ExtremeRavens Posted August 1 Posted August 1 Dez Walker is very particular about the aura in his gym. The one-story building sits along an interstate about 30 miles north of Atlanta in the same plaza as a car battery store. It’s nondescript and easy to miss driving the vast parkland of Suwanee, Georgia. Inside, it’s hot and musty. Walker likes to say it’s the opposite of an LA Fitness. “You know how guys say, ‘I gotta get back to my roots to get that same energy,’” Walker said. “It’s that. … Great facility but it’s [about] the mentality when you step in there.” That’s where Ravens pass rushers Justin Madubuike, Odafe Oweh, David Ojabo and Tavius Robinson spent the last week of June. They took a weeklong business trip to see Walker at the Georgia foundry and sharpened the nuances of their most coveted skill: getting to the quarterback. The results bled right into training camp, evidenced by what Lamar Jackson recently called a “throwback Ravens defense,” the quarterback thumping his fists together to demonstrate his violent practice competition. Madubuike has been visiting Suwanee for three years, a timeline parallel to the defensive lineman’s year-over-year ascension. He climbed from two sacks in 2021 to 5 1/2 to 13, good for top 10 in the NFL this past season. The All-Pro was voted by his peers to the NFL’s Top 100 players list and captivated his teammates up close. “I had to tap in,” Oweh said, after his own five-sack season. He peppered Madubuike for guidance, “What were you doing, man? [Was it] something that you were eating? What were you watching?” The difference was his work with Walker, a pass rush savant. The former defensive lineman from Sterling College pivoted to training in 2018, shortly after graduation. He brings a unique tenacity to the positional instruction — often joking he talks so much that he should start a podcast — and comes from elite mentorship with equally excellent nicknames. Walker worked under the tutelage of Chuck Smith, a.k.a “Dr. Rush.” Smith was hired as the Ravens outside linebackers coach in 2023 with a resume that boasted a starry clientele: future Hall of Famers Von Miller and Aaron Donald. Smith was tutored by the Hall of Fame defensive end dubbed the “Minister of Defense,” Reggie White. “A lot of it is me putting in the hard work early, along with Chuck Smith being a mentor is what got me to where I’m at today,” said Walker, whose clients bestowed him the nickname “Samurai Sack” — a play on the old cartoon show, “Samurai Jack.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by PassRush Specialist Dez Walker (@dez__55) Madubuike started a group text to plan the business trip with Oweh, Ojabo and Robinson. They tossed around dates to find a week that worked for the quartet and booked flights south. Each day began with a discussion about the Vision, Get-off, Hands and Hips (VGHH) system, created by Smith and mastered by Walker as a way to break down the movement of pass rush into fragments and body movements. Then, throughout the 90-minute period, they’re repping more than 150 strikes — like a basketball player working on their jump shot, only more violent. Monday was a good introduction to conversations about angles along with primary moves and counter moves. A lot of figuring out where the four Ravens can and want to improve: the cross chop and spin for Oweh or Robinson finding the quarterback particularly on play action. From left, Ravens outside linebackers Tavius Robinson and David Ojabo run a drill during training camp. (Kim Hairston/Staff) Walker calls it “Bloody Tuesday.” It’s a grind type of day, he said. If they’re getting 150 strikes per session, Tuesday is an exhausting 300-strike workout adjusting angles and counters from the day before. Madubuike was prioritizing a technically advanced move called ‘the hump,” an outside attack with a hard cut back using the inside arm to shove blockers off balance, which White made famous in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Odafe and Ojabo were fine-tuning spin moves and Robinson focused on techniques for the pull through. “We went crazy on Tuesday so Wednesday is a premeditated day,” Walker said. “We’re walking through our angles. We’re training our eyes. You really don’t even need cleats at that point in the week. We’re focusing on walking through [everything].” Then came “Bad Boy Thursday.” They started with some reflection from the beginning of the week. Walker repositioned the players to the offensive line to provide a new look at the angles and attacks they’ve been drilling. “I’m a firm believer the only thing the offensive line controls is the snap count,” Walker said. “We dictate. They’re puppets to us.” Thursday was the week’s most technical day. “Freestyle Friday” put it all together. For example, reminding Madubuike to complement his innate power off the line with the striking they worked on. Or Robinson, who’s adept at putting hands on people, testing his new tools against the run and the pass. Each of the four, according to Walker, left excited about their homework, eager to implement everything they learned over the week. Back at the Ravens’ facility in Owings Mills, people are taking notice. Coach John Harbaugh said Oweh is playing like he’s positioning himself to have a breakout year. Defensive coordinator Zach Orr said Oweh already looks better than last season and mentioned Ojabo first as a candidate to replace Jadeveon Clowney’s 9 1/2 sacks last year after only one in 2023. Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley has seen the fruits of their labor in camp as much as anyone. “I mean, ‘Dafe’ is always a headache, Madubuike is always a headache. You’ve got ‘Jabo’ on the outside, you’ve got Kyle [Van Noy] on the outside,” Stanley said. “Those guys are always … They create different problems, they’re all great at different things.” Walker said firmly, “I don’t see how this can’t be one of the greatest Ravens fronts of all time.” View the full article Quote
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