SUPER 7: Dudley's move the kickstart to the Catholic D success
Catholic’s TJ Dudley moved to inside linebacker has been a key to the Knights’ success on defense. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
There’s an old saying about how if it isn’t broke…
There was no reason to move TJ Dudley from his outside linebacker position, Catholic coach Aubrey Blackwell figured. The Knights were 4-1, with only a loss to 5A Pike Road, and his defense was the perfect complement to a balanced offensive attack.
After a 32-21 loss to Montgomery Academy on Sept. 25, Blackwell and his coaching staff decided it was time to change some things around. For one thing, opponents would run away from the talented Dudley and toward the side of Pat Ryan.
“Everybody was keying on him and looking at him,” Blackwell said. “Even when we would go up against him (in practice), we would do the same thing on offense. It was a good thing for us to get him back in the interior.”
So Dudley and Ryan moved from outside linebacker to inside linebacker. The Knights (12-2) haven’t lost since and will ride an eight-game winning streak into the 3A finals against Fyffe on Thursday at 10 a.m. at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“It feels lot better,” Dudley said. “Being away from the ball makes the game a little less exciting for you. But I’m happy for my teammates because my focus this year was on getting to state instead of leading the team in tackles or any personal goals. Regardless of what position I was playing, I felt like I’d be able to do my role and do it well and we’ve gotten this far because of it.”
Dudley plays a lot of roles on the team. As one of the middle returners on the kickoff return team, he’s fielded four squib kicks and returned them 41 yards. As a runner out of Wildcat formation, he has 14 carries for 64 yards and four touchdowns.
But it is his natural position where he excels. At linebacker, he has 112 tackles, including nine for loss, along with an interception. Moving Ryan inside puts the two leading tacklers in the middle of the action. Ryan has 148 tackles, including 19 for loss.
“They’re so tough in the interior and feed off each other,” Blackwell said. “Their personalities are different so they complement each other really well.”
For Dudley, who counts 23 scholarship offers from Alabama, Auburn and just about everybody else, college recruiters have seen him as an outside linebacker. Now, he’s getting to show them what he can do in the middle. He admits it was often a little boring at times, watching play after play directed toward the other side of the field.
“Most of the teams run the same system,” he said, “so being on the outside keeps me from even being in the play. As of right now, I like being on the inside because I can get more action, but if we were to play a team that did run outside or threw it more, I’d rather be on the outside. It just depends on the team.”
On Thursday, he’ll face a team suited to his talents at inside linebacker but Fyffe (14-0) hasn’t lost a game since the current group of seniors were freshmen playing at Sulligent in the 2017 quarterfinals. The Red Devils, which moved up this year from 2A to 3A, will be riding a 44-game winning streak against the Knights.
“Of course, it gives everybody motivation,” Dudley said. “The whole playoffs, we’ve been an underdog and knowing their streak is that long, it just gives you more motivation to want to beat them even more.”
Dudley admits that what he has seen on tape from the Red Devils is impressive.
“It’s a basic thing, but that’s their thing,” Dudley said. “That’s what they’re known for and they execute it and do it very well.”
Fyffe will be making its fifth trip to the finals in the last six years and the Red Devils are coming off of championships in 2018 and 2019, so a return trip to the finals is nothing new. Catholic, on the other hand, only had one trip to the semifinals before this season and will be making its first trip to a championship game.
“I feel like we’ll handle it well since we’re getting there a day early and get to watch another team play the day before,” Dudley said.