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By Brian Nowicki 
I recently had the opportunity to talk to University of Toledo Rockets Defensive Coordinator Tim Rose. Coach Rose is in his 2nd year at Toledo. Last year his defense led the MAC in several categories, a major improvement over the previous year's defense. This year he looks to build on that success with 8 returning starters from last year's squad. Below is a series of questions and answers from when I meant with Coach Rose.What are you looking for from the defense in Spring practices? Coach Rose - We lost four starters from a year ago that were great players. What that means is the guys that are returning starters have to be better in 2006 than they were in 2005, so that is the first thing we are looking for. The next thing we are looking for is that we recognize we won't be as good in those four positions, but if we can get somewhat close then I think we have a chance to be a good defense in 2006. Which players are switching positions on defense this Spring? Coach Rose - JP Bekasiak played defensive end for us last year. We are moving him to middle guard. That's a key move for us. Along with that, Patrick Clark is moving out to a defensive end spot. We're taking Steve Morrison, who was an outside linebacker, and moving him to the inside linebacker spot. Our secondary is really too numerous to mention. We are taking alot of looks at guys who played safety, are playing corner this spring and a lot of guys who played corner are playing safety this spring until we get a better feel for it. A lot of young kids like Keiron Brown and Lester Richmond, who missed alot of last year with an injury. Jeff Green, Walter Atkins, and Chris Faison too. We're moving them all around to see what fits. It's very early in the year, but what do you feel is the strength of this defense so far? Coach Rose - We are a very fast defense, and at this point I think we are very, very physical. I worry a little bit about our coverage right now. We've got some great wide receivers here and we are having a little bit of trouble covering them right now. I think our biggest strengths are speed and we are a really physical group of guys. What are your thoughts on the depth of the defensive line? Coach Rose - We're trying to get nine guys that can play. We think we got five spots of guys that can play and win for us right now. We've got a couple of guys that are coming off an injury or redshirt year that we think can play for us, and we have three of four freshman coming in that could play for us. I think our depth for interior lineman has a chance to be great. We should have nine guys, or more, that can play throughout the course of 2006. As a defensive coordinator that has to defend a quarterback, what is your take on the abilities of Clint Cochran and Brandon Summers? Coach Rose - Cochran looks like he is a big time passer. He's got an arm and he's got smarts. You really have to defend him in terms of the passing game. Brandon Summers has shown he's got really great ability. He's a very good scrambler and has a really strong arm. I think his big thing is the experience factor. Trying to defend them both can be a really big problem. Which defensive players have impressed you so far this spring? Coach Rose - It's really hard to say. The thing you have to do in football is try to have no dissappointments, and we have really had no dissappointments so far. I'm enouraged by the position changes we talked about before. I think they are going to be productive for us. We haven't had a scrimmage yet so it's really hard to say someone has stuck out, but one guy that tends to stick out is Mike Alston. He's a returning all league player and a Lombardi candidate. He's been playing at a very high level this spring. One thing about this game is that what you did yesterday and today doesn't matter. It is what you do tomorrow. What defensive players are you looking to this year to be leaders? Coach Rose - I think it's more positional than anything else. We've got a lot of seniors to look at. We have JP Bekasiak at middle guard and Seth Thitoff at defensive end that are key guys at the line spot. Even though we don't have a senior inside linebacker, we've got a walk-on named Ted Rath that works like crazy and I think he has a chance to be a leader for us there. At the outside linebacker spot we have Mike Chamberlain and Mike Alston that we are counting on. In our secondary only one guy is a senior and that is Bo Martin so we are looking for guys to step up there. What are your impressions of new defensive line coach Mark Rhea? Coach Rose - He's great. I talked to him in the winter at a convention. Anytime you have a guy that is excited to be where he's at, I'm happy. Mark played here and he's passionate about Toledo and passionate about football. He took a pay cut to come here, which speaks to his committment to the University of Toledo. I'm excited that he's apart of our program. Do you have any hobbies you like to do in your spare time? Coach Rose - I try to work out pretty hard, and I like golf. Where do you see yourself in five years? Coach Rose - I hope I'm coaching for Tom Amstutz at the University of Toledo, winning football games and being apart of the blue and gold tradition. That's where I would like to be. Things happen in life that throw you curveballs. But if you ask me my idea of a perfect world, I'm here in five years coaching with Tom winning some titles and coaching these great Rockets. Have a question or comment for Brian? Email |