The Colorado State Rams defense is stacked with experience. Eight seniors, two juniors and a sophomore will return to the field Sept. 5 and head coach Mike Bobo expects them to come out hitting.
With this many seniors coming back, you can expect CSU’s defense to be a well-oiled machine. Even if they are learning a new scheme. They have experience playing with each other, communicate well, and have high expectations for each other.
Following practice Thursday, Kevin Pierre-Louis explained how great it is to have so many experienced players on the field. “I feel great about it. Going out there with my buddies, long time buddies since freshman year, and we had a goal to be the best. To see all those guys along with me on the depth chart makes me very proud.”
He went on to say, “Those guys like Trent Matthews, DeAndre Elliott and Tyree Simmons, together we had goals. To see them up there, they trust me and I trust them and when they bring us together we are a strong group.”
Matthews and KPL are the fast-flying safeties who will hit a receiver in the mouth. Those punishing hits result in turnovers — Pierre-Louis forced a fumble last year while Matthews tied for the lead in interceptions with three — which are an important facet of winning football games.
In the middle will be Cory James, moving over from the strong side linebacker spot. He’s one of the team’s most talented defenders, leading last year with 8.5 tackles for a loss. Seniors Terry Jackson and Joe Kawulok have to lead on the line, and that front must get pressure if the defense is to succeed.
All that experience will factor in positively for the Rams.
Although this team has a lot going for them, their first practice in full pads ran a little flat. “They disappointed today. First day in pads,” Bobo said afterwards. “We had four good days and then we came out today and felt sorry for ourselves. The bar is higher than that and they aimed lower than we need them to be.”
The last two days were much better. “Thought the defense started slow last night but we got in the third down drill, the one-minute drill and they did an outstanding job of bowing their neck and stopping the offense. So, that was good to see,” Bobo said.
“Coach Summers’ message to the defense was ‘We’re going to have bad play, a bad quarter maybe. We can’t have a bad game and basically, we can’t have a bad practice.”
“I think we’re learning everything’s not going to be perfect all the time, we’ve just got to keep practicing and make sure that we’re trying to get better throughout the practice. So, it was good to see us respond. Today was a good day,” Bobo finished.
Everyone, on the offense and defense responded, which is what pleased the head coach. And everyone, including the coaches, are learning together.
“We had to,” Pierre-Louis said of bringing the intensity level back up in practice. “We had to, because we want to be champions too. We had to.”
Colorado State knows how close they came to being — or at least playing for a chance to be — champions of the Mountain West last year. That one loss to Boise State early in conference play sealed the Rams’ fate and meant they wouldn’t compete for the conference title.
Pierre-Louis and the rest of the seniors now know how important every game is, and they’ll look to play like champions day-in, day-out, which is what Bobo has asked for.
