Defense wears down late

As is the norm for A-Day, the Tigers’ defense kept things basic Saturday.

Running little to no blitzes, gauging the defense’s success was difficult to do.

First-year defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads didn’t even try to give an estimate following Saturday’s performance.

Instead, Rhoads chose to focus on his squad’s conditioning — or in the case of Saturday — the lack thereof.

The defense controlled things early on, but steadily wore down against Tony Franklin’s fast-paced spread attack.

“We’ve got to get the conditioning better. We started wearing down there late,” Rhoads said. “I thought we tackled OK today and I don’t recall a bunch of busts (coverages), but the biggest impression was we have to get in better football shape.”

Sophomore defensive end Michael Goggans, who was credited with three sacks, also saw the need for more in the conditioning department.

“It helps us a lot going against that fast-tempo offense,” Goggans said. “But we’re still not where we need to be. We’ve still got a lot of room for conditioning.

“We’ve got to work our way to where the offense is because they’re in a little better shape than us.”

But aside from wearing down late, there were certainly some bright spots.

As a group, the defense was credited with eight sacks, surrendered little in the way of rushing yards and protected solidly from big plays.

The longest run from scrimmage was 23 yards by Jeremy Anderson and the longest pass play of the day was 28 yards.

And linebacker Josh Bynes turned in the day’s biggest play, returning a Neil Caudle interception 48 yards for a touchdown.

“Right now I know we’re not where we’re suppose to be, but with a new defensive coordinator we’re trying to get in and get through the spring,” defensive MVP Sen’Derrick Marks said.

“We’ve got a long ways to go, but by the time two-a-days get here we should be a lot smarter and get more towards our identity as a physical defense.”

| 737-2568