The voice coming off the screen rings clear. “Two reps Yamen, come on, push it,” the trainer encourages.
In focus is Yamen Sanders, hunched over a barbell preparing to deadlift 515 pounds. It’s about twice the bodyweight of Montana’s senior safety.
“Two rep Yamen! Come on push that feet against the floor!” comes the voice again.
Sanders breathes deep — in and out, in and out, in and out. There is no quit now. He’s already in the gym. He’s already in position. It’s just him versus the weight.
More encouragement: “Push it, come on, bring it — yours!”
Sanders gets to the top, lets out grunt and drops the weight to the floor.
“One more, come on, pull it!” the trainer yells out.
This scene plays out four more times as Sanders far exceeds the goal that he and his trainer at SixPax gym in Sanders’ native Culver City, California set for the day. SixPax is a nondescript gym that looks like an old mechanics shop with its two white garage doors. But this is where Sanders goes in the offseason to keep his body chiseled and sculpted.
In another video, Sanders is at squat rack with a barbell so comically loaded with weight it appears the steel bar is going to snap over his shoulders at any moment. It doesn’t. With 565 pounds loaded up, Sanders squats once and rises, squats again and rises.
In his short time at Montana — Sanders transferred from Arizona in July 2015 — has developed a reputation for his exploits in the weight room as he is for the hits he has delivered on the field. These particular training videos shot during Sanders’ regimen last summer helped the Griz standout’s reputation grow as they circulated around social media. His hard-hitting style during the second half of his junior year also resonated across the Big Sky Conference.
Take for instance the clean shot he put on Eastern Washington quarterback Reilly Hennessey on an unabated safety blitz during the Grizzlies’ romp 57-14 romp over EWU last November. The concussion of the hit echoed throughout Washington-Grizzly Stadium and took Hennessey out of the game.
Coaches frequently reference players who should “get off the bus first”, an adage referring to letting the most frightening members of your respective team show themselves first as you exit the bus in the hopes that the intimidation creates an irreversible fear deep within the opponent’s psyche. It’s an imaginary group, but it if it existed, Sanders would certainly be a card-holding member of the “Get Off the Bus First Men.”
Imagine a safety standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 220 pounds of well cultivated muscle, with bulging shoulders and arms that appear chiseled out of granite. What chance does the opposition stand?
To distill Sanders down to just his outward appearance is to misrepresent what he has brought to Montana’s defense. Never mind the hits, never mind the weight room videos, never mind the size of stature; Sanders’ mind might be his most important attribute.
“The safety position is a position where you have to get guys lined up and have to know what everyone is doing,” said first-year safeties coach Shann Schillinger, a member of Montana’s storied group of safeties. “Yamen definitely brings that to our defense.”
Under the direction of first-year defensive coordinator Jason Semore, Montana’s defense has become a malleable unit, molding itself to whichever position it finds itself in. One play, the Griz could look like they going to send seven players in the backfield, but end up dropping all but four. On the next, the UM defense might send those seven, blitzing and twisting into gaps the offense couldn’t have predicted. To some degree it is up to Sanders to make sure every player is where he needs to be.
“It’s nice to be back there quarterbacking the defense and getting everybody lined up,” says Sanders, who was named to the Big Sky’s preseason team after notching 61 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception and the sack of Hennessey during his first season as a Grizzly. “It’s nice to have people be dependent and to know you’re important to everybody. I’m just doing my one-eleventh. That’s my job.”
Thus far it’s worked. Montana’s defense is nationally ranked in a handful of categories and has drawn high praise from opposing coordinators and coaches. Mississippi Valley State coach Rick Comegy seemed completely befuddled as he sat in the postgame press conference after the Griz battered his quarterback and held his team to minus-61 rushing yards. A week later, Montana delivered a similar statement in a defeat of Sacramento State, leaving an impression on its coach.
“They are a tough outfit and they are going to create some problems for everyone,” Hornets’ head coach Jody Sears commiserated.
To some degree that’s a nod to Sanders, who missed UM’s first two games this season and has rotated because of Justin Strong’s transfer in from Oregon State and the emergence of redshirt freshman Josh Sandry.
Not only is Sanders directing traffic, he’s allowing Montana’s defense to maximize its versatility. It’s not uncommon to see Sanders creep into the box and act like a fourth linebacker. With his size and strength, he fits right in with the starting unit of James Banks, Josh Buss and Connor Strahm.
“If we have that many guys —and especially a guy like him — we can start getting more creative with the sub packages and stuff like that,” said Semore when Sanders signed with UM after leaving Arizona. “As a defensive staff, he brings a lot and we’re excited.”
by Jason Bacaj
As a sparingly used safety at Arizona, Sanders’ versatility was recognized but never fully utilized in the Wildcats’ 3-3-5 scheme. Capable of playing the three different safety positions the defense can use, Sanders found himself playing mostly as a nickel back. He collected a couple dozen tackles in his three years in Tucson, but felt like it wasn’t the right fit.
Sanders came to Arizona as a three-star rated safety and the son of a bruising Southern California power forward who went by the same name and led the Trojans in rebounding and physicality. It was said by then-USC assistant Charles Parker in a Los Angeles Times article that Yamen’s father was so strong and physical that “a lot of times he doesn’t even realize that he fouls. It’s almost like when a football player gets hit and people bounce off him and he doesn’t feel anything. The other person feels it, but he doesn’t.”
In spite of the fouls — he averaged on foul every 5.5 minutes during the 1991 season — the elder Sanders played professional basketball overseas for 10 years. It took him from Italy to Germany to Turkey, the younger Sanders in tow for most of it. By the time he was 7 years old, Sanders was fluent in Italian.
“Even at that age being able to remember certain things gives you a different perspective on different cultures,” Sanders said. “It allows me to be multi-cultured which I think is very important for every person.”
That was his last year living abroad. A few years after returning to the state he took up football and a few years after that he was a star safety at Culver City High School, earning scholarship offers from Arizona and Arizona State.
by Jason Bacaj
He chose the Wildcats and their energetic coach Rich Rodriguez. But before long, Sanders started to realize that maybe he needed another scene. He found it in Montana, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Sometimes it’s not the ideal situation for everybody,” he said of his stay in Tucson. “Everybody understands that. You always looking for that diamond in the rough, I feel like I found that here.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
