Norvell Likes Banks' Energy. Banks Is Trying to Match His Boss

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Jay Norvell's mind may stray to the offensive side of the ball most of the time, but he does have to understand defense. In his mind, that side of the ball requires energy and discipline, not just in the way it is played, but the way it is coached.

In Freddie Banks, he feels he has that guy, though Banks himself wonders if he can match Novell on a daily basis. He does know he's glad to be back on his staff, this time with an expanded role as the Colorado State defensive coordinator.

"Jay is so … I explain it to guys, I don't know exactly how OJ is, but nobody does," Banks said as he was introduced to the media on Thursday. "He acts like he's 40, 45, and nobody questions it. But if you look at his resume, it's like, alright, that's not the right number. But he's so energetic, he loves the players, he's genuine. He's going to tell you exactly how he feels and you don't have to guess, and that's a good person to work for. And he lets you do your job. He called me and he trusted me to do a good job, and I'm going to take it and run with it and I'm going to do a good job."

Banks spent one season on Norvell's staff at Nevada as the cornerbacks coach, and in that time, he became more and more impressed. He sensed then a future coordinator was brewing, and one year later, he was guiding the Montana State defense.

The unit was the strength of the team, one which helped carry the Bobcats to the FCS National Championship game, where they lost to perennial power North Dakota State – the program where Banks played and learned.

He learned under Gus Bradley, who was the defensive coordinator, as well as his position coach, Sam Hazelton, who is currently the defensive coordinator at Michigan State.

It's a system Norvell loves, and one Banks understands to its core, which made the decision pretty easy for Norvell.

"Freddie's a great coach. He's really intelligent, great demeanor," Norvell said. "He's an excellent decision maker, and he's got great knowledge and experience in this system. So much of calling defense, calling offense, is having the experience to adjust, and Freddie's done that. Then really attacking different styles of offense.

"We have a great league. We have a lot of varieties of offenses in our league, and Freddie is familiar with those offenses in our league, and he also has a great plan to attack and stop those. That's really important. I wanted somebody with energy and passion for coaching defense."

Banks has been officially on the job for two days, but he was essentially hired a month ago, while MSU was still heavily involved in the playoff run. When he did have time, he worked on assembling his staff, which currently includes Adam Pilapil as the linebacker coach and Buddha Williams for the defensive line. Pilapil is young, a former Wyoming linebacker who just spent his first season as a position coach, but Banks called him his right-hand man. Williams hails from NDSU, where he's played and coached, so he and Banks speak the same defensive language.

Yet to be hired is a cornerbacks coach, which will be important with the press-coverage ideology he carries, while Banks will work with safeties, too. Banks took it as an honor Norvell allowed him to pick his staff, saying it is a great responsibility to be in charge of half the team and half of the staff. That trust doesn't go unappreciated, so now he's on to the next step, and that's delivering on that trust.

There are multiple ways to play defense Banks has learned, but it's the Hazelton method he believes in most, and he expects the Rams to be stingy by focusing on what the players do best.

"There's other ways to do it, but when you look at our defense, I hope when you cut up the film and fans come to the game, you'll see us running to the ball really, really well," Banks said. "When you come to practice you're going to see us running to the ball, and running to the ball being physical and having fun. We're going to execute at a really high level.

"We're going to ask guys to do one to three things really well so we can think about what the offense is doing so we can play fast. We're not going to ask a guy to do five things and be good at it. Like Mohamed Kamara, we want you to play a five-technique, a nine-technique and a six-technique; that's it. You're going to play really, really fast so you can think about what the offense is doing. His talent is going to show even more. We want our corners to be able to play press, play a third and play Cover 2. That's it. Now we think about what the offense is doing. And we know splits, and we know where the running back is at. We're going to play hard, and that's on the players. We're going to play fast. We want our players to know what's coming, we want them to read their keys and play fast. Playing hard is different than playing fast. Playing hard is effort; how hard are you going to go? Playing fast is me being able to react and know what's coming from the offense. And then playing together. Football is a game where you don't work football, you play football. You have to play together and have fun, and I can have fun knowing that I'm the defensive end and I spilled and the linebacker made the play outside. That's fun. Let's get up and celebrate."

Now, he's ready to get to work. He's watched some tape and he says there are players to work with, player who will adapt to the scheme. What he learned most last year at Montana State was the number of hats required, some not related to the game itself. It was knowing every player on the defense, not just in a particular room, and knowing what value they bring, be it 10 snaps or 60 snaps on game day.

It requires being organized, which he already knew, and bringing energy. He can do that, but sometimes, he looks at Norvell and wonders if it's enough.

"He's a young old man," Banks joked. "He's got an energy to him that sometimes he has more energy than me. I'm like, alright, I better go drink a cup of coffee or something."

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results