Texas Tech Finds Their New Defensive Coordinator!

This morning it was reported that Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire is bringing in Oregon DC/OLB coach Tim DeRuyter to take over the duties here in Lubbock!

DeRuyter has been a defensive coordinator for 20 of the 31 seasons that he has been coaching in college football.

He has been at Oregon since 2020, but before that, he served as the defensive coordinator for the California Golden Bears from 2017-2020.

DeRuyter was also the head coach at Fresno State for four and a half seasons where he was 30-30. He had seasons where he won two conference titles. They finished with a 9-4 record in 2012 and an 11-2 record in 2013.

He was preceded by stops at Texas A&M, Air Force, Nevada, Ohio, and Navy as defensive coordinator.

DeRuyter turned around a defense that ranked second-to-last nationally 127th in the FBS in scoring defense prior to his arrival into a unit that has finished in the top five in the Pac-12 in that category each of the last three years. 

A Broyles Award semifinalist in 2018. His 2018 defense at Cal led the Pac-12 and ranked No. 9 in the country in pass defense only allowing 175 yards per game.

While at A&M he constructed and transformed an elite defense in 2011 that led the nation in sacks with 51.0 while finishing third in tackles for loss per game with 8.0 and No. 12 in rush defense 101.85.

To add more perspective to his success as a DC, he also coordinated one of the nation’s most successful defenses at Air Force in 2009 when the Falcons were No. 5 in pass defense, No. 10 in scoring defense, and No. 11 in total defense.

He has coached the likes of guys like Von Miller, Ashtyn Davis, Evan Weaver, Chad Hennings, all guys who have or are currently playing in the NFL.

Schemes:

Over his coaching career, DeRuyter has designed a number of certain schemes and set-ups to use in-game and over the season.

Look for him to install the 4-3 defense at Tech, but he will not be limited to that to where he also has experience running the 3-4.

What should have Tech fans ecstatic is that his schemes help develop and allow pass rushers to run free. Tech has not had an elite pass rusher in a long time but with his ability to disguise coverages, we could see a transformation in their guys.

3-4:

Given that Tech is used to an odd front, don’t be surprised if they stay with that. This gives them the ability to have OLB’s to rush the edges or drop back into coverage.

As a I mentioned before he did coach Von Miller, and as we all know is a pretty elite OLB, and this past season at Oregon he had the chance to work with Kayvon Thibodeaux.

He finished the season with 35 tackles, 7 sacks, and two forced fumbles. So, DeRuyter’s ability and coaching style is to develop high-profile pass rushers and he plans to do that at Tech.

3-3-5:

While he was at Cal and this past season at Oregon, he did use this 3-3-5 even alignment in games.

This allows there to be 5 defensive backs on the field to where you can use that fifth guy as a faster LB, but also with the ability to cover receivers down the field.

One LB would stand at the line of scrimmage, so it looks like a 4-2 defense, but given the fact that DeRuyter likes to be aggressive, look for him to blitz a lot out of this package.

2-4-5:

The last scheme and alignment we could see is the 2-4-5.

This is where you have two DL and four LBs, with two on the line of scrimmage and 5 DB’s on the field. The person that would come off, in this case, is the nose tackle.

When you go to this alignment it allows you to get more speed and pass-rushing ability on to the field to better defense against the pass.

With the defensive staff McGuire is putting together, look for Texas Tech to transform some of these guys into elite pass rushers and for DeRuyter to cause mayhem in the Big 12 with this style of defense.

McGuire definitely hit another home run with this hire! First, he brought in Kittley as OC, and now DeRuyter as DC, so he has pretty much his whole staff in place.

Tech fans should be excited about this DC and the type of aggressiveness he brings and how his style of play with his alignments is going to cause problems with Big 12 offenses!

Also, since he was at A&M for a spell, he also knows how to recruit in Texas, so that is just another bonus to this hire, and look for him to flip some guys, especially some Oregon guys, and get started on the recruiting trail early on!

Red Raider Nation is excited to have this guy here and we can’t wait to see what he does!

More analysis on players, coaches, and everything Texas Tech football, make sure to follow Guns Up Nation on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for all of your latest news and updates!