Is there anything more exciting than offseason moves in college football?

Whether it be recruiting or other personnel-related moves, nothing gets the blood flowing more than the thought of optimism for our respective favorite teams.

For our beloved Southeastern Conference, optimism is abound after numerous high-profile moves: Former Colorado State University head coach Jim McElwain accepting an offer from the University of Florida for the same position; Will Muschamp, former Florida HC, becoming the defensive coordinator at Auburn University; Geoff Collins agreeing to be the new DC at Florida.

But in what may ultimately shift the balance of power in the western division, well-respected, yet not widely known, Lousiana State University defensive coordinator John Chavis is about to combine his brand of football with, perhaps, the most talented offensive staff in the country.

While University of Alabama coach Nick Saban has garnered the respect as the preeminent defensive mind in all of football, in some aspects Chavis has been his equal. In others, he has surpassed even the great czar of the manufactured-pressure scheme.

You had a feeling Texas A&M HC Kevin Sumlin wouldn’t continue to settle for mediocrity from his defensive units, but he just may have made a hire of a caliber that just about nobody expected — especially after Muschamp reportedly chose Auburn over A&M.

The 2015-16 season can’t get here fast enough, but for future opponents on A&M’s schedule it probably won’t be a tilt they’ll be looking forward to anytime soon.

The “Chief” has arrived.

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Chavis, without a shadow of a doubt, is an SEC legend through and through, mostly due to his time as both a player and an assistant coach with the University of Tennessee. Under former UT coach Phillip Fulmer, from 1995-08, Chavis’ defenses produced an inordinate amount of talent.

For myself, a former defensive back/linebacker, paying attention to whatever Chavis was brewing was a necessity. From Leonard Little and Al Wilson, to Jerod Mayo and Eric Berry, Chavis’ scheme produced some of the best players in the history of the conference.

But his six-year tenure in Baton Rouge may have superseded his stellar time in Knoxville — at least as far as personnel goes.

He’s a two-time assistant coach of the year who can recruit with the best of them. The NFL is littered with players of name value who came up under the tutelage of the Chief: Patrick Peterson (Arizona Cardinals), Tyrann Mathieu (Cardinals), Eric Reid San Francisco 49ers), Barkevious Mingo (Cleveland Browns), Kevin Minter (Cardinals), Bennie Logan (Philadelphia Eagles) and Tharold Simon (Seattle Seahawks)…and that was just the 2013 draft class (sans Peterson)!

Chavis’ background is with linebackers but his scheme has evolved over the years to become defensive-back centric.

He truly runs an even-front hybrid as on the surface it’s “43,” but his adaptability with today’s fast-paced high-octane offenses has him running more of a sub-package base.

Operating out of a 4-2-5 — not in normal responsibility, more like personnel grouping —  can be tricky as it takes the right kind of personnel. Many think it’s as easy as pulling a second-level defender for a nickel corner. But if you really want to be able to still stop the run you need hybrid players on the back end.

When I think of Chavis’ scheme being at its finest, I think back to the days when he had Mathieu roaming the secondary.

Although Mathieu certainly had the skill set to be a boundary or field corner, his change-of-direction skills, blitzing ability and tackling prowess made him perfect for a role as an inside corner, however, his uncanny instincts and range made him a possibility at free safety; I projected him to play FS in the NFL.

But at a listed 5’9″, 185 pounds, it took a defensive genius like Chavis to get the most out of player who may have been passed over by most coaches due to his lack of ideal physical measurables.

Chavis isn’t most coaches; he’s a savant who understands that providing quarterbacks with multiple looks throughout a tilt will ultimately cause confusion. He also believes that having speed on defense can erase the rudimentary mistakes one might find on an average series of downs.

My favorite package from Chavis during his time with LSU was one he referred to as the “Mustang” package — where he would bring in a sixth defensive back — which is a cooler way to say “Dime” defense.

As a 3-2-6-based package, you would think that the scheme would be light on pressure, but Chavis cross-trains his DBs to be able to blitz.

And when you have so much speed on the field, the pressure can literally come from just about anywhere.

MustangPressure

Here we see the “Mustang” in action; this is my favorite package in all of football. It allows only the best pass-rushers to be on the field, and the presence of the DBs allows for some serious pass coverage.

BadgerBlitz

Once A&M identifies a “Wildcard” defensive back, it will be able to deploy him in a plethora of ways like Chavis did the “Honeybadger.” (As seen in the above sequence.)

Fabricated-pressure schemes have been a way of life for Chavis since way back. And most know, if you’re going to go the way of manufactured pressure you better have solid corners who are adept at both press- and off-man coverage — like Peterson and former No. 6 overall pick Morris Claiborne.

You also have to have off-the-ball linebackers who can play in reverse as well as they play moving forward to tackle. But most importantly, you need one-gap penetrating linemen who can quickly disrupt a play.

Thankfully, well not for fans of other SEC teams, A&M will return a roster in that has a few of those things already in place.

A&M Has Some Talent

For the life of me it was hard to figure out why ousted coordinator Mark Snyder couldn’t field at the very least a top-25 defense with the type of talent he had at his disposal — at certain positions, that is.

That’s not to say it was all bad for Snyder in the SEC; I like Snyder’s style as he was very multiple in his deployment: “43,” “34,” even some “33.”

He had two NFL-caliber corners in Deshazor Everett and DeVante Harris; Linebacker Shaan Washington showed plenty of promise; interior lineman Alonzo Williams proved to be a disruptive force.

And, more than anything else, super freshman edge-rusher Myles Garrett may be the greatest pass-rushing talent the conference has ever seen. Not to mention the help an A&M defense receives off the strength of one of the best offenses in the entire country.

This is why I believe we will see an immediate improvement from the A&M defense as it appears that Everett will be the only one lost (graduation).

The Chief may be salivating at the thought of coaching Garrett for the next two years before he’s a top-three pick in the NFL draft (at least). His defensive scheme usually does a fantastic job at isolating pass-rushers at a 6- to 9-technique in hopes of limiting the help an offense can provide.

But Chavis will be enamored with how much of a complete player Garrett is, and he’ll undoubtedly be lauded for his versatility.

But the returns on the investment will come when Chavis hits that recruiting trail and brings in a host of defensive backs who are versatile enough to execute as the scheme calls for. (My money is on Chavis using Harris in a hybrid role to take advantage of his supreme tackling skills.)

He’s already use to recruiting the state of Texas now he will have the benefit of actually being in one of the most prestigious programs in the “Lone Star” state. Texas is one of the, if not the, most fertile recruiting grounds in the country and will now have a coach who can boast putting players in the NFL at a record clip.

The Aggies already have recruiting on lock as far as quarterbacks, offensive linemen and wide receivers go, can you imagine what the Aggies will do with the great Chavis at the helm on the other side of the ball? (Don’t let him get ahold of high school interior freak Daylon Mack).

That’s a downright frightening thought even for a division (western) that is packed tight with elite teams.