Jaguar defense getting aggressive under Todd Orlando

When South Alabama hired Todd Orlando as its defensive coordinator in January, it brought in one of the more experienced defensive coordinators in college football. Orlando has been an FBS defensive coordinator since 2005, with stops at Connecticut, FIU, Utah State, Houston, Texas, USC, Florida Atlantic and South Florida. He now takes over a Jaguars defense that allowed 30.4 points and 381.6 yards per game while finishing 4-8 in 2025.

The most encouraging part of Orlando's history is what has happened when he has inherited struggling defenses. The clearest example came at South Florida. The Bulls entered 2023 after allowing 41.2 points per game and the most total yards in college football at a clip of more than 516 yards per game in a 1-11 season. In Orlando's first season, scoring defense improved to 32.2 points per game, and the Bulls went 7-6.

That doesn't mean Orlando will turn South Alabama into a Sun Belt defense overnight. His track record is more complicated — but it provides a pretty good indication of what the Jaguars should look like in Year 1.

The biggest expected improvement should come in creating negative plays and turnovers.

Orlando's defenses have consistently been aggressive. At Utah State, his defenses forced 60 turnovers in two seasons, including 30 in 2014. Houston's defense forced 35 turnovers in Orlando's first season there, leading the nation. At USF, the Bulls ranked 12th nationally in defensive takeaways in his first season, with 24, and also ranked seventh nationally in tackles for loss. Their 7.9 tackles for loss per game in 2024 ranked sixth nationally.

That history is particularly relevant for South Alabama. The Jaguars forced only 15 turnovers in 2025, while Orlando's three-year average at USF was nearly 25 turnovers per season. A dramatic jump into the high teens or low 20s would be an aspirational, yet reasonable, first-year expectation.

Success rate should also improve. Across his stops, Orlando's defenses have generally been better at preventing successful offensive plays than their overall yardage numbers might suggest. Success rate, as defined by the metrics at fourthandshort.com, is the percentage of plays the defense stops the offense from staying on schedule. On schedule means gaining 50%+ of the yards needed on first down, 70%+ on second down and 100%+ on third and fourth down. His Utah State defenses averaged an outstanding 11th nationally in this statistic, while Houston averaged 21st. His three-year average at South Florida was 32nd. South Alabama, which was 91st in success rate last year, should expect fewer sustained drives and more possessions ending in punts or turnovers.

The area where Jaguars fans should be most concerned is in explosive plays allowed.

Orlando's defenses have frequently traded aggression for vulnerability to big plays. His South Florida defenses averaged 114th nationally in fourthandshort.com's explosiveness ranking, a metric that measures the amount of additional points predicted to be given up on a successful offensive play. The raw explosiveness figure decreased from 1.51 in 2023 to 1.33 in 2025. An improvement, but still a significant weakness relative to his earlier stops. South Alabama's more prevent-style mentality last season gave them an edge here as they ranked 77th nationally with a raw number of 1.27.

That tradeoff is part of Orlando's defensive personality. He wants to pressure quarterbacks, disguise coverages and attack rather than simply sit back. At its best, that produces sacks, tackles for loss and turnovers. At its worst, it creates opportunities for opponents to hit explosive plays when the pressure doesn't get home.

South Alabama's field-position defense could go either way, but there is reason for optimism. Orlando's career average at Utah State was 22nd in opposing offense average starting field position and Houston's was 17th while his South Florida defenses averaged 49th. Given South Alabama's 2025 defensive struggles in this area where they were 78th, even getting into the national top half would represent meaningful progress.

The bottom line is that South Alabama should expect a more disruptive and less conservative defense in 2026. Turnovers, sacks and tackles for loss should increase. Success rate and overall defensive efficiency should improve. The Jaguars could also give up fewer points simply by getting more stops and creating shorter fields for the offense.

But there will probably be a price: big plays.

If Orlando can maintain his aggressive identity while reducing the explosive plays that plagued his recent South Florida defenses, South Alabama could make a substantial defensive jump in his first season. If the Jaguars generate pressure but consistently surrender plays over the top, the defense could look statistically better in some categories while remaining vulnerable in the most important one — keeping opponents out of the end zone.