Bryant’s aim: Win on third down
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Ask Youngstown State defensive coordinator Jamie Bryant to describe what a Jamie Bryant defense looks like, the first thing he says is, “It’s not going to be my defense.”
“I’m the one in charge of it but I’ve got a really good staff and I work for a great head coach,” said Bryant, a Fredericktown, Ohio, native. “It’s gonna be Youngstown State’s defense. It’s gonna be the players’ defense.”
That said ...
“We want to attack people,” he said. “We want to dictate what happens during the course of a game and not get everything dictated to us.”
After spending last fall fixing YSU’s special teams — a weak spot in Eric Wolford’s first three years — Bryant was promoted to defensive coordinator after the Penguins opted not to retain Joe Tresey.
YSU’s defense struggled in several areas last season but the biggest trouble spot was third down, when it allowed conference foes to convert a staggering 56 percent of the time (65 of 116). The next-worse MVFC team was Indiana State at 45.3 percent. North Dakota State was first at 22.4 percent.
“If you don’t win the money down,” Bryant said, “you’re not gonna win football games.”
YSU was especially bad over the last three games, allowing Northern Iowa (10 of 17), North Dakota State (6 of 9) and South Dakota State (10 of 13) to convert more than half of the time.
UNI converted three third downs and a fourth down on its final drive that finished in a game-winning field goal. Had the Penguins made a stop on that drive, they would have finished 9-3 and made the playoffs.
“If we get a couple stops here or there, it’s a different year,” YSU coach Eric Wolford said. “We’ve emphasized third down since I’ve been here and we’re going to continue to do it.
“Coaches coach, but players make plays. We’ve gotta make those plays on third down.”
Bryant and his staff have tried to simplify the defense, which uses a lot of the same terminology but is focused more on playing fast than reading and reacting.
“We’ve tried to slow down the install so they understand the concepts more,” said Bryant, a former defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt. “We want them to understand what’s going on around them. Not just what they’re supposed to do but the consequences on somebody else when they don’t do their job.
“The effort is coming along, but we’ve got a long way to go. Alignment, assignment, technique, execution. We’ve been harping on a lot of footwork and things like that, the little things that help us win football games.”
Like Tresey, Bryant is one of YSU’s most vocal coaches during practice — at one point during Thursday’s practice, he yelled at one of his linebackers, “Get your [butt] downhill! What are you waiting for, Christmas?” — but he’s a man of few words in interviews, mostly growling his answers in his rural Ohio twang.
“The big thing is we want the kids to have a little fun,” he said. “If you’re having fun, you play with more energy.
“It’s tough love around here. We’re gonna get on them and they know that, but they also know that we’re in their corner.”