Todd Grantham describes his defensive approach

Oklahoma State turned over its defensive coordinator position this offseason, with long-time assistant coach Todd Grantham stepping in to fill the role.

Grantham is expected to bring an aggressive defense to the Cowboys.

The new coordinator broke down his defensive philosophy and approach for reporters shortly after his hire, giving everyone a decent idea what to expect come 2025.

“I think we’re multiple. I think we’re multiple,” Grantham said. “I think you want to keep it simple from the standpoint of you don’t want people to run the ball, so you have to have the ability to stop the run. And at the end of the day, how do you affect the quarterback and make him play bad? I mean if the quarterback doesn’t play very good, your chances of winning are very good.”

Todd Grantham was most recently a defensive line coach with the New Orleans Saints. Across his career he has mainly worked with defensive linemen and edge rushers.

He has produced more than a few elite players off the edge at the college level. So you can expect Grantham’s unit to get after the quarterback.

He outlined the importance of doing so within his scheme.

“If we can eliminate the run, force him to throw it,” Grantham said. “Then when you get into making the quarterback play bad, well what is that? Obviously pressure. You can pressure. It can be post-snap disguise, meaning, ‘Hey, we’re showing one thing and at the snap of the ball it’s going to be something else.’”

Todd Grantham’s units have been effective in doing just that. If there’s been a consistent weakness among his defensive units it’s been stopping opponents on third down.

That said, you’ll definitely get an opportunistic defense with Grantham in charge.

“Because if you look at the history throughout my career we’ve always been very high in turnovers and we’ve been high in interceptions,” Grantham said. “That reason is, one, making them one-dimensional, but then also trying to give the quarterback a picture, and that picture tells him where to throw the ball. Then we want to take that picture away and try to get to where the ball is thrown.”

Todd Grantham has had plenty of experience doing just that in college. He’s had stints at Alabama (2022), Florida (2018-21), Mississippi State (2017), Louisville (2014-16) and Georgia (2010-13), as well as earlier stops at Michigan State (1996-98) and Virginia Tech (1990-95).

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