Three numbers that show Lyle Hemphill's defensive prowess; Mike Elko's newest addition could be missing piece for Texas A&M football
It's no secret that Texas A&M football's defense really slipped down the stretch of the season. There were games in which they looked absolutely dominant early on— Arkansas and Missouri being prime examples— but then as the year wore on, things got embarrassing quickly.
Whether it was giving up 44 to South Carolina, some clutch failures against Auburn and USC, or the lack of ability to stop the run near the end of the year, it was clear that some things needed to change. Mike Elko himself had some scathing words indicating as much.
Enter Lyle Hemphill. Yesterday's big news was Elko bringing in the former JMU DC to be an assistant on the staff here in College Station. Looking at his tenure elsewhere, it's clear this was a brilliant maneuver. Here are three reasons why that was a genius move.
Why Lyle Hemphill was a huge add for Texas A&M football: Defensive success rate
Success rate is a metric that measures what proportion of your plays are considered "successful." There are different thresholds to calculate offensive success, but you can think of it in broad terms in how many plays keep an offense on schedule and ahead of the chains.
Under Hemphill, JMU was the second best team in the nation at preventing teams from staying on schedule. Their defensive success rate was second only to Ole Miss in the entire country, better than teams like Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Texas.
That's not just dumb luck, either: you have to be a really disciplined and well-coached defense to achieve this mark. This is an impressive number for Hemphill to achieve, and it is bound to translate to a better mark for the Aggies— who ranked 26th in the nation in defensive success rate last year.