Photo by: AJ Henderson / Georgia Southern
Position Breakdowns: The Defensive Line
8/6/2024 10:30:00 AM | Football
Coach Rowan gives his take on his position group
STATESBORO - The 2024 preseason football camp is underway and GSEagles.com is catching up with each of the 10 position coaches early in August to get their take on their position room. Up next is defensive line coach Rip Rowan.
Q: Who were some guys that stood out on the field for you and have also turned around and attacked the off-season?
RR: A few new guys who looked good were Kebba Secka and Troy Pikes. They're two young guys who redshirted last year and will help us this year, and I'm really excited about them. And then I thought Davion Rhodes had a really good spring. He looked more explosive coming off his ACL injury two years ago. He looked back to his previous self this spring, so I'm pretty excited about that. And Da'Shawn Davis also had a good spring as well. And Jacob Ferguson, we moved his position and he looked really good. He's changed his body, and he's moving a lot better, and I'm also excited about him.
Q: You're the only group on the team that returns all its starters, which is great. You've also got a lot of depth back there. Can you talk about how nice it is to have those four guys back and how nice it is to have guys pushing them all the time?
RR: It's good. You think about having those four guys back, plus having Elhadj Fall, who played a bunch of snaps for us last year as well, and Da'Shawn Davis, who played a lot of snaps, and then getting a guy like Kristian Varner back from injury, who played a bunch of snaps for us in 2022, and he's a vet and a really solid player. Being able to get him back is going to be huge for us. We'll have six to seven inside guys to roll in there and play, which will be awesome. So yeah, it's exciting, and there's a lot of competition, but all those guys have been together now for two or three years, and they all support each other and work hard, and it is really cool. I'm really excited about it.
Q: Was Isaac Walker missing spring ball a blessing in disguise because you got to see some of the younger guys get more reps in the spring?
RR: Yeah, I think so. It was really good. As I said, we moved Jacob Ferguson over there, and I thought he looked really comfortable playing it. Moving MJ Stroud to linebacker and having a solid piece to rotate over there with Isaac was really good. So it was awesome for Ferguson and some of the younger guys like Elijah Lacy and Branden Palmer, who are still growing and developing, and for those guys to get those reps, it was invaluable. It was really good.
Q: You've mentioned a bunch of guys, but who are some young guys that maybe Eagle Nation isn't aware of because they haven't played a lot that you're kind of excited to watch take that next step this fall?
RR: The two I mentioned earlier: Troy Pikes and Kebba Secka. They've done a tremendous job in the weight room with Coach Heiss. Man, they look pretty. You're talking about Kebba, 6-4, 250 pounds and runs like a deer. And Troy Pikes, another middle guy with great length 6-3, 295 pounds, has really changed his body. Both are great athletes and really good football players. As far as guys that haven't seen a lot of action, those two guys are going to be the guys that you should see out there on the field this year helping contribute, and I'm excited about those two.
Q: Let's talk about the inside with Latrell Bullard and Justin Rhodes leading the way. What do you need from those guys this year to help take the whole defense to the next level?
RR: I think the depth piece ties it all together. Hopefully, those guys will go from playing 50 to 30 snaps a game, and those 30 snaps will be really good. And so I think that'll help them be fresher in the fourth quarter and fresher at the end of the season. What I need out of those two is that I think one area we've tried to improve is the interior pass rush. We didn't get a lot out of those guys from a pass rush standpoint last year, and they know that, and they know they've got to get better at it, and they've been working on it. It's been cool to have those guys back; they love having the other guys around too. You see Latrell out there every day working with Troy and helping him. He knows the more good players you have, the better we will be. And it's just been cool to see Latrell grow from a maturity standpoint. And I always tell them I think that will carry over to the field. So it's been really cool to see.
Q: Moving to the outside, what do you want to see from that group? Is it more hits on the quarterback? Is it pressure? Is it containment? Tackling? What do you want to see from the outside positions?
RR: We need more consistency. Last year, when you think about it, that play came from Davion, Da'Sahwn and Isaac Walker, and that was really the first year that they played a considerable amount of football that we were counting on them all the time. So, from year one to year two, we need them to be consistent, show up daily, and do their job at a high level to execute within the defense. That's really what I want to see from those guys. They've got all the talent in the world; we have to execute our scheme and have them do their job every play, not just two out of four snaps. It's a four out of four.
Q: What are the top one or two priorities for your group to be ready for that opener against Boise?
RR: Just coming out and practicing tough every day, which our guys do. Our guys love to play football, which is never an issue. As I said, we're going to be three deep across the defensive line, and that's how we're going to go into games, and no drop-off when we go to those twos or those threes. It's got to be the same level of execution. It's the same level of playmaking and the same level of being disruptive. What we want to do here is we want to be disruptive. You saw a jump last year and TFLs; I think we went from 128th to 17th, and we want to get in that top 10, and we want to get in the top 10 for sacks. So, we have some lofty goals, but I think we can achieve them. And at the end of the day, you need your D-line to be disruptive. If you're going to play good defense, you're going to get turnovers and do what we want to do. So those guys have got to show up every day to the park and do it in practice.
