Mix of experience, youth fuels Jackrabbit defense

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BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State defense has gotten off to a hot start to the 2019 season.

SDSU has given up 31 points and 431 yards in two games. Head coach John Stiegelmeier credited new co-defensive coordinators, Brian Bergstrom and Jimmy Rogers, for the great start.

“I think we have some great players and some really good leaders on that side of the ball,” he said. “We have a coaching staff that’s on the same page and our guys are playing hard. There’s not a lot of different schemes. We’re a year older and we’ve gained confidence because we’ve played well.”

One of those leaders is senior defensive end Ryan Earith, who led the team with 5 1/2 sacks in 2018 and already has 1 1/2 sacks in 2019.

“A lot of our success is us playing better. We’re all in the same room, so we know what’s going on with each other. Sometimes, last year, we got confused and weren’t on the same page. Being able to cover for each other really helps,” Earith said.

Earith usually plays on the right side of the defensive line, but his counterpart on the left side has made an impact as well. Sophomore Reece Winkelman has one sack and one tackle for a loss in the early season.

“I think [Winkelman] has played really well. He’s a year older and he’s worked tremendously hard year round to be a good football player.

There’s a lot of guys pushing him, so there’s a lot of competition at that position and he’s getting it done right now,” Stiegelmeier said.

SDSU is pretty experienced in the front seven, with five upperclassmen. The secondary is a different story.

The only returning starter from last season in the secondary entering fall camp was senior cornerback Marshon Harris. He went down with a foot injury early in camp and forced the Jacks to rely on young corners in the first third of the season.

The lone upperclassmen cornerback that is healthy is junior Don Gardner, who played in 13 games last season. The injury to Harris has forced Gardner to become a leader on the field.

“Me and Malik Lofton have taken the role of becoming a leader for the room and stuff like that. Marshon is still a leader though, even with him not playing,” Gardner said.

One of the young guys who has stepped up is redshirt freshman DyShawn Gales and he is one of the guys who has impressed Stiegelmeier in the young season.

“I think our young corners have done a phenomenal job,” Stiegelmeier said. “DyShawn, in his second year here and earned a scholarship, started against Minnesota and gets better every day. Don Gardner has come into his own and has done a good job. Jordan Gandy has done a good job and Malik is Malik. They’re good players and at corner it’s about athletic ability and confidence and they have that.”

SDSU faced two highly touted receivers when they took on Minnesota in Rashard Bateman and Tyler Johnson. Bateman ended up having five receptions for 132 yards and touchdown, but Johnson, who was preseason First Team All-Big Ten, was held to three receptions for 28 yards.
Minnesota had just 176 yards passing total and last week against Long Island had 71 yards passing. Even with those statistics, Gardner isn’t satisfied with the secondary’s play.

“It was pretty good game [against Minnesota}, but we have to get better. Every week we want to get better and improve off last week, into this week,” Gardner said.

Gardner said the thing that has helped the young secondary the most is the defensive coordinators simplifying the defense.

“The defensive coaches break down film pretty good for us and put us in position to make plays. The defense is pretty simple now, so it’s pretty easy for us to make plays,” Gardner said.

During the offseason, everyone on the SDSU coaching staff and players preached about being more aggressive and getting more pressure on the quarterback. So far they have done just that. The Jacks have four sacks and 14 tackles for loss this season.

Gardner said when the guys up front get pressure on the quarterback, it helps the secondary tremendously.

“You got guys like Ryan attacking the QB and they have to get it out quick. So it gives us a chance to make plays on the ball because it’s coming out fast,” Gardner said.

It works both ways though. Earith said when the secondary is playing like they have, it is up to the defensive line to get to the quarterback.

SDSU will be playing 0-2 Drake on Saturday and have blown out the Bulldogs in their last two meetings. 56-28 in the inaugural game at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in 2016 and 51-10 in 2017. Earith said the defense will always have things to work on and Saturday should be an opportunity for the Jacks to continue to get their young defensive guys out on the field and improve.