SWC75
Bored Historian
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THE DEFENSE
In Scott Shafer, we have one of the best defensive coordinators in the country. He took over a defense that had been terrible and in two years, turned them into one of the best in the country. He did that with the help of players who had been recruited when Greg Robinson first came to town and had now matured into major contributors. We had a bunch of 300 pound senior tackles. Those designations go together because when a football player arrives on campus, especially a linemen, he starts going through a conditioning program that restructures his body. \he may lose “baby fat” and then he gets built up again to where he’s 300 pounds of muscle rather than fat. A young lineman is not just an inexperienced player: he’s not going to be a physically strong as the guys he’s grappling with. In 2010, we had some big, strong guys in the center of the line who stuffed the run and tied up blockers, essentially blocking for the ends, linebackers and safeties so they could make big plays. And we had a quite a group of ends, linebackers and safeties. Chandler Jones is now with the Patriots and being touted as a rookie to watch in the NFL. Derrel Smith and Doug Hogue were all-conference linebackers. Max Suter and Mike Holmes were safeties who always knew where the ball was. That defense kept us in game after game. After going 4-24 in the Big East from 2005-2009, we went 4-3, incredibly with all four wins coming on the road by the scores of 13-9, 19-14, 31-7, (we forced a lot of turnovers in that one) and 13-10. DEFENSE…DEFENSE…DEFENSE!!!
But the 300 pound senior linemen, the two All-Conference linebackers and the two savvy safeties all graduated. Chandler Jones came back but he missed half the season with an injury. The new tackles were freshmen and sophomores and transplanted ends who were more in the 270 pound range. That used to be big but now they were dealing with offensive linemen 40-50 pounds heavier than they were. The linebackers behind them weren’t 230 seniors like Smith and Hogue. Instead they were 215 pounds, quick but not always in the right position and able to be pushed around. At safety were the Thomas non-bothers, Shamarko, a hard hitter and probably the team’s best athlete, and Philip. Famous for missed tackles and dropping an interception thrown right into his hands vs. Rutgers that surely would have resulted in a touchdown and a 20-3 lead in a game we eventually lost, 16-19 in overtime. Then he got booted off the team.
The result was a defense that gave up 14 points to Rhode Island, 19 to Rutgers and was otherwise very consistent- they gave up 23-38 points to everyone else, thus setting the bar just a bit too high for the sputtering offense, which reached 23 points only four times -twice in overtime games. We didn’t tenaciously stay in games as we did the previous year and so we lost more of them. Now we need to see if Shafer can rebuild the defense into a unit that can keep us in games until the offense can find a way to win them and maybe even help out with some big plays.
Here are the defensive numbers for the same years I posted for the offense above, including turnover margin:
YEAR 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Rush 116.7 (28) 135.8 (42) 170.2 (73) 171.9 (85) 138.1 (42)
Pass 106.2 (18) 100.1 (14) 108.7 (28) 303.8 (117) 222.1 (62)
Total 301.2 (14) 311.9 (18) 359.2 (46) 475.7 (113) 360.3 (47)
Scoring 22.1 (36) 19.3 (23) 20.3 (26) 33.8 (98) 25.0 (57)
Turnovers -7 (97) -6 (87) +15 (7) +2 (49) +7 (20)
YEAR 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Rush 186.6 (86) 187.3 (97) 185.1 (110) 207.8 (108) 189.4 (101)
Pass 240.1 (90) 185.4 (21) 214.2 (76) 260.9 (102) 225.1 (83)
Total 426.8 (100) 372.7 (57) 399.3 (107) 468.7 (111) 414.5 (101)
Scoring 28.6 (76) 26.8 (67) 24.6 (72) 4.8 (104) 32.7 (101)
Turnovers +2 (51) -4 (82) +11 (7) -6 (96) -1 (67)
YEAR 2009 2010 2011
Rush 101.80 (13) 136.2 (41) 128.2 (32)
Pass 235.2 (85) 165.3 (7) 258.3 (98)
Total 337.0 (37) 301.5 (7) 386.4 (64)
Scoring 27.9 (81) 19.3 (17) 28.5 (73)
Turnovers -6 (97) -4 (75) +2 (42)
The 2000 team out-gained the opposition by an average of 66 yards per game and went 6-5. The 2001 team was out-gained by 30 yards per game and went 10-3. Why? Because with a healthy Dwight Freeney, we went from -6 in turnover margin to +15. Last year’s team actually was the first Shafer defense at SU to produce a positive turnover margin. But we need more than +2. Strangely, the rush defense actually improved but I suspect that is an illusion because the pass defense collapsed. Teams didn’t have to run the ball on us.
