This offseason, West Virginia hired Victor Cabral as their outside linebackers coach in hopes of ramping up pressure and coverage from the outside.
Cabral comes to WVU from Appalachian State, where he spent one season as their defensive line coach. Under Cabral, App State’s DL accumulated 16 sacks last year. In total he’s coached 11 years in college football, including at his alma mater Georgia Southern where he was also their DL coach.
“We talk about pass rush every single day. And again, that’s just one of the angles that those guys (outside linebackers) have to be really really good at,” Cabral said Wednesday.
Last year the Mountaineers sacked the quarterback 31 times, which did lead the Big 12, but something the unit would like to improve and keep up. Even if a sack is not achieved, pressuring the quarterback is still a net positive as he may make an errant decision or be forced to throw the ball away.
“We talk it all the time about pass rushing is patience and it is a setup move and it’s about having the right time in the right situation,” Cabral said.
Rushing the quarterback every play and attempting to create pressure is not entirely feasible. Cabral’s group will also need to be able to play in coverage and stop the run.
“Being able to be flexible also with the coverage world and also in the run fits is is is a huge factor of what we’re trying to do we just can’t be third down guys,” Cabral said. “‘I’ve always said that the true definition of team defense is versus the pass because everyone has to do their job. You know against the run sometimes you can call a certain call to get in there, you can sometimes accidentally fall into a great tackle.”
