Alabama Crimson Tide

Big Picture: Myles Garrett's destruction of ASU was Clowney-esque

Published Sep. 6, 2015 10:00 p.m. ET

Bruce Feldman

There have been quite a few D-line Freaks over the past decade or so in college football. The biggest of them all was former South Carolina star Jadeveon Clowney, who seemed to be able to take over a game just about whenever he wanted to. Trouble was, for Gamecock fans, it didn’t appear that he always wanted to.

Texas A&M sophomore Myles Garrett is probably the closest thing we’ve seen to Clowney in terms of just jaw-dropping explosiveness and athleticism from a defensive lineman. Garrett arrived in College Station with almost as much recruiting hype as Clowney did when he arrived at South Carolina. Last fall, Garrett even broke Clowney’s SEC freshman sack record with 11.5. It was a strong debut for the young Texan, albeit on a really shaky defense.

This offseason, veteran Aggie defensive ends coach Terry Price — himself a former Aggie D-line standout — challenged Garrett on two fronts. The first: to play hard on every snap. The second: to become a leader.

“What a difference a year makes,” Price told FOX Sports Sunday morning. “He didn’t really do it on every snap last year. I’m really proud of the way he played (Saturday night). He’s really accepted the challenge.”

It sure looked like it from watching the way Garrett destroyed the Arizona State offense.

Garrett was unblockable. He had two sacks, 2.5 TFLs, a forced fumble and three QB hurries. He also forced one holding flag. More importantly, he often drew double-teams, and on at least a couple of occasions he drew triple-teams. His relentless presence and ridiculous get-off, repeatedly looking like he jumped the snap count, kept ASU’s strong-armed QB Mike Bercovici off balance and also enabled fellow A&M DE Daeshon Hall to notch four sacks on the night.

Garrett isn’t quite as big or long as Clowney, but at 6-foot-5, 262 pounds, he’s a powerhouse. He can do a chain bench press with 430 pounds. This offseason, he was clocked the mid-4.4s in the 40. He has also vertical-jumped 39 inches and broad-jumped 10-9½. Perhaps scarier still is that Garrett won't turn 20 till Dec. 29.

It’s one thing not to loaf on plays. It’s another thing to try to match the effort of a J.J. Watt or a Ray Lewis. That’s what it looked like was inside of Garrett on Saturday night — like he was trying to make something big happen on every snap.

Hall’s development is another key for what’s shaping up to be a very scary defense under new DC John Chavis and his more simplified, more aggressive scheme. Three years ago, the Aggies made a late push for Hall. The A&M staff got intrigued by his potential after watching Chavis’ lanky, fast edge-rushers. They saw the 6-foot-6 Hall as someone in that mold. He arrived in College Station at 220 pounds and has battled through some injuries. He’s had two shoulder surgeries that hampered his development, but this offseason he’s blossomed and is now a sturdy 260 pounds and is ready to be a force in “the grown man league,” which is what Price calls the SEC.

Asked just how difficult it is for a defensive lineman to sustain great effort on every snap over a full game all season, Price said: "It’s not hard at all once you create good habits and (Garrett) has done that this offseason. And, without a doubt they (Garrett and Hall) are pushing each other to always play fast and give great effort."

With Garrett primed for a breakout season, it looks like the A&M Wrecking Crew is finally back.

RANDOM STUFF

Living up to the hype Josh Rosen had (and yes we’re guilty of some of that hype stemming from chronicling his story in "The QB") was not going to be easy for the Bruin true freshman QB. But if it was possible to exceed it, the 6-4, 210-pound 18 year-old did just that Saturday by completing 28 of 35 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns against Virginia.

UVA is hardly a powerhouse these days, but the Cavaliers have some good talent on defense and are no cupcake for a young quarterback.

“(John) Tenuta’s a really good defensive coordinator,” Bruins OC Noel Mazzone told FOX Sports Sunday afternoon. "He always gives people problems. It was a nice little start for Josh, and that’s as good as our line has played since I’ve been here.”

Virginia's Tenuta sent a bunch of five- and occasionally six-man pressure at Rosen and also schemed to take Bruins standout RB Paul Perkins out of the game, but Rosen had little trouble carving up the Cavs. Mazzone chuckled at the advanced feedback he was getting in between series when the kid QB came back to the sidelines.

“I was like, ‘Really, you saw that?’” Mazzone said. In one particular instance Rosen had IDed a different look he was shown and made a high-level read as he explained to his coach why he opted for one receiver over a shorter throw. “He processes super fast. He wants to snap the ball fast and go.

"Josh just has got a great wide vision of the game. He sees everything that is going on.”

Now, comes the trickier part. Dealing with the next wave of hype. After all, college football isn’t always going to look so easy for him. "It’s all new for me, too,” conceded the 58-year-old Mazzone.

The morning after, Rosen was handling it just fine.

"He seemed pretty grounded today at the meetings,” the coach said, adding that “his O-line loves the guy. He has such great movement in the pocket, sliding around. They always know where he is.”

AGGIES' FROSH STAR

Rosen wasn’t the only true freshman who had a spectacular debut. Texas A&M WR/PR Christian Kirk was the most dangerous offensive weapon in the game between the dynamic Aggies and Sun Devil offense. The 5-11, 195-pounder scored on a 79-yard punt return and a 66-yard screen pass.

Kirk has created a lot of buzz inside the Aggies program dating pretty much back to the time he arrived in College Station in time for spring ball. “He’s special in how he approaches the game,” Aggies OC Jake Spavital told Fox Sports Sunday morning.

“You don’t want to put too much pressure on him yet, but to be a true freshman in that environment, against a top-15 team, which happens to be the team from his old hometown and to rise to the occasion like that was pretty special.”

One added note on the Aggies. It was at this point last year, where they were the talk of college football after going in to face a touted South Carolina team on national TV and blew the Gamecocks out. They soared in the rankings and then got into October and dropped three in row with all coming by at least two TDs.

“We know we gotta keep these kids from being complacent like they got last year,” Spavital said, adding that Saturday night’s win was a good sign because the defense picked up the offense when that unit was struggling. The end result was a 38-17 Aggie romp.

RUNNING TIDE

Beware Derrick Henry and the Alabama running game. Despite facing overloaded boxes, 'Bama still ran all over the Wisconsin D. Keep in mind that the Badgers held the LSU running game in the first half last season to just 16 yards on 15 carries. The Tide offense, though, mauled the Badgers. The O-line, led by center Ryan Kelly, opened gaps and Henry roared through them, rumbling for 147 yards and three TDs on just 13 carries. More impressive is the fact that Henry did all his damage in a little more than three quarters and wasn't in the game in the fourth quarter — where he likely would've been at his most dangerous. The Tide's top two backs, Henry and Kenyan Drake, combined for 224 yards on 23 carries, going for almost 10 yards a pop against a very good run defense. That is very impressive. It’s even more impressive when you consider the Tide has just two returning starters on their O-line. That new group paved the way for 297 total rushing yards as a team for a gaudy 8.2-yard per carry average -- against a defense that was consistently loading the box with one more defender than Bama should’ve been able to account for.