The new face of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats football defense was publicly introduced on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
Coming from Army where he was the defensive coordinator, Nate Woody was hired in mid-January, with UC’s previous defensive coordinator, Tyson Veidt, moving on to Penn State as linebackers coach. Woody has previous experience with UC head coach Scott Satterfield, as he coordinated the defense at Appalachian State under Satterfield from 2013-2017.
Woody caught Satterfield’s eye years ago in the Southern Conference at Wofford, where he thought he did well with less talent. Satterfield hired him to come to Appalachian State, where he stayed until 2019 before going to Georgia Tech, with Satterfield moving to Louisville.
No more 3-3-5 defensive scheme for UC
Satterfield says Woody will run a 3-4 defense but will always bring four guys to pressure the quarterback.
“It’s multiple, you can do a lot of things with it,” Satterfield said. “Literally, any player on the field can get in the backfield. We (at Appalachian State) were one of the top interception teams in the country. I think in a four-year span we led the country in interceptions.”
That was part of the reason to change, as Satterfield admits they were the worst in the country at intercepting passes last season (with just two). It will now be emphasized.
“Coach Woody’s been good everywhere he’s been coaching defenses,” Satterfield said.
With new defensive players coming in, he also believes the timing of the change is good. Among the 22 transfers and 14 high school early enrollees, Satterfield mentioned defensive back MJ Cannon from Bowling Green, safety Ty Goodwill of South Alabama and defensive back Kenny Worthy from Washington State as “showing out” so far.
What did new DC Nate Woody say about Bearcats?
Woody was drawn to Satterfield from his past experience and the culture he sees in play at the Sheakley Indoor Performance Center.
“To come back here and work with him means something,” Woody said. “He’s a great guy to work for. He’s got a great culture. The first thing you’d better answer on a football team nowadays is culture. You’ve got a lot of transfers coming in that you want to do right by them, and you want them to do right by you and their teammates.”
Director of Football Performance Niko Palazeti is already at work molding bodies and minds to turn over to the on-field staff when spring camp commences in early March.
From Woody’s comments, you can also see an emphasis on pressure in an effort to improve on UC’s 23 quarterback sacks last season.
“The edge rusher from the boundary is going to be the guy that rushes the quarterback 70% of the time, drops in coverage 30%, we’ll call him ‘the Dog’,” Woody said. “The outside linebacker, we’re going to call him ‘the Cat’. He’s going to be in coverage a little bit more, somewhere 65-70% of the time and he’ll rush the quarterback the other times.”
As UC had with Dontay Corleone, he would like a nose tackle that commands a double-team. First things first, is getting to know the new players and putting them in the right positions. Helping him along will be co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Cort Braswell, who coached at West Point with Woody before coming here with Satterfield.
“There’s a lot of guys on this staff that I’ve known and worked with over the years,” Woody said. “Bras, I met him just as he was graduating from college, years ago. I did a clinic in Tennessee. He came to a clinic I was speaking at and out of all the guys in that room, he stood out. I remembered him over everybody. Just an incredibly bright, outstanding personality. He’s a guy that’s going to be a head coach someday.”
Woody looks forward to involving his defensive staff, hearing their ideas and grading out the latest Bearcats over the spring.
“Evaluation is a key this spring,” Woody said. “We’ll compete against our offense, but the big thing to me is about evaluating these guys and getting the right guys on the field and getting some packages put together to where we can use more and more of the guys on the field whenever the opportunity arises.”
Army was No. 43 in total defense among NCAA Division I schools last season, while the Bearcats were No. 93. The Black Knights were 7-6 with a 41-16 win over Connecticut in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl. The previous year, they won 12 games and led the country in total defense.
More from UC Bearcats coach Satterfield on switch to DC Woody
“We didn’t interrupt the quarterback enough,” Satterfield said of the demise of the 3-3-5 defensive formation. “That’s probably the bottom line. That’s how you create turnovers. If you’re making him throw the ball early, create some sacks, fumbles, throw the ball into coverage, we just didn’t do that.”
Part of that was rushing three players and dropping eight. The thought was that dropping eight might lead to more interceptions, but only two balls were picked off by men in C-Paw helmets in 2025.
“We didn’t catch the ball in the defensive backfield very good,” Satterfield said. “We’d knock balls down instead of picking them off. Nebraska, the first game, you should’ve had a pick-six. We didn’t catch it.”
UC’s search process
“When we found out Tyson (Veidt) was leaving, the first name that came to mind was Nate Woody,” Satterfield said. “He did a great job when he was with me before. To me, it was just, ‘Can we get it done?’ The opportunity to come and be a coordinator on the Power (Four) level was big for him.”
It’s the same defense Satterfield took to Louisville, where, in their last year (before coming to UC) they led the country in sacks with 50.
“This defense can produce sacks, interceptions, create turnovers and Nate’s the architect of the defense, he’s been doing for 20-some years,” Satterfield said. “Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator learned everything under Nate Woody. They were one of the best defenses in the country.”
Satterfield on new UC quarterback JC French
“JC brings a lot of confidence; he’s played a lot of football,” Satterfield said of the Georgia Southern transfer quarterback. “He can throw the football. The ball comes off his hand in a nice way, great release, great spiral, great deep ball thrower. I think he’s got a great presence about him, talking to some of the team.”
French will be different than previous starter Brendan Sorsby in size and in running ability, plus the Bearcats have Samaj Jones in his third year with a lot more confidence. Jones ran for 57 yards and a touchdown against Navy in the Liberty Bowl.
Sheakley Indoor Performance Facility
“This is the first (full) year we’ve had the facility and thank goodness we do because the last three weeks have been awful around here,” Satterfield said of the winter weather. “They’ve been in there every day.”
UC’s receiving corps
“We like the guys that are coming back,” Satterfield said. “Isaiah Johnson, Elijah Jones, Gio (Kontosis), all three of those guys are going to help us, along with the guys we brought in.”
One new pass-catcher, Cade Wolford from Kent State, averaged 26.8 yards per reception last season.
“His film’s good,” Satterfield said. “He goes hard every snap. Everything he does is wide open. I love that. He’s made some big-time plays in games. I think his best football is still ahead of him. The other thing he can do is run the ball, come back in the backfield and do the jet sweep stuff.”
UC’s new offensive line
“Taran (Tyo) is going to play some center, Evan (Tengesdahl) is going to play, (Jake) Wheelock’s going to play some center, probably four or five guys will rotate in there,” Satterfield said. “Lozo (Xavier Lozowicki) is going to play some guard, maybe some tackle. We have to find the best five guys to help that unit.”
The upside of the left side is the return of left tackle Joe Cotton with Tengesdahl.
Which UC running back gets call?
“It really is wide open and Zion (Johnson) is not going to give it away either,” Satterfield said.
The redshirt freshman Johnson had 22 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown late last season when elevated to the travel squad.
“These other guys have played a lot and they’re going to bring something different to the table.” Satterfield said. “(Gi’Bran) Payne is a big guy who can run through some tackles. (Cole) Tabb is not very big, but he can run and has good strength. (Zylen) Perry has played a ton of football, even in special teams. I love the depth in that room. We’ve played a lot of running backs over the years.”
Payne is from La Salle High School and Notre Dame. Tabb is a Stanford transfer and Perry came from Louisiana-Monroe.
UC’s spring schedule, to be announced, will run from early March through mid-April.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC Bearcats football tweaks defense with new coordinator Nate Woody
Reporting by Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
