Jody Sears has long been a defensive minded coach. In the off-season, Big Sky Conference veteran signed a contract extension to remain as the head coach at Sacramento State. He knew the signature would come with some important decision-making when it came to his defensive personnel.
Sacramento State lost seven defensive starters, including captain defensive end Jaycee Totty, captain linebacker Henry Fernandez and a quartet of seniors that contributed in the secondary. Sears, who also serves as Sac State’s defensive coordinator, returned junior Nick Crouch as a starter at boundary safety along with senior Josh Armstrong and junior Anthony Payne at cornerback. Sears elected to bolster his secondary by signing defensive backs Elijah Wallace, Manny Scott-Anderson and Malcolm Thomas with the intention of playing each as true freshmen on a back end that also includes redshirt freshmen safety Joey Banks and Dre Terrell.
Sac State defensive back Anthony Payne records a tackle against Washington
“A year ago, we had a decision to make and that was to either go recruit some junior college guys or go recruit these young guys and grow ‘em up and that’s what we chose to do,” Sears said on Wednesday. “We made the decision to go young because these are really, really talented kids and we want to build a program for the longevity and stability. We figured we had to go recruit young DBs and grow them up so we can have some consistency and stability.”
The results thus far have been mixed. Sac State has cut down on the big plays that cost the Hornets a playoff spot in 2014. SSU held Eastern Washington to 28 points. But Eagles’ quarterback Jordan West threw for 491 yards and three touchdowns, including a 98-yard scoring strike to Kendrick Bourne. In a 32-14 loss to Weber State, Jadrian Clark threw for 1/3 of his yards for the season, including a 30-yard touchdown. Last week, Sac allowed 179 yards to Northern Colorado but the Bears scored two defensive touchdowns and a third on special teams in a 27-20 win.
Sac State finds itself 10th in the 13-team Big Sky in turnover margin; the Hornets have forced five takeaways but turned the ball over 10 times. Sac has just two interceptions. The Sac State defense also features second-string freshmen at all four defensive line positions and a sophomore starter in Tyler Meteer at Sam linebacker Sears refuses to make any excuses about his unit’s youth.
“Zero. No influence,” Sears said on if youth was a factor to his team’s four-game losing streak. “We can’t make excuses for anything and we will never play the youth card. Those kids have done a fairly decent job so far this year but they have to stiffen up. We have some really good seniors from that defensive group that needs to step up and we have a really good linebacker (Darnell Saneky) who needs to be taking shots on the ball. Granted, he’s only playing with one hand but there’s no excuse for it and we have to take more shots on the ball.”An
Sac State defensive back Manny Scott-Anderson and LB Darnell Sankey records a tackle
Sankey, SSU’s All-America candidate at middle linebacker, leads the FCS in tackles with 71. He has four tackles for loss and two sacks despite playing the last two weeks with a cast on his hand. The Sac defense is fourth in the league with 10 sacks. Senior Anthony Hays is the only player among Sac’s three senior defensive linemen with a sack. Six of the 10 sacks have come from either redshirt freshman defensive end George Obinna (two) or one each for redshirt freshman linebacker PJ Johnson, true freshman linebacker Manoah Pearson, Banks and Thomas.
Scott-Anderson, Wallace and Thomas have all played in every game. Scott-Anderson is SSU’s second-leading tackler with 28 stops. Wallace is fourth with 22 stops, including four tackles for loss. Thomas has 12 tackles, including the sack. Banks has missed two games yet is third on the team with 22 tackles, including 3.5 for loss. He returns against the Bobcats.
Saturday, the Hornets will face another tough test. SSU plays at Montana State, a team averaging 46.5 points and 585 yards per game so far this season. Despite their youth and inexperience, MSU head coach Rob Ash said the Hornets’ talent is apparent when reviewing game film.
“We see talent back there,” Ash said. “They run very well and they play with a lot of speed and aggressiveness. That performance against Eastern Washington was extremely impressive. They created turnovers (interception, forced fumble), made plays, made stops, held them to seven points in the first half. Really, 28 is a number if you can hold Eastern Washington to 28, that’s a game you hope you can win.”
Sankey is the catalyst. The 6-foot-2, 255-pound senior was an All-Big Sky defensive end just two seasons ago. Last season, he notched one short of 100 tackles despite missing the last three games with a torn meniscus. This season, Sankey, a player Ash calls “one of the best in the entire conference”, is averaging 14.2 tackles per game.
Darnell Sankey records a sack against Northern Colorado
“Sankey to me is the best I’ve seen so far in this league,” MSU third-year offensive coordinator Cramsey said on Tuesday. “They do a really good job in the d-line of keeping people off of him. They do enough movement up front that it’s hard to get to Sankey. That’s something we are working on this week: to get a body on Sankey and force him to get off blocks so he doesn’t have free runs.”
Sac State employs a twist on the interior of the defensive line on almost every play as the Hornets do their best to let Sankey run sideline to sideline without impediment. This week, Sac gets 6-foot, 360-pound senior nose guard Peter Nonu back from injury. Last season, MSU junior All-America guard J.P. Flynn acknowledged that Nonu was one of the toughest interior linemen blocking assignments in the league. MSU wide receivers coach Cody Kempt said he thinks Armstrong, a player who had an interception return for a touchdown against MSU last season, is one of the league’s best corners. It all amounts to a defense brimming with potential.
“I will say that Sac State is the best defense we have played up to this point in the season,” Cramsey said.
“They are a very good, sound defense. Coach Sears does a good job of never really putting himself in a bad situation. They held Eastern to 28 points. They lost the game last week but they didn’t give up a defensive touchdown. We better come in and play a clean game.”
Sears has been coaching defense in the Big Sky for most of the last 15 seasons. From 2000-02, he coached defensive backs and linebackers at Eastern Washington. In 2003, former EWU head coach Paul Wulff elevated Sears to defensive coordinator, a position he held until the staff went to Washington State in 2008. After four years at Wazzu, Sears took a job as John L. Smith’s defensive coordinator at Weber State. When Smith bolted to Arkansas before ever coaching a game, Sears became the head coach, a position he held for two seasons. Last off-season, Marshal Sperbeck hired Sears as his defensive coordinator. A few months later, Sperbeck resigned as controversy of potential rules violations swirled. Sears was a head coach again.
Sac State defensive lineman George Obinna records a sack against Washington
In his first season, Sac posted a 7-5 record thanks to a roster flush with veterans on both sides of the ball, including All-America quarterback Garrett Safron. Now Sears is working in young players on both sides of the ball as his team continues to build for the future.
“Our kids are tough,” Sears said. “We keep things simple for them. We don’t get too carried away with too many combo coverages. We have to find out what we do well and master it. We are nowhere close to where we need to be or where we are going to be but I like what it looks like on the horizon, that’s for sure.”
Photos courtesy of Sac State Athletics. All Rights Reserved.
