Honest question. Prior to coming here they both were more than competent and, dare I say, top 20 DCs.

Was chavis just spoiled with LSU talent that had the best speed in the country? Did he just get lazy expecting Sumlin's offense to put up 28 points a game regardless...

Help me out.

One earns his money, the other not so much.

About 200 cheeseburgers

Football changed and chevis got left behind. You can't blitz every play with man coverage and stop the air raid. To many crossing patterns.

I think the game changed more in the last 10 or so years of Chavis' career than he could keep up with.

2 great coaches. I think Chavis was just past his prime as a coach. His style neccesitated a certain type of offensive and game management strategy. I do think chavis would have been a bit more successful under Jimbo than DimSum for these reasons.

However when it comes to the type of personality and aptitude and observational intelligence each has and how that is applied I would say listen to how people talk about elko and chavis during their prime years.

All i hear about elko is he is an absolutely weird football nerd genius big brained defensive engineer. I view elko as a defensive scheme and operations savant while chavis just was a good coach with great players and a team philosophy that suited his style. I truly think Elko could coordinate a defense anywhere for any coach or team or play style

Winning vs losing…

Elko is great...no doubt about it. But it is much easier to be a great DC when the offense is running a ball control, grind the clock style. I'm not saying Chavis is anywhere near as good as Elko, but think about how difficult it is to keep a defense fresh when the offense only runs a minute or two off the clock every time they touch the ball.

Not saying this is gospel, but I recall many Tennessee fans didn't like his bend but not break approach, especially on third down.

Also, one has had a nickname for quite some time - "3rd And Chavis".

A lot.

And results.

Chavis would have been better than he was here if the offense would have contributed more.

I also think Elko has better players than Chavis had.

That being said Elko >>>>> Chavis

You think Elko's defense keeps up with Sumlin's offense? Elko is good but complementing Jimbo's offense has so many advantages such as limited time on the field, actually practicing run defense in practice, etc. Plus, Jimbo's elite recruiting helps as well.

Chavis was great under Les. He made the mistake of hitching his wagon on the Sumlin and Chad Morris coaching staff.

Elko proved himself at Wake Forrest and Bowling Green where he created great defenses with kids that wouldn't even see the field on other teams.

Chavis proved himself at LSU where 9 of his 11 starters would often be drafted into the NFL.

Luke The Drifter said:

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Elko is great...no doubt about it. But it is much easier to be a great DC when the offense is running a ball control, grind the clock style. I'm not saying Chavis is anywhere near as good as Elko, but think about how difficult it is to keep a defense fresh when the offense only runs a minute or two off the clock every time they touch the ball.

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I don't think this holds water with all the 3 and outs the defense has overcome this season. Between Elko's scheme and the coaching staffs ability to bring these players together for each other time on field has had little impact. Our defense knows how to get the other team of the field. Elko has hit his stride right now.

Generally speaking….


Elko runs multiple sets, w multiple different blitz packages & leans heavy on a zone secondary coverage over the top

Chavis' ran a blitz heavy 4-3 that relied heavy on lockdown island corners and safety's picking up man coverage

ETA; So to answer the op, you need top shelf safety's & corners. We had some solid safety's while chief was here, but our corners struggled on the island against top shelf talent

Jimmys and Joes are a lot of it. Texags gave me the impression Chavis took a more Mullen approach to recruiting.

Chavis tells a great pregame wolf pack story.

Talent, especially in the secondary is better for Elko.
Not having the DBs he had at LSU really did not play well with Chavis' defense.

Our tackling has improved dramatically. I'm not seeing as many 'leave your feet dives and whiffs'. Of course the players are better as well.

I think Chavis' style worked well because LSU always had lockdown corners and a ferocious dline.

when he got to A&M, he didn't have either of those things and his defense was exposed.

Elko is different because he is a true football genius in that he works with what he has and comes up with the best plan for the personnel available to him and the team he is playing.

in watching the LSU/Bama game saturday night, I noticed LSU using the same overload the right side of the bama line blitz that elko used against bama, and lsu was having success with it.

dude is a defensive genius.

About 50 stars ....

It is about ball control and TOP.

