FORT COLLINS —  Colorado State Football held its final practice before the spring game and while the defense is certainly still a work in progress, according to defensive coordinator Freddie Banks, the fundamentals and technique have improved significantly over the last five weeks. 

“That was the biggest thing about spring ball — just being able to execute our jobs. You see guys getting better every single day,” Banks said on Thursday. 

He explained that the summer will obviously be beneficial, as it gives everyone another chance to go through the install process again and build even further on what they’ve learned this spring. Banks also added that as guys get in better shape, they’ll be able to play even faster. Spring practice has more of an emphasis on fundamentals, so the pace isn’t quite the same as it will be this fall. The expectation when fall camps rolls around, though, will be to execute consistently at a high level.

“I wouldn’t say that we’re thinking next level football yet,” Banks said. “We’re not looking at backfield sets and seeing splits yet, because we’re still thinking about our job a little bit, but we’re executing our job. And that’s good. That’s half of it — to get us to understand our job like it’s the back of our hand. So (then) we can play faster. So we can do more with the offense. I wouldn’t say we’re on next level football yet. But you know, that’s where we should get to in fall camp.”

As far as the Green & Gold Game on Saturday goes, Banks obviously wants to see his unit be able to have success. More than that, though, he wants to see them be able to battle through adversity and bounce back after things don’t go their way. In a football game, things are rarely going to be perfect for four quarters, so the mental component will be a big focus for the first-year Rams DC on Saturday. 

“This is where we’ve got to grow,” Banks said. “To be able to have success, and then come back and play well… You know, we’re up and down right now. We need to be even keeled — not too high and not too low. That’s kind of where we need to grow.”

Why run the 4-2-5 and what makes it successful?

In addition to discussing where the Rams have room to grow and what he’s looking for in the spring game, Banks gave some insight into why he believes in the scheme. According to Banks, the 4-2-5, when used correctly, is a great way to combat offenses in 2022 which tend to stack the field with pass-catchers. 

“We’re seeing more 11 personnel,” Banks said. “I think on our schedule right now, we’re gonna see teams run 11 personnel on 46 percent of base downs. And that’s including every situation, so that’s a lot. So that’s telling us that we better be ready to go.”

He explained that like all defenses, everything starts up front. You have to be able to create a four-man pass-rush and stop the run. 

“Everything we do is about our guys up front, our disguises in the back end, getting the quarterback to change his eyes,” Banks said. 

If the big boys in the trenches are able to create havoc — similarly to the way they did in the second scrimmage of spring — then it allows the defensive backs to have opportunities to make plays, force turnovers, etc. But if you can’t get home with your base set and always have to send extra pressure, or get abused in the ground game, Banks said that it doesn’t matter how good your DB’s are, because you’re going to get exposed. 

Fortunately for CSU, Banks feels good about CSU’s defensive line rotation. The Rams are going to play eight to nine guys in total and he even said that it’s currently the strongest point of the defense. Some of the players might only be playing 20 snaps but if they’re hard reps, that’s extremely beneficial for the depth of the group as a whole. And so far, that’s what he’s seen from the D-line. 

“That’s huge for us.”

What Banks looks for in his defensive backs 

Finally, Banks talked a little bit about the safeties and what he’s looking for in the group. As he explained, the two biggest things are being able to run and cover a lot of ground, and also being consistent tacklers — which makes sense considering you have three on the field, rather than another linebacker. If they can do that, everything else is coachable. 

“If you can run, you’ve got that leg ability. And you’re smart and you can get the checks — you’ve got to really be the general back there,” Banks said. “Our free safety, our strong safety and our nickel have got to be able to communicate and get us in checks.”

Banks continued, illustrating that when things are operating smoothly, the guys in the back end are pointing out everything from what’s happening in the backfield to what routes to expect. They need to be alerting not just their running mates in the secondary but everyone on the field. They’re the generals of the entire operation. 

Next Up

The Rams will wrap up spring ball with the first true spring game on campus since 2017. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. MT.