Defense Involved in a Never-ending Pursuit

FORT COLLINS -- Some of the numbers suggest the defense is becoming the type of unit which creates chaos.

Freddie Banks doesn't look at them much. As far as he's concerned, the process will be never ending for his Colorado State defense.

"Man, I don't look at the metrics very often," he said. "I think we're getting there. We had three interceptions hit us in the face so far this season we haven't caught. We've got to take advantage of those opportunities. I guess my mindset is always on improving and getting better, and at the end of the year, let's see how good we got.

"Let's maximize this unit. We don't know what that is. We don't know what that looks like. You really don't know until the end of the year how good you can be, but we know we can be better."

The Rams rank fifth nationally in tackles for loss at 9.0 per game. That's good. They rank third in defensive touchdowns, scoring one in each of the past two weeks. That's rather helpful for the bottom line. They're also in the top 20 in producing sacks and top 10 in fumbles recovered. Very good.

Just not enough.

"I think we're one game away, one or two games away from being the team we want to be. We have a lot we can grow on," defensive tackle Grady Kelly said. "We can get better at tackling, we can get better at pursuit to the ball, but as far as disruption goes, all over the field we have a bunch of dudes that want to go run and a bunch of dudes that want to go hit people in the mouth. I think we're just a few games away from being the defense we want to be."

He's partially correct the way Banks views the world of defense. The first week was a starting point, and the Rams' first outing wasn't encouraging against Washington State. The key is to get better next week. And the week after that throughout a full schedule of games.

Do that and Banks said the defense will achieve the ultimate goal.

"You always celebrate those victories, but you're always looking to improve. Thats' where we are right now," Banks said. "The best teams improve every week, and you end up reaching your maximum potential at the end of the year. If we don't improve on the mistakes we've made, then we'll end up underachieving. Our tackling wasn't great last week. We tackled really well against CU, so we're an up-and-down team right now. That's who we are, and we've got to not be that."

Not just week to week, sometimes half to half. Last week, Colorado State had eight tackles for loss, five in the second half. Two of them were sacks by Mohamed Kamara, who made a major impact in the one half he played. He had two sacks and recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown.

It's a continual all-game effort the Rams are still striving to achieve. Even the areas where they feel they've made strides, linebacker Chase Wilson said haven't shown up across the board in the first three weeks.

"We've been really good in sudden change. In three games, they've had one score in sudden change," he said. "We made an emphasis on red zone defense, but against Middle Tennessee, we didn't do as great of a job of that. We're doing a lot of things well, but there are a lot of things that can improve.

"It's not getting too caught up in everything going on. If we play our brand of defense, our brand of football, we'll be just fine against anyone we go up against. We need to do that from the first whistle to the last whistle. We need to execute for a full 60 minutes."

Banks is fine with them thinking they've improved, because they have, and in spurts, the defense has been really good.

Bottom line, that doesn't constitute a good defense in his assessment.

"This week we can get better with execution. We have to play our best football against Utah Tech," he said. "We haven't played our best full game. I think a lot of people say that, but we have a lot of things we can improve on that maybe the outside world doesn't see.

"It's about consistency and doing our job. As far as our effort and attention to detail, that has to be the same every week and that hasn't been the same every week so far. It's getting guys to prepare the same, get the same amount of rest every week, take every opponent serious. This week we have to respect Utah Tech. That's reality, or we won't play well. Every defense in the country is four explosive touchdowns away from having a really bad day, and we're not different. Utah Tech has capable guys."

So does Colorado State. It's why Kamara is ranked third nationally with 1.33 sacks per game. It's why Wilson and safety Jack Howell rank in the top 25 nationally in tackles per game (10.3 and 9.3 per). Banks sees it too. He just wants to see more of it, and more often.

Give him a few months. Then he'll believe what the metrics say.

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