Jan. 17—The Idaho football team’s first-year defensive coordinator, Dan Jackson, spent the last two seasons scheming against offenses in the most prolific Power Five conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the SEC, as Vanderbilt’s defensive backs coach.
Jackson departed Nashville to spearhead the Vandal defense and compete in one of the most sought-after conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision: the Big Sky.
“I’m starting to study the offenses from within the conference,” said Jackson, who was hired as the team’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on Jan. 10. “I think the offensive coaching in the Big Sky is solid. Teams are doing a lot of motion and shifting. I feel like offensive coordinators have been able to study and utilize personnel.”
The Omaha, NE., native has held many job titles during his 12-year coaching tenure, including recruiting coordinator, special teams coordinator, defensive backs coach and assistant head coach. But this will be his first time coordinating a defense.
“It starts with championship behavior,” Jackson said. “We have a goal to be the hardest-playing defense in the country, and from there, it’s going to be about being sound and structured and making sure guys know their job and get to the point where they can execute it on game day.”
Jackson doesn’t intend to reinvent the wheel schematically, saying Idaho will be “similar to last year” on defense.
“We’ll run some 4-2-5 with cover four as our base,” Jackson said. “We’ll include some cover four variations with some cover two as well. We’re really trying to evaluate the personnel as much as we can right now. It’s a mistake to just come in and implement a scheme without understanding the talent.”
Jackson has been watching the Vandals ever since Eck took over the program in 2022. The pair were on the same staff at South…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jackson-set-action-uis-dc-141100495.html
Author : Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho
Publish date : 2024-01-17 14:11:00
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