|
Secondary is second to none
 Media Credit: charles martin SCSU’s starting strong safety Nate Loughran has had an important role on defense this year, picking off three passes and making 40 tackles on the season.
|
|
Looking strictly at the numbers, you might think that the Huskies’ secondary was keeping them from winning some games.
The SCSU defensive backs have allowed 1,925 yards through the air, an average of 275 per game, which is more than their vaunted passing attack averages. Teams have tried to exploit this number to the maximum, as the Huskies have often faced the pass almost exclusively in the second half of some of their games. South Dakota State lit them up for a long gain on the first play of that game and quarterback Dan Fjeldheim set SDSU single-game records for passing yards (460) and attempts (55). Last week in North Dakota, they were victimized for two long touchdowns by Sioux wideout Jesse Smith, who gained over 200 yards receiving. Even Augustana, who was limited to starting a true freshman option quarterback, attempted 30 passes.
“Bend, but don’t break,” said junior cornerback Eric Mickelson, just one of the players who make SCSU’s defensive backfield deceptively dangerous.
Bend, they will. Break? Don’t even ask. The Huskies’ D-backs, despite being the most overworked targets in the North Central Conference, don’t care much for numbers. Only the ones that count. Numbers like 14 (their conference-leading interception total), eight (passing touchdowns allowed, compared to 22 by the Huskies’ offense), 17.4 (as in points allowed per game, third best in the NCC) and most importantly, six, as in six wins compared to one loss, which is easily their best seven-game stretch in a decade.
“This is the best team I’ve ever been around,” said junior strong safety Nate Loughran, the anchor of the backfield. “Last year, we had the talent, but we didn’t really know what was going on. Now we know where our drops are and things like that, so we’re fusing together better than we were last year.”
The improvement is visible only to those who have seen their games this season. But it has been in the works for some time. Going into the season, Loughran, Mickelson, junior free safety Matt Nicholson and cornerback Anthony McCoo were all returning starters from 2001. None of them was very happy with the way last season panned out and they all put in a great deal of work over the spring and summer to get better-one of head coach Randy Hedberg’s prescriptions for success. Hard work translates into success, which turns into confidence, which is exactly what these defenders needed to let their true selves come to play.
“We have a lot of confident guys on defense. I think sometimes there was too much personality last year,” Loughran said. “We’ve kind of lost our personality on the field; now our personality is basically off the field, or after a big play. There’s not too much talking going on out there, except for telling each other how to correct our mistakes from the play before.”
And they still make mistakes. Loughran openly accepted the blame for both long touchdowns against North Dakota. Being in coverage when your man scores a long touchdown is similar to being called on in an auditorium class while sleeping: everybody sees it and takes notice. When it happens, a player finds out who his friends really are.
“If there’s a breakdown in the secondary, either me or McCoo picks them up,” Mickelson said, “because we know what it’s like to feel all alone out there. Other people just don’t know, man.”
“A D-lineman will come over and say, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it,’ but it’s like, ‘How do you know? You’ve never done it,’” said freshman corner/safety Chad Kruckman. As the newest major contributor to the secondary, he has had the biggest learning curve. He took over as starting free safety when Nicholson returned from his abdominal injury. But he has kept up admirably- he’s fifth on the team in tackles (34) and has intercepted two passes.
The secondary has gotten a big lift from McCoo’s play this season. The soft-spoken senior cornerback is quietly having his best season at SCSU, recording 26 solo tackles, two pass defenses and three interceptions, two of which sealed Husky victories. He has also contributed as a gunner on punting downs.
Mickelson hasn’t put up the same numbers his mates have- he has no interceptions, no tackles for a loss and no sacks. But he’s defended four passes and is the team’s main punt returner. He averages more than 10 yards per punt return and has yet to break one, but is reliable at both of his positions. He has great catch-up speed that helps compensate for his lack of size.
Matt Nicholson was probably the Huskies’ best defensive player all of last year. He had 114 tackles, two interceptions and was named all-NCC second-team. He suffered an abdominal injury early in the season and hasn’t played since the wins over Northern State. He should be recovered before the balance of the season is over and figures to be a part of any postseason plans the Huskies may have, and will be back to start again next season.
Nate Loughran is as close to a leader as these defensive backs have. Confident and smart, Loughran was headed to the University of Minnesota on scholarship before he came to SCSU. After two short weeks, Loughran decided Glen Mason’s ideas didn’t mesh with his own. After transferring to North Dakota State for spring ball, Loughran almost quit the game.
“I decided I didn’t like football anymore, because the U of M had really brought me down on football,” he said. “I was kind of out of it.”
After short stints at Normandale and Augsburg, Loughran met Hedberg through defensive lineman Charlie Cosgrove, who was being recruited at his home near Loughran’s. He walked on at SCSU and was on scholarship after one semester.
Most of these players were successful at the high school level, so they had to learn how to lose during their first years at SCSU, but it has proven to be a rewarding experience.
“This is more of a feeling of accomplishment. I mean, I won state championships in high school,” Mickelson said. “But (the goal of) my program in high school was always to win the state championship, it was never to win one game when you start and then a couple years later start winning multiple games.”
“Ever since I’ve been playing football, it’s always been win or go home,” said Kruckman, who was part of Glencoe-Silver Lake’s last state championship team.
No matter what happens to them from this point on, this unit lives and dies as a team. Their next target is Mankato, and Loughran, the captain and emotional leader, is taking it upon himself to make sure everything goes according to plan.
“We can’t say, ‘Oh, we’re going to beat Mankato, and then we’re going to beat Omaha, and we’re going to win the championship,” he said. “I say there’s four weeks left and I don’t want to be 6-2 after Mankato. That wasn’t in the plans. It can happen, but I’m kind of skeptical about it.”
From the sidelines
Matt Birkel was named NCC co-Offensive Player of the Week, along with wide receiver Dan Klumper of Augustana. Birkel rushed 24 times for 180 yards in last Saturday’s victory over North Dakota, including a 65-yard touchdown scamper that proved to be the winning score.
The Huskies are ranked as high as 17th in the various Division II national polls. Don Hansen’s National Top 40 has them at 17, while D2Football.com has SCSU slotted at 18. The AFCA Coaches’ Poll has the Huskies alone at 22nd. The poll that really matters, the NCAA DII poll, has SCSU fifth in the Midwest region one place out of the playoffs. It looks as if SCSU will need to win out and hope for a loss by Central Missouri State, Northwest Missouri State, UNC or UMD to get back in the hunt.
Practice should be relatively painless this week. Aside from some Alerus Center turf-burn, the Huskies are fairly injury-free. Junior free safety Matt Nicholson is getting closer to playing, but may sit out once again this weekend with an abdominal injury.
This year’s game will be, as always, for the Traveling Training Kit, the battered trophy that lends bragging rights to the winner of the yearly SCSU-MSU matchup. SCSU currently holds the red/black/gold/purple tacklebox and has been safely keeping it in their training room for the past eleven months and change.
|
|
|
|
Privacy Policy Network Advertising Article Syndication
|
|