Go back and look at how often our D was back on the field under Sumlin, after a 3-and-out... or a quick TD.

We didn't have the depth for 90+ plays per game week-after-week.

We have a better 2-deep now, and Jimbo controls the clock more. We aren't worn out in the 4th qtr and our D doesn't fall apart.

I don't think our offense this year gets much credit for making our defense look good. It's not as bad as some of the years where the offense would have 5-6 drives end in a punt or turnover in less than 60 seconds, but they aren't exactly chewing up clock either. Time of possession is pretty even.

There have been games this year where the offense couldn't stay on the field but the defense still got better and better as the game went on. It looks for all the world like our defense is wearing down opposing offenses, which isn't supposed to be possible but here we are. Crazy DL talent with the depth to rotate, really strong corner play (mostly from really young guys!), good enough play from the linebackers and safeties, and Antonio Johnson being great.

We're going to lose some studs this off-season, but there's a ton of talent filling in behind them.

Everyone will copy Elko against Bama this year. So far, it was the only plan that has worked, and did well when LSU ran it. Georgia will do the same against Bama, unless Auburn can use it well and score points, then Georgia will not get an opportunity. .

Listen to the defensive players talk about Elko.
They all say "He's the smartest football guy they have ever met." Leon has been very open about it.

He creates a scheme that creates pressure and that goes a very long way for the back end of the defense.
Couple that with the 2022 D Line class we are pulling in, we are looking very strong.. (given we keep Elko around.)

Chavis was a good/great dc at Tennessee but the game was very different when he was there. At LSU, he had unreal talent and speed.

If Elko does leave, we're going to have such a great roster and stability on the coaching staff that we'll be able to get our pick of top defensive coordinators.

To help obtaining a national championship soon, it's a no brainer to give Elko a big raise, say at least one million to stay at least a few years. It's peanuts compared to the overall program !

If elko left, who's a good dc out there? Jeremy Pruitt? Kidding.

45-70Ag said:

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If elko left, who's a good dc out there? Jeremy Pruitt? Kidding.

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Pruitt is goat af

Jimbo had pruitt in tow for the 2013 fsu title run

Was thinking about this last week in light of all the monkey business.

How much was Chavis crippled by the culture in the program? Swag, pimp sticks out whatever, club atmosphere in the office, club music pumped out onto the practice fields... can that garner a quality defense?

Chavis was a solid DC who taught fundamentals well. He absolutely got spoiled being at programs with great defensive talent. He was not willing to reinvent his system to accomodate the pieces he had under Sumlin and then Arkansas.

Elko is like a college DC version of Bellichek. He will toss out his preferences in order to compete.

The first thing he did upon arrival was to challenge Keke to slim down and move to SDE. Keke was a SEC average 3 technique. He became an above average SDE. He also somehow lit a fire under Daylon Mack. For the first time in years, we were able to stop the run.

In 2019, Madabuike was the only decent pass rusher we had. So, he cobbled together a 3rd down unit of Madabuike and some of the smaller and faster LBs and WDEs. We did not get a ton of sacks, but we generated enough pressure to get off the field.

Elko came up through smaller programs. Guessing he never had all the ingredients he wanted. He probably had to regularly splice it together.

DallasAg 94 said:

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It is about ball control and TOP.

Go back and look at how often our D was back on the field under Sumlin, after a 3-and-out... or a quick TD.

We didn't have the depth for 90+ plays per game week-after-week.

We have a better 2-deep now, and Jimbo controls the clock more. We aren't worn out in the 4th qtr and our D doesn't fall apart.

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fair to wonder why the pendulum has not begun swinging back the other way. (besides Jimbo)

but there are still a ton of coaches that want to run 90 plays per game

seebond said:

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Listen to the defensive players talk about Elko.
They all say "He's the smartest football guy they have ever met." Leon has been very open about it.

He creates a scheme that creates pressure and that goes a very long way for the back end of the defense.
Couple that with the 2022 D Line class we are pulling in, we are looking very strong.. (given we keep Elko around.)

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I get what you're saying but what other defensive coordinator have the played for? Besides high school.

Chavis might have been more focused on Xs and Os than Jimmies and Joes…or so the rumor went.