One player on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense who is very familiar with new defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile is Emmanuel Ogbah.

Before joining the Jaguars this offseason as a free agent, Ogbah had played the previous five seasons with the Miami Dolphins, with four of those years overlapping with Campanile, who was the linebackers coach there from 2020 through 2023.

Advertisement

“Energy, toughness, and great football knowledge,” said Ogbah via 1010 XL when asked what the defense is getting in Campanile. “He’s going to go out there and give it his all. He brings that energy every day.

“If you’re down, he’s going to pick you up. That’s the kind of coach he is. Family-oriented, he checks on his players, he loves his players. But that’s something you miss as a professional athlete, a coach that actually cares about you and he’s one of the ones.”

Just as we’ve heard the phrase ‘multiplicity’ on the offensive side of the ball for the Jaguars under Liam Coen, Camapnile wants that element on the defense as well.

Like any coordinator, Campanile has his scheme and core principles he will lean on, but this system will be flexible and quick to adjust based on what the opponent is doing, and it will also mold to the players who are on the roster in order to maximize those skill sets.

Advertisement

“Stopping the run. Get after it with the pass rush, but that toughness,” said Ogbah about Campanile’s defense. “He’s going to bring that toughness, for sure.”

The scheme is obviously important, but as Campanile described during his introductory press conference, making sure this Jaguars’ defense has the right play style will be a top priority for him.

“The most important thing when you talk about defense is your play-style,” said Campanile earlier this offseason. “My vision for us defensively, we want to be a tough, fast, physical, violent at the point of attack team.

“What does that mean? That means that you got guys who take pride in not getting blocked. Everybody talks about running to the ball, I don’t think there’s another person in the world who believes in running to the ball more than I do. But you can’t run to the ball if you don’t get off blocks, and that is something that’s going to be celebrated in our room.”

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars OTAs: Emmanuel Ogbah weighs in on Anthony Campanile’s defense