FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Once defensive line players shuffle into their position room and Nate Ollie closes the door behind them, there is little outside that room that deters him. If it's not his meeting, it's not his problem.
Defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro knows his new position coach is to blame for other room's interruptions, though.
"He's loud 24/7, man," Orhorhoro said.
Ollie certainly is. His voice can be picked out from the sideline of practice. Sometimes even when the linemen drills are taking place on the far side of the field, or when music blares through speakers. Still his voice carries.
The Falcons — coaches and players alike — love him for it.
"Nate Ollie is a walking ball of energy," Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. "The minute you meet him, the minute you interview him, the minute you do anything with him, he is always going to be a certain form of energy, and that comes with a belief in what he's teaching."
What he's teaching – and constantly preaching – is the attack-style front this staff is implimenting in order to improve the Falcons' pass rush, which ranked 31st in sacks in 2024 and ranks 32nd in sacks since 2018. The concept is self-explanatory in that all four players up front along the line of scrimmage must attack the quarterback as soon as the ball is snapped. It sounds simple, but it is successful. Ollie can attest from experience.
Before joining the Falcons in January, Ollie spent time with four other teams from 2019-24. Three of those years — 2024 with the Houston Texans, 2023 with the Indianapolis Colts and 2020 with the Philadelphia Eagles — saw his unit finish top five in sacks. Two others – 2022 with the Colts and 2019 with the Eagles – finished top 15.
Ollie said all those defenses used the attack-style front.
"It's just exciting to build it from the ground up and see guys flourish," Ollie said. "Man, that excites me."
That excitement can be contagious.
"When you have that high-level belief and that high-level thought process that you can't be beat, because of that, it eventually goes to your players," Morris said. "And eventually what's going to happen with Nate, which happens to all coaches, is that energy goes into your room. Then, you eventually pull off and you watch those guys become a version of you or become your sounding board. I'm seeing it start to happen already with some of the guys up front."