This year’s defensive tackles on the two deep are Jay Bromley, Deon Goggins, Eric Crume and either John Raymon or Zian Jones. Last year Bromley was 6-3, 269. This year he’s 293. Goggins has actually gotten smaller. He was 6-1 280 and is now 275. He’s a natural end who may wind up playing there if the young guys develop. And the young guys are huge. Eric Crume was 6-0 330 as a freshman last year. He’s now 304. Ryan Sloan is a 6-4 311 sophomore who was 322 last year. He got hurt and will be out for the year. John Raymon is a 6-5 316 transfer to Iowa who has petitioned the NCAA to be allowed to play this year. I’m not sure of the rules there but Marrone is optimistic and he’s practicing with the team. Zian Jones is a 6-4 335 freshman. Davon Walls is a 6-5 312 junior. We’ll see about the conditioning and mobility but I don’t think we’ll be pushed around in the center of the line this year.
I think Googins will wind up at end, where he’s got star potential. He was making a lot of penetration-type plays as a tackle late last year. He came to us from the California JUCO system and so did a new arrival, Markus Pierce-Brewster, (we may lead the league in hyphenated names this year), 6-3 257, who was defensive player of the year and led his team to the national championship. He and Goggins could make some sweet music lined up next to those 300 pounders. Brandon Sharpe 6-1 253 has shown flashes in his career. It’s time to light the fire.
Marquis Spruill was the only returning starting linebacker last year and he was moved from outside to the middle, so we were really starting over again. He was 220 pounds and quick but on the small side for a middle man and it wasn’t really his natural position. Now he’s back on the outside and has bulked up to 230. The new middle man is Siriki Diabate, a native of the Ivory Coast who somehow wound up in the Bronx. He’s also undersized at 5-11 220. He’s another JUCO who was an All-American and led his team to an 11-0 record and #4 national ranking two years ago, so he can play. Dyshawn Davis made the biggest hit I’ve ever seen in the Carrier Dome vs. Rutgers. It resulted in a fumble recovery for a long touchdown and got us off to a great start in what turned out to be a frustrating game. He was 6-3, 208 last year. I wouldn’t say he’s “bulked up” at 214 but he’s still very fast and hits hard. His back-up is Cameron Lynch, 5-11 220, another Georgia recruit who always seems to be where the ball is, a good trait for a linebacker. Dan Vaughn started last year and will see plenty of action this year.
The sector of the team that most excites me is the defensive backfield. We have been collecting athletes there and I think this is the year it pays off. I hate to pick on a guy but we had a cornerback last year named Kevyn Scott. When a cornerback keeps getting burned on deep passes, he’s often called “toast”. Kevyn Scott was a grilled cheese sandwich. And with Phil Thomas whiffing at tackles and interceptions, we were in trouble last year. Both are gone. Addition by subtraction.
Shamarko Thomas, 5-10 210, is the team’s hardest hitter and a real team leader. He’s also the team’s fastest player with a 4.3 forty yard dash. He’ll be playing on Sunday next year. We’ve got him this year. Everyone was raving about Durell Eskeridge, 6-3, 205, in practice last year. Now he’ll get a chance to show what he can do. For now he’s behind Jeremi Wilkes, at Phil Thomas’s position. Brandon Reddish was a highly touted recruit last year and looked as if he could help us either at wide receiver or defensive back. His future seems to be at the latter position and he recruited another blue-chipper from Brooklyn, Wayne Morgan, also a cornerback. Keon Lyn is still on the team and looked good as a “big” corner, (6-1 196 before the dust-up with the coach at Pitt. Ri’Shard Anderson is the other corner. He played with a cast last year, (as did Lyn for a time), but both have all their fingers free this year and should get them on some balls. I think this could be a heck of a group before the season is done and the new strength of the team.
The key to being a better team this year is the defense and if the backfield gets to be as good as I think they can be, we could have a defense as strong as the one we had two years ago, even if the strength is in a different area. That’s another thing I remember about that 1987 team- we had the best defensive backfield we’ve ever had: Markus Paul David Holmes, Jeff Mangram and Chris Ingram. Quarterbacks used to stand there like statues, waiting for someone to get open, only to be swallowed up by the line before they ever did. I hope to see that this year, too.