Up Next: Wide Receivers
Q: Who were some guys that stood out on the field for you and have also turned around and attacked the off-season?
RR: A few new guys who looked good were Kebba Secka and Troy Pikes. They're two young guys who redshirted last year and will help us this year, and I'm really excited about them. And then I thought Davion Rhodes had a really good spring. He looked more explosive coming off his ACL injury two years ago. He looked back to his previous self this spring, so I'm pretty excited about that. And Da'Shawn Davis also had a good spring as well. And Jacob Ferguson, we moved his position and he looked really good. He's changed his body, and he's moving a lot better, and I'm also excited about him.
Q: You're the only group on the team that returns all its starters, which is great. You've also got a lot of depth back there. Can you talk about how nice it is to have those four guys back and how nice it is to have guys pushing them all the time?
RR: It's good. You think about having those four guys back, plus having Elhadj Fall, who played a bunch of snaps for us last year as well, and Da'Shawn Davis, who played a lot of snaps, and then getting a guy like Kristian Varner back from injury, who played a bunch of snaps for us in 2022, and he's a vet and a really solid player. Being able to get him back is going to be huge for us. We'll have six to seven inside guys to roll in there and play, which will be awesome. So yeah, it's exciting, and there's a lot of competition, but all those guys have been together now for two or three years, and they all support each other and work hard, and it is really cool. I'm really excited about it.
Q: Was Isaac Walker missing spring ball a blessing in disguise because you got to see some of the younger guys get more reps in the spring?
RR: Yeah, I think so. It was really good. As I said, we moved Jacob Ferguson over there, and I thought he looked really comfortable playing it. Moving MJ Stroud to linebacker and having a solid piece to rotate over there with Isaac was really good. So it was awesome for Ferguson and some of the younger guys like Elijah Lacy and Branden Palmer, who are still growing and developing, and for those guys to get those reps, it was invaluable. It was really good.
Q: You've mentioned a bunch of guys, but who are some young guys that maybe Eagle Nation isn't aware of because they haven't played a lot that you're kind of excited to watch take that next step this fall?
RR: The two I mentioned earlier: Troy Pikes and Kebba Secka. They've done a tremendous job in the weight room with Coach Heiss. Man, they look pretty. You're talking about Kebba, 6-4, 250 pounds and runs like a deer. And Troy Pikes, another middle guy with great length 6-3, 295 pounds, has really changed his body. Both are great athletes and really good football players. As far as guys that haven't seen a lot of action, those two guys are going to be the guys that you should see out there on the field this year helping contribute, and I'm excited about those two.
Q: Let's talk about the inside with Latrell Bullard and Justin Rhodes leading the way. What do you need from those guys this year to help take the whole defense to the next level?
RR: I think the depth piece ties it all together. Hopefully, those guys will go from playing 50 to 30 snaps a game, and those 30 snaps will be really good. And so I think that'll help them be fresher in the fourth quarter and fresher at the end of the season. What I need out of those two is that I think one area we've tried to improve is the interior pass rush. We didn't get a lot out of those guys from a pass rush standpoint last year, and they know that, and they know they've got to get better at it, and they've been working on it. It's been cool to have those guys back; they love having the other guys around too. You see Latrell out there every day working with Troy and helping him. He knows the more good players you have, the better we will be. And it's just been cool to see Latrell grow from a maturity standpoint. And I always tell them I think that will carry over to the field. So it's been really cool to see.
Q: Moving to the outside, what do you want to see from that group? Is it more hits on the quarterback? Is it pressure? Is it containment? Tackling? What do you want to see from the outside positions?
RR: We need more consistency. Last year, when you think about it, that play came from Davion, Da'Sahwn and Isaac Walker, and that was really the first year that they played a considerable amount of football that we were counting on them all the time. So, from year one to year two, we need them to be consistent, show up daily, and do their job at a high level to execute within the defense. That's really what I want to see from those guys. They've got all the talent in the world; we have to execute our scheme and have them do their job every play, not just two out of four snaps. It's a four out of four.
Q: What are the top one or two priorities for your group to be ready for that opener against Boise?
RR: Just coming out and practicing tough every day, which our guys do. Our guys love to play football, which is never an issue. As I said, we're going to be three deep across the defensive line, and that's how we're going to go into games, and no drop-off when we go to those twos or those threes. It's got to be the same level of execution. It's the same level of playmaking and the same level of being disruptive. What we want to do here is we want to be disruptive. You saw a jump last year and TFLs; I think we went from 128th to 17th, and we want to get in that top 10, and we want to get in the top 10 for sacks. So, we have some lofty goals, but I think we can achieve them. And at the end of the day, you need your D-line to be disruptive. If you're going to play good defense, you're going to get turnovers and do what we want to do. So those guys have got to show up every day to the park and do it in practice.
Up Next: Wide Receivers
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