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Za'Darius Smith
We are all familiar with the extended absence of defensive end Za’Darius Smith who football aficionado’s think could be a poor-man’s version of South Carolina’s Jadaveon Clowny.
During his absence a couple defensive ends got a chance to get many more reps than they normally would get. Travaughn Pascal and Alvin Davis stepped up and by all accounts gave a good showing and gave the defensive coaches that the defense can roll them in and out during a game and not lose a beat.
These guys have earned themselves some playing time by their showing in “Z’s” absence. “Travaughn (Pascal) is just a very good player,” Head Coach Mark Stoops said, “and very explosive – very fast. We’ve played him standing up a little bit too.” Asked was he a big surprise? “Yeah, I guess that fair to say. When we stood him up it surprised me. When Coach Eliot brought that up to me I was a little bit hesitant but when I started looking at the numbers of our GPS system, he’s faster than any linebacker we have. So we’ve been experimenting and moving him around a little. He’s a good player.” With the question coming from yours truly, I wasn’t totally surprised by Stoops’ answer.
Two years ago we posed the question to Darrian Miller of the player that gave him the most trouble coming off the edge? He said without a doubt, Pascal. He so he’s so fast coming off the edge. He’s the hardest for him to block because it’s hard to get his hands on him. We asked Pascal what benefit he got by “Z” being out with the injury. “I feel it gave us (he and Alvin Davis) a lot of confidence,” an anxious Pascal said. “Once he left everybody was kind of questionable who they would put in there. We stepped up and filled the position like he had never left. So everything that happened in that respect the coaches didn’t feel that it was bad at all.” He said a lot of the things they learned came from “Z” when he was out there making plays. “He’s a technician.”
Before Smith got back Alvin Davis got a mention from Stoops as a player that had stepped up. This is a case of Stoops finding diamonds in the rough and smoothing off the rough edges.
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