Coordinator corner | 'It's literally been a thing of beauty'

Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry provides perspective from his side of the ball before Thursday’s 8:10 p.m. season opener against Eastern Illinois at Memorial Stadium, courtesy beat writer Scott Richey:

Where do things stand going into your second season as coordinator?

“Obviously, any time you go into your first year as a play caller there’s some things you learn about yourself. There’s some things you learn from a schematic standpoint that you feel could help our players, and you try to implement those after the year. With the portal, we went and got some pieces that we needed and, more importantly, some pieces that fit us. Going into this year — looking at our personnel and looking at how we can utilize guys — I think we’ve got players that have been buying in and believing what we’re selling.

“I think the biggest thing for us moving ahead and moving forward is just to make sure we’re doing what we’re coached to do. When we’ve had good execution — when guys have properly executed — it’s literally been a thing of beauty. But when guys have gone out and done their own thing, whether it’s a scrimmage or a game, it’s very, very, very telling. You try and learn grow from those moments, but what I’m so excited about in regard to this unit is for them to be able to showcase what we’ve been doing this offseason.”

How did you address last year’s issues with penalties?

“We had a couple of scrimmages where refs came, and we tried to ask them to be as critical as possible. Even things that could be nitpicky, we wanted them to be as critical as possible only because we wanted to show our players this is what happens as a result of poor execution. I keep bringing up this stat because it’s so alarming to me. Last year any time we got a 15-yard penalty, that drive resulted in a touchdown. The goal is to play clean football. The goal is to be penalty free. We harped on things defensively about being clean and executing the plan in which we’re asking our guys to do.”

What does a healthy Matthew Bailey bring to the defense?

“What Matt brings is just a calmness. Everybody has that one person that they can call when things get hectic. For some people, it’s their mom. For some folks, it’s their dad. Maybe it’s your sister or maybe it’s your wife or your girlfriend. Well, for me, Matt Bailey is all of that. He just has a calming presence about him when he’s on the field. Because he communicates at an elite level. Because he watches film at an elite level. There is a sense of security on the field when he’s out there. I just think really good players that I’ve been around, when you’ve got a cat like that on the field whether they’re on the D-line at linebacker or the DB position, it obviously helps your defense.

“He has chomping at the bit. There have been times during fall camp where we’re, ‘Hey, dude, we aren’t going to put you in this.’ He’s upset at me — he’s dang near in tears — because he’s so passionate, he’s so strong-willed and he’s such a believer in what we’re preaching from a culture standpoint and from an overall philosophical standpoint — that he just wants to be out there and showcase his ability and talent. Not just for himself, but for his teammates.”

How will the rotation for the defensive front shake out?“

This is probably, in my opinion, the most depth that we’ve had. Between (outside linebackers coach Clint Sintim) and (defensive line coach Terrance Jamison), they’ve done a tremendous job. We’ve got some really, really good players at multiple positions, and we’ve got some really good guys behind them. We’re going to rotate as much as we can to keep guys fresh and keep bodies fresh, but at the end of the day we’re going to have the guys out there that we efel can help us win at a consistent level. Whether that means rotation every series or every other series or every couple series or within the framework of a drive if a game gets tired, that’s going to be on a game-to-game basis.”