Here is Roach's take on the defense
— A lot has been made of the front, but it can be really multiple. The personnel can be what you would see in a typical 4-2-5, but the edge guys are usually in a two-point stance. The front plays two defensive tackles so there is less reliance on a nose to eat blocks more of an attacking style up front. The result of this front is that Kwiatkowski is able to disguise blitzes well. He doesn't telegraph where they are coming from and they also don't come from 20 yards away. There isn't an over-reliance on blitzing from the eye test (I'd have to check the blitz percentages), but they do attack randomly and into the weak spots of an offense. For the majority of snaps I watched, Kwiatkowski was mostly calling four man rushes up front and dropping everyone else. This scheme is primed to be a strong weapon against spread offenses, but it requires things like gap discipline and good open-field tackling as most other schemes do. I'm excited to see the defensive line rotations at Texas where you have a ton of versatile bodies who were recruited for a mix of odd and even fronts. Alfred Collins is a guy who can play defensive tackle or on the strong side end at depending on the situation. Prince Dorbah could be a weakside edge or linebacker while T'Vondre Sweat, Vernon Broughton, Keondre Coburn and Byron Murphy are all going to be able to attack from the interior.
— At the linebacker position, Kwiatkowski typically has two linebackers playing inside the hashes but these guys must be able to cover in space. That's encouraging for players like Jaylan Ford, DeMarvion Overshown, Morice Blackwell and Terrence Cooks. The x-factor in this defense seems to be the rover which was most famously played by Budda Baker back in the heyday. Baker could line up deep or in the box and work as a flat or underneath defender. Texas has players who can fit that skillset in Chris Adimora, BJ Foster and early enrollee JD Coffey seems like a perfect fit there as well. Like with the defensive line, I think there are a ton of options for the safety and rover roles. Herman's first staff loved bigger safeties who could play hybrid roles while Chris Ash preferred more mobile prospects who could cover in space. The result is a mixture of bodies and skillsets that need to be deployed correctly to take advantage of the recruiting success Texas had in the past few years.
— In the secondary, Washington played a lot of one-high safety coverage and man on the outside. They don't press a ton and are often asked to be on an island deep. They also showed a ton of 2-man but they can disguise it fairly well because of the alignment and versatility of the safety. As talented as they were with a number of first-round picks, Washington just couldn't match the overwhelming talent difference of Alabama in the 2016 Peach Bowl. Still, Kwiatkowski's unit held them to 17 points on the day despite Washington struggling to get things going on offense and throwing a pick-six in the first half. Against Mike Leach's Air Raid offense at Washington State, Kwiatkowski's defense was good at creating pressure and though they couldn't totally stop the big plays, they succeeded at shutting down the chunk plays that give an offense like that oxygen. This defense was also incredibly adept at creating turnovers. Most people believe that turnovers aren't a skill that can be acquired and are more a measure of luck, but the high numbers they generate tell me they are opportunistic, in the right position and taught well when it comes to locating the ball and attacking it.