Travis Williams will transform the UCF defense
Randy Shannon was a one trick pony. That trick was convincing. people that he was better than he actually was. At UCF, in particular, he was able to convince Danny White of this. That he was a great recruiter and a great defensive mind. Of course that was a lie as once Scott Frost’s players stopped carrying Randy Shannon his defense completely fell apart. Last year was an embarrassment on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive side of the ball looked lost and did not have the fundamentals down. The linebackers in particular looked like they were not being coached properly. Randy Shannon just rested on his laurels rather than actually coaching his side of the ball. And don’t get me started on how awful Shannon was as a recruiter. To say that Indid not she’d a tear when Randy Shannon left would be an understatement.
Whereas Randy Shannon was a charlatan, Travis Williams is the real deal. Williams has been one of the hottest names in college football for years. His work with Auburn’s linebackers and recruiting ability made him a hot commodity after Malzahn was fired. Hell some Auburn fans openly talked about giving T-Will a shot as head coach. That is how respected Travis Williams is in the coaching community. Heck, Manny Diaz and the University of Miami jumped at the chance to bring T-Will in. The man is a superstar in the coaching community. Now he has a chance to really only enhance his reputation at UCF. I have compared him to Marcus Freeman and I don’t think that is too far off. Both are young and energetic, both are known to be top notch at developing players, they are ace recruiters, and both have infectious personalities. It’s not too far off to call T- Will UCF’s version of Marcus Freeman.
UCF needed some new fresh blood. Someone with a different vision for what this defense should have been. Under Shannon, especially last year, the defense was extremely passive. There was no pass rush, no unique blitz packages, no havoc. It was just bend and don’t break, but it did break. Yes, the opt outs played a part, but when you watched this team you could see that schematically this defense was lost. Players had no idea where to go, the ability to tackle was on full display, and the coverages were blown all the time. It really looked like the defense was not being coached at all. That’s not because of covid that’s because Randy Shannon was a lazy ass who had a built in excuse last year for being shit at his job. Now UCF has someone who is hungry and is ready to prove himself. This is what the knights needed for years not some washed up has been who has prostituted himself to nearly every big college in Florida.
Travis Williams learned under Kevin Steele. Say what you will. about Steele in terms of running a coup, thanks Kevin, but the man knew defense. His defenses were aggressive and ball hungry. The defensive line and linebackers were key to this defense. Steele’s defense has matured and advanced. throughout his tenure. They were truly multiple in their style. This will be brought to Orlando with T-Will’s twist. Williams also learned under Gene Chizik. Chizik is a defensive mastermind. So T-Will has learned from some of the smartest defensive minds in the business. I immediately expect the defensive line to get more pressure than they did last year. This line will have a lot more stunts and have different looks under T-Will. He will fix up a 3 and 4 front. This was something that Auburn did when their defensive lines were dominant. I think that T-Will is smart enough to recognize this and implement it. Especially with the talent he has on the line this year. Kalia Davis, Big Kat Bryant, etc will give T-Will some nice toys to play with.
Linebacker play will be much better than last year. Last year, using primarily two linebackers, the unit looked out of sorts. Gilyard was a none factor for most of the year. They couldn’t cover which teams like Cincinnati, who ran the same play over and over again, took advantage of. The linebackers looked really slow as well. Their technique was completely off. For someone who claimed to be a genius at linebacker play it sure as hell did not show last year under Shannon. That’s going to change under Travis Williams. Williams has done wonders for Auburn’s linebackers. Look at Auburn’s 2017 linebackers, widely considered to be their best unit ever. Williams worked directly with that group and turned them into absolute studs. Every single year a linebacker made all sec first or second team since Williams had been there. So needless to say Williams will instantly improve the linebackers. He will get them to get the basics down first such as how to cover a tight end, how to properly tackle, how not to look like a chicken with his head cut off. You are going to see these linebackers look completely different. I also love him bringing in Tre Williams who can coach the linebackers while T-Will looks at the big picture. This was something that Randy Shannon’s ego never allowed him to do. Randy was too up his own ass to let someone else coach the linebackers and take some responsibility off of him. T-Will doesn’t have that problem.
The defensive backs will get much better as well. This is the unit that concerns me the most. Corey Thornton and Brown do not look good enough to be apart of UCF. Both were utterly lost last year. So this is my biggest concern as is finding someone to replace Richie Grant. Luckily, I have faith in T-WILL to let David Gibbs coach the secondary up. Gibbs is a much better coach and developer than that boneheaded Willie Martinez. The defensive backs will get much better with Addison Williams and Gibbs working with them. We are going to see these DBS be even more ball hungry and aggressive than any time Shannon was here. That’s how Gibbs’ dbs are. T-Will will not want to interfere with the dbs so he will delegate the responsibility to Gibbs. This has so far one of his biggest strengths: T-Will knows how to delegate and trust his assistants to do their job unlike messy Randy.
There’s this false narrative that Randy Shannon was some great recruiter for UCF. He was far from it. Shannon never ranked in the top 10 of recruiters on 247 while he was at UCF. Shannon was too lazy to go out on the recruiting trail. All he did was just recruit his boys from south Florida and they were hit and miss. Travis Williams on the other hand is arguably one of the best recruiters in the SEC if not college football. Now he’s at UCF. You just look at the recruits that UCF is in the top 10 for and they all seem to say “after talking to Coach T-Will.” The man is a machine on the trail. He is in constant contact with potential recruits. In fact take Jamaal Johnson from Chaminade, a school lazy Randy never recruited, T-Will flipped him from Miami. Now you look at the recruits he is working on. Mostly four star guys and they all discuss how they have constantly been contacted by T-Will. The man is a grinder. Consider this: Jeremiah Alexander, a five star recruit, is coming to visit UCF. It’s the first time UCF will ever have a five star high schooler on campus. That is thanks to Gus and T-Will. Just imagine what he can do next year once he has even more connections in the state.
The first image of T-Will at UCF was him riding a scooter around campus. The man is a different breed of coach. His personality shines through all the time. It’s clear why the players and recruits like him. Heck UCF fans fell in love with him after they saw his famous “auburn style” rap. The man is not your traditional coach. He’s got the best personality that I have ever seen for a coach. Defensive coordinators traditionally are old school in their approach. They are stoic and are sometimes stuck in the box overlooking the field. That’s the opposite of T-Will. The man is a ball of energy that has rejuvenated my faith in this staff. Gus Malzahn wants this defense to be a top 25 caliber defense. Travis Williams will get UCF there.
