Redskins' nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu
The Washington Redskins’ Maake Kemoeatu is looking forward to July 29, the day the team starts their 2010 training camp. Because he feels comfortable at nose tackle in a 3-4 defense – the position he is slated to play here – Kemoeatu feels like he’s coming home, according to CSNWashington.
“I feel like it’s a great opportunity for me to get back to my old self and play nose tackle,” he said during an appearance on Redskins Now. “In Charlotte I was in the 4-3, so coming over here to the Redskins is like a new start for me. The Redskins are going in a new direction and I feel like I’m a part of something special.”
The 6’5”, 345 lbs. graduate of the University of Utah played in the middle of the 3-4 defense for the Baltimore Ravens from 2002 to 2009. With the Redskins embarking on their new defensive scheme – a 3-4 hybrid – Kemoeatu knows it’s a match made in heaven.
As long as he gets through that first day of training camp.
Redskins’ fans know how dangerous that first day of training camp can be and so does the nose tackle.
In 2008, defensive end Phillip Daniels suffered a season ending knee injury (ACL) on the first day, during the first snap of seven-on-seven drills in the first hour of training camp. Kemoeatu had a similar experience last season. While he injured his Achilles tendon not a knee, many of the other details are similar.
“It was a pursuit drill, first play of training camp last year,” Kemoeatu told Chick Hernandez. “I was running to the ball and then it just tore.”
The injury sidelined the big man for the entire 2009 season and he has been working hard to be ready for 2010. He is making progress but has more rehabbing to do, according to his defensive coordinator.
“Maake’s not back yet,” Jim Haslett said last week after the last mini-camp ended. “But I think he will be. He’s working hard at it. I’m excited about the opportunity to coach him. I think he’s going to be a great player.”
‘Kemo,’ as some of his teammates call him, says that his recovery is “90 to 92 percent complete,” and, like most players, he wants to get back into pads and onto the field.
“I sat out all of last year, I missed the whole season,” he said. “That really hurt. So getting back out on the field is a real blessing, playing with your guys and banging heads.”
Speaking of banging heads, ‘Kemo’ has a large one. He has been teased about the size of his helmet, even by his head coach, Mike Shanahan.
“If you look at his helmet – I have never seen a helmet that big before,” Shanahan joked during a session with reporters. “His helmet size is size 13. I think the biggest I’ve seen was 8½. So that gives you a little bit of an idea how big he is.” Evidently, the helmet is big enough that fullback Mike Sellers – a very large man in his own right, can put Kemoeatu’s helmet on his head and spin it.
Kemoeatu commented that this helmet comes in handy when he’s out on the field banging heads.
Earlier in the spring, Shanahan called Kemoeatu a ‘prototypical nose tackle’. When the switch in the defensive scheme – and all of the resulting news surrounding who will or will not play the nose tackle position – became more evident, I surfed around the web, looking for information on the position so that I could be sure I understood why the switch was such a big deal.
On eHow.com, I found a position description of the nose tackle broken down into five instructional steps.
Step #2: “Be a selfless individual. The nose tackle’s primary job is to contain blockers so other members of the defense can make plays. If a player has too big of an ego, he may want the glory of the big play for himself. Nose tackles seldom get the opportunity to make the big play.”
Obviously, this is not from the Official Rule Book of the NFL. But what it says is in keeping with popular theory. A nose tackle can not be concerned with great statistics and amazing highlights. And, if one were to suppose that this “instruction” was part of Haslett’s coaching strategy, then he has found the right man in Kemoeatu.
“I’m playing nose tackle and keeping the linebackers clear,” Kemoeatu said. “I’ll be keeping Fletcher and Rock and those guys running to the ball, and help funneling the ball from the center on out.” During that appearance on Redskins Now, the tackle used terms like ‘my backers’ when speaking about ‘taking on double teams’ so that the opposing offensive players don’t get past London Fletcher and the other linebackers.
When describing describing why having an effective nose tackle is the key to running an effective 3-4 defense, Jim Haslett made the analogy that playing the defense would be like playing baseball without a catcher.
“If you think about baseball, if you don’t have anybody catching, they’d just run around to second and third,” he said. “It’s kind of the same thing,” He then continued, “If you don’t have a nose that keeps linebackers free and can eat up space and is hard to run on, it’s hard to play a 3-4, so it is the most important position in the 3-4.”
Hopefully, Maake Kemoeatu will continue to rehab successfully and be ready to go for training camp. Lets hope he can get through the first snap of the first drills on the first day. If he stays healthy, the Redskins will most likely have one of the most dominant defenses in the NFC with Maake Kemoeatu on the roster, playing front and center.