Author: Robbie Lastella
Florida Atlantic Head Coach Zach Kittley has seen a lot of football during his fast rise from record-setting offensive coordinator to becoming the youngest Head Coach in FBS history, however this weekend against Maryland he faces a challenge that he is yet to conquer.
Outside of Saturday marking the first game of the Kittley era at FAU, it will be the first time in his career he will be facing a defense that he will have “no clue” what to prepare for.
The Maryland defense will be led by Ted Monachino, a veteran coach who last called plays in 2016 as the defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, which, according to Kittley, means everything is on the table in terms of preparation.
“This is kind of, honestly, in my career doing this, probably, the first time, where I really have no clue what they’re going to run defensively, just because of, Coach Monachino, their new defensive coordinator, hasn’t called plays since 2016 and that was in the NFL, and the NFL schematics are just so much different, especially back then, you’re talking nine years ago. So as far as schematics goes, we’re planning for a little bit of everything, every front you can think of, every coverage, every blitz package, we’re preparing for everything,” Kittley said during his weekly press conference.
Monachino has bounced around during his career, starting out as a high school coach in the late 1990s, then serving as a defensive position coach in the early 2000s at various colleges, including TCU, Boise State and Arizona, before embarking on what turned into a 10-year NFL coaching career.
Starting as a defensive line coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2006, Monachino spent 3 years there before moving on to become the outside linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2010-2015, winning a Super Bowl in 2012 and coaching two pro-bowlers in Terrell Suggs in 2011 and Elvis Dumervil in 2014.
Following his time with the Ravens, Monachino was hired as the defensive coordinator of the Colts, spending 2 seasons there from 2016-2017, finishing 30th and 24th in total defense respectively. Following the 2017 season, Chuck Pagano was fired, ultimately ending Monachino’s only tenure as a defensive coordinator prior to being hired by Maryland.
Monachino hasn’t called plays since 2016 and has spent the last 2 seasons as a defensive assistant at UNC, which leaves Kittley in a precarious position as to what he should prepare for and has created a situation where he and his staff have begun to game-plan for a variety of scenarios.
“It’s kind of funny. I’ve watched the 2016 Indianapolis Colts defense. I watched the Baltimore Ravens defense in the late 2010s, I’ve watched the North Carolina defense. I watched a little bit of their stuff from last year, just because you never really know exactly how much of a fingerprint Coach Locksley might have on some defensive schematics as well,” Kittley said.
While with the Colts, Monachino enacted a blitz-heavy 3-4 defense and his mentor while with the Ravens, John Harbaugh, spoke highly of him in 2016 saying he was “very great in terms of run defense and pass pressures.”
Although it’s unknown exactly what type of defense Monachino will employ in his second stint as a defensive coordinator, an emphasis on finding a way to rush the passer can be expected, as in his summer press conference on July 31st he was on the record saying “the teams that have rushers are good rushing teams, the teams that don’t, they struggle and they have to create different things.”
Kittley can prepare his team to the best of his abilities, but redshirt junior quarterback Caden Veltkamp will be the one taking the snaps at Noon on Saturday, and he knows he will have to get the ball out quickly against an athletic defense like Maryland’s.
“I think they have a pretty solid secondary. They brought in some transfers. The two safeties are back from last year. The two middle linebackers are back from last year. They have a solid defensive line, so I’m gonna have to be getting the ball out fast, but they have a lot of guys that have played a lot, so nothing’s gonna surprise them. They’ve seen a lot of ball, but I am just really excited to get out there and compete against those guys,” Veltkamp said.
The preparation period will wind down over the next couple of days with the Owls set to leave Boca on Friday and take on the Terrapins at Noon on Saturday to mark the official beginning of the Zach Kittley era.
