways. But add up each of Pruitt's stops -- Florida State, Georgia and Alabama -- and he's got even more, 139. His defenses exceeded the Power 5 average in takeaways every season, and he ranked in the top 10 three times. At each new stop, Pruitt increased takeaways from the prior regime by an average of nearly 10 per season.
Luck? Nah, Pruitt's got to have a real strategy.
"Some of it starts with recruiting," Pruitt said. "You want defensive guys that are used to handling the ball. When you talk about playing pass plays in general, the most important thing is playing the ball. That's stressed."
Play the ball, catch the ball. Simple enough. So why is Pruitt such an outlier?
He can list off plenty of reasons. He's had great athletes. He stresses putting pressure on the quarterback, something that, as offenses increasingly add run-pass options to their playbooks, makes for even more takeaway chances. And he asks his defenses to be aggressive, to dictate the action rather than respond to it.
And that all sounds pretty good, except that the data suggests there might be some other significant factors playing into Pruitt's success that have very little to do with all that practice and scheme.
Over the past 10 years, no team has a better turnover ratio than Alabama, where Pruitt has spent five years as an assistant coach. The Crimson Tide's turnover margin is a whopping plus-93 since 2008, and they've hauled in an impressive 250 takeaways during that span. But of those 250 takeaways, 205 came when Alabama already had the lead (82 percent), and 147 came when it led by 10 points or more (59 percent). And statistics show that teams playing from behind are far more apt to cough up the ball.
Alabama also has faced the third-highest rate of pass plays over that span, and teams are about three times more likely to turn the ball over on a pass play than a run. And Alabama's defense has faced more third-and-long plays than any other FBS team in that stretch. Turnovers occur at a far higher rate on third-and-long than any other down and distance.
Those trends hold true at each of Pruitt's stops, which certainly is a credit to his defenses, though not necessarily attributable to strip drills, defensive backs with great hands or repeated team mantras about the importance of takeaways.
"It's about making your players understand the situations and opportunities, and if you rep it and stress it, over time, you can influence it," Pruitt said. "That's probably the biggest thing."
Perhaps that's right. Pruitt certainly believes in his philosophy, though this season will serve as its biggest test. Last season, Tennessee finished with just 15 takeaways, tied for 97th nationally. It was also playing from behind 58 percent of the time, faced passes on just 36 percent of its defensive snaps and faced the seventh-fewest third-and-longs in the country. Those numbers might prove far more daunting in the quest to up Tennessee's takeaway count."
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...aches-their-everlasting-quest-coach-turnovers
