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MORGANTOWN -- When Rich Rodriguez was hired to return to his alma mater, a school that had played its last season as if to prove that that there is no "D" in West Virginia, he knew his key hire might well be a defensive coordinator.
And his hiring showed that he believed the job of Mountaineer defensive coordinator was "right up Zac's Alley", so to speak, stealing Oklahoma's Zac Alley, a young, budding defensive star with whom he had worked previously.
Alley had coached with Rodriguez at Louisiana-Monroe in 2021 when he was the youngest defensive coordinator in the NCAA's FBS division at 27 and had brought him to serve as his defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State in 2022-23 before he took the job as co-defensive coordinator and linebacker coach at Oklahoma as it moved into the SEC last season.
With the Sooners in a disappointing first SEC season, he helped the defense to rank No. 3 in defensive touchdowns, No. 5 in fumbles recovered, No. 10 in tackles for a loss, No. 19 in total defense, No. 23 in rushing defense, No. 25 in sacks and No. 30 in scoring defense.
Those numbers all point toward one two words that sums up the defense he will install at WVU -- aggressive and multiple.
A Clemson graduate, he earned two degrees while serving as a student assistant as an undergraduate during four years in which Dabo Sweeney's program went 55-4.
He summed up what his defense will be like in his first meeting with the media on Thursday at the Puskar Center.
"Multiple and Aggressive"
"We're extremely multiple. We are aggressive," he said. "I think the last couple of years we've been Top 5 in the country in blitz percentage. I've heard for a long time that pressure breaks pipes."
Those are words WVU needed to hear. The only thing their defense broke last season was Mountaineer fans' hearts.
"We play four-down front, three-down front, a little shifting in and out of those from the same personnel groups. I always laugh, when I say multiple, I mean that. It will look different every week. We hang our hat on being really hard to prepare for," he said.
In a way, that is the approach that new men's basketball coach Darian DeVries has taken on defense, devising something new aimed at stopping the strength of an opponent, as opposed to being tied into one defensive philosophy.
"I know that's easy to say, but week in and week out you have different challenges. One week they may have a great wide receiver. Well, maybe then you move your best cover guy over there to cover him in that game," Alley said.
"Maybe the next game it's a slot, maybe it's a great tailback the next week so you do something so he can't run the ball inside. You play different fronts. Every team is a little different so you obviously try to take away different things week in and week out."
It makes sense. It not only is designed to emphasize strength, but it creates a certain amount of doubt in what approach will be taken as the opponent prepares.
"That way the structure of the scheme and where the people are within the scheme can change week in and week out based on what you are seeing that week," he said.
"Long, fast and physical"
What makes a good defensive player? What does Alley look for in the defenders he recruits?
"Long, fast and physical," he answered. "That usually works out pretty well. Big guys usually beat up little guys and fast guys usually outrun slow guys."
Certainly makes sense, but there is another aspect that is involved in the qualities a defensive player must have and he believes it's his and his assistants' job to instill that part of the game into his players.
"I think Michael Jordan said, 'Talent wins games but talent plus intelligence wins championships,'" he said. "So, we always want to find guys who can run to the football, who understand the game. That makes the game slower for them and with that depth and knowledge. It's our job to teach them that.
"Always think everyone comes from a different situation; whether they are a high school kid who is a freshman right now and swimming sideways upstream; a transfer guy or a guy who is returning, we're always trying to elevate that intelligence level.
"Some guys come by it naturally and were really well coached where they were before and have understanding, maybe love Madden, but have a really good baseline to work from. Some guys don't. Our job is to find our best players with physical attributes and teach them the game or help them find a way to perform at an elite level intelligently as well."
The key is in the linebackers
In the NFL, Sam Huff defined the play of the middle linebacker and made it the glory position on a professional team.
Sam Huff is a West Virginia graduate and what he became with the New York Giants and Washington Redskins is what Alley wants from his linebackers.
"I challenge our linebackers more than anybody else," he stressed. "I tell them up front when I recruit them, 'The standards for you will be higher than on anyone else in the program because of who you are.' I've never been on a great team that didn't have great play at linebacker; both as a player on the field or a leader in the locker room.
"There's a high demand on those guys to perform that way all the time. I want those players series-in and series-out to control what's going on down on the field. If the D-linemen on the field aren't lined up right, fix them. If the safety didn't have the check, give him the check. That's your job. You are the commander of the defense," he continued.
"I always want them thinking 'How do I play well myself but also how do I improve the play of those around me and multiply their ability to be successful as well?'"
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HEADLINE: Secondary is primary
A year ago WVU's secondary was an embarrassment in a league where you pay for almost every mistake you make.
Alley has his own ideas on how to deploy his secondary to keep that from occurring and it's a big part of being multiple.
"Week in and week out it changes. If you watch us, there's certain weeks we play with three safeties, some weeks with three safeties and a nickel, sometimes we play with a nickel and two safeties, sometimes with two safeties and three linebackers," he said.
"We change that depending on the challenge we see and I've felt that was harder on offenses because they don't know what they are going to have to prepare for that week," he continued. "We play with a nickel, Sam, Mike and Will. The bandit is sort of our outside linebacker or defensive end to the boundary, three true defensive linemen most times."
Playing the edges
"We know our opponents are going to throw the ball. I've always believed the edges of the defense should be secured. Our edge rushers, our corners, if they are really good, you have a chance to be really good. If they are good, it's hard to get outside you," Alley said.
"Obviously, we will get a lot of 1-on-1 shots, which nowadays is pretty standard, but we will complement each other, too. You may say the safety's not fast enough, but if the quarterback can't get the ball off it doesn't matter."