Ashton Porter came into this season with high expectations from both fans and himself. After Tuesday’s practice, Ashton shared with me how things have gone over the past three games.
“Playing team ball, I just want to take the next step,” Porter said. “I just want to take over a game, but we have other guys. Tre Tre, BMack, Khalil, they’re really good. But I just want to take my game to the next level.”
Porter mentioned that he received a lot of attention from Texas Tech, drawing double teams and chip blocks. He even said, “They triple-teamed me.” I wondered when that would have happened, so I went back to the all-22 video. Turns out, it was the first play of the game (the Castellanos interception). On the first play of the second drive, the tight end chipped him.
Here are the first two offensive plays for Texas Tech:
And as the game went on, he saw a lot of double teams and chips, whether run or pass.
Texas Tech did a good job of scheming to keep him from making plays, as well as generally getting the ball out quickly. To date, Porter has two pass breakups and a sack, which came on a free rush against Oregon State. I asked him how he thinks he can improve.
“Work on my pass rush a little bit more. Long arm is my favorite move, but I have to work on counters. My biggest part I really have to work on is getting off double teams. Getting through it and making a play.”
Porter used that long-arm technique often when facing Texas Tech’s left tackle, Howard Sampson. It produced mixed results, but Porter did succeed at times in driving Sampson back and collapsing the pocket. But he couldn’t consistently get pressure himself.
Developing counter moves after that initial rush will be important in Porter’s development, like he said. He possesses the athletic ability to win with quickness and bend. In pass-rush drills at practice, you can see that twitch. The next step is packaging it all together on game day.
Below is an example of Porter rushing with initial power but stalling a bit in his rush. Working immediately to defeat the hands of the tackle and get inside might help generate pressure here.
He did well to nearly overcome a missed false start and a likely hold.
On another rep, Porter is lined up in 3-technique, just outside the left guard. He employs a bull rush and gets good knockback. He naturally pushes for his long arm technique, leaving his right arm free to knock down the pass. While he doesn’t generate a pressure here, it’s a good play to collapse the pocket and get his hands up.
Porter has definitely built towards success early on. Lost in the preseason hype is the fact that Texas Tech was just his third career start. He has logged 136 of his 387 career snaps in these first three games for the Coogs. Porter showed good signs against a very experienced player and his toughest assignment thus far, in Sampson.
“A game is like a chess match. You just need one play to make a difference,” Porter said.
I do think he had a few opportunities to win one-on-one battles that he didn’t take advantage of, but I believe Porter will get stronger as the season goes on. Even in year four of his college career, he needs more live reps to build his pass-rush repertoire.
Porter has done well against the run, and I expect that will continue. The sooner he can put it all together in the pass rush, the sooner the defensive front can take a step forward. Against Texas Tech, the DL was close to making several big plays. Success the rest of the season will mean they convert those close calls into negatives for the offense.
