By JOE SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter
First-year Southern linebackers coach Todd Middleton is from the South, from Lake Worth, Fla. — a short ride north of Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
But he’s spent a lot of time in the Midwest, lately at Indiana State, but also with stops at Dodge City Community College, Kansas and Northern Illinois, and in the East, at Princeton and Army, and in the Southwest, at Arizona and Midwestern State University.
Maybe all that was too much time away from the South.
“I’m just really impressed with the people here,” Middleton said. “Everybody is so friendly, to a point where, I’m from the South, and I’m not used to it. Everybody speaks to everybody. Everybody knows everybody. And everybody loves football.”
Welcome back.
Middleton came onto the staff in June, giving him a decent cushion of prep time for the season.
“I really like my players,” Middleton said. “It’s a good group of kids. Really respectable. They just want to get better. They want to learn and compete. I enjoy coaching them every day. I look forward to practice.”
With Middleton’s arrival, the staff shifted. Defensive coordinator Terrence Graves, a long-time linebackers coach moved to the secondary, allowing Pete Richardson to focus solely on being head coach.
Graves teamed with Middleton at Wake Forest in 1989, with Graves in the secondary (before Graves moved on to Winston-Salem State, where he played for Richardson) and Middleton at outside linebacker.
“He’s got their attention,” Graves said. “He’s working them, and that’s what they need. He’s making them focus on the details.”
Middleton looks as young as his players. Or maybe their youth has taken hold in him. The unit is young and inexperienced but counters those negatives with heaps of potential, depth and speed.
Across the board — at eagle, okie and drop linebacker — there is a Nick Saban-esque lack of a depth chart. Middleton’s not from the school of Saban, but relative to the team’s progress, this is the way it is.
Sophomores Brian Lewis (four tackles in three games) and Allan Baugh (three tackles in three games) are interchangeable at eagle.
Same goes for okie, with juniors Johnathan Malveaux (59 tackles) and Donald Steele (eight tackles).“Sometimes, Donald goes out with the first group. Sometimes, Malveaux goes out there with the first group,” Graves said. “Right now, we want to keep the competition up.“The guy who can be the most consistent and most physical will be the guy who goes out there first.”
And there’s a flat-out scrum at drop, with redshirt freshman Andre Coleman and sophomore D.J. Bolton (seven tackles), sophomore Gary Chapman in the mix.
“They’re all mixed in there,” Middleton said. “I kind of stir the pot and see who’s emerging. I told those guys there’s not a true depth chart. I’m putting you out there, letting you get reps, letting you get familiar with the defense.
“When the time comes, whoever we feel as a staff is executing the best, those are the guys who are going to play. The more guys who continue to execute, the better for us.”
Then factor in newcomers like true freshmen Marcus Clark, Corey Ray and Amonte Harper and sophomore Corniell Bridges.
The key could be in how quickly the eagle linebackers, Baugh and Lewis, come on.
“I told them, you guys are the quarterbacks of the defense. &hellip You’re like a coach on the field. There might be times when you see something I don’t see,” Middleton said. “The more you feel confident, the better we’ll be.”
There is not a senior among those, and, other than the okies, not much playing time. Malveaux (shoulder surgery) and Coleman (knee surgery) missed spring practice.
The hope is, the depth and the speed will make up for the inexperience.
“The secret to being a successful defense is having quality depth,” Middleton said. “Those days when you have one player take 70, 80 snaps are long gone. If you can get two to three solid guys who can give you 30, 35 snaps a game, that allows you to have a really successful defense.”
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