Seasoned defense to guard against fourth-quarter breakdowns

Although the football team went 3-6 last season, several games were lost in the fourth quarter. Those losses can be attributed to several factors, but one of the key elements was the breakdown of defensive play. Last season, the Tigers were a young team, with the majority of defensive players being either freshmen or sophomores (13 of the 14 defensive linemen on the roster were in their first two years at college). And key injuries forced many of those young players to take on bigger roles than they were ready for.

The upside of having such a young team last season, though, is that head coach Roger Hughes can look forward to a more experienced and seasoned defense this year.

Defensive Line

With the return of junior defensive end Joe Weiss, who broke his leg early last season, the defensive line looks the strongest it has in the Hughes era. The D-line was wearing thin at the end of last season, with several key injuries putting players out of top condition. This resulted in fewer players ruling the line of scrimmage in both pass defense and run defense. In some places the line was not even two-deep, which wore down the linemen towards the end.

"On the defensive line, generally the offensive line are double-teaming, and it's 250 lbs. versus 600 lbs. That wear and tear over the season can wear you out," Hughes said. "The thing we had to do last year when Weiss went down was really rotating four guys around and trying to find a fifth. This year we are hoping to have six guys, maybe eight guys to rotate in."

As of right now, the front four are all juniors — defensive ends Weiss and Tim Kirby and defensive tackles Jeff Micsky and George Pilcher. According to Hughes, they are looking big and quick, as was demonstrated against Columbia in the scrimmage last weekend.

The only loss to the defensive line from last year was defensive end Phil Jackman '02, who contributed 31 tackles last season (18 solo) and three sacks.

In order for the 4-3 front that Princeton runs to be successful, the defensive line must have a solid pass rush without sending linebackers blitzing as well as ruling the line of scrimmage in the case of a run. With the front four (and their back-ups) each weighing in at well over 225 lbs., the Tigers' chances at controlling the trenches have definitely increased.

Linebackers

The linebacker position in the Princeton defensive package has always been one of utmost importance.

"They have to recognize formations, and if a blitz is on, and they come out in a formation where a guy may not be covered they have to call off the blitz," Hughes said. "There's a lot of quarterbacking at that position."

Not only that, but the captain of the team is often picked from the linebacking corps. Last season, Bob Farrell '02 filled that position.

The Tigers suffered greatly at this spot — losing both Farrell and strong side linebacker Chris Roser-Jones '02, who combined made up nearly one-sixth of the entire team tackle total.

"How do you replace Chris Roser-Jones? With the things he did for our defense and our team, you can't replace him," Hughes said.

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This season, senior linebacker Drew Babinecz steps up to take on the role of captain on the defensive side of the ball. Joining him at the inside linebacker in what Hughes calls a "high-impact collision position" will be junior Zak Keasy, who led the team last season with 71 tackles.

Trying to fill the rather large shoes left behind by Roser-Jones will be junior Steve Jameson and senior J.R. Sauder. But Hughes admits that this "is probably the question mark of our defense right now."

Defensive Backs

The defensive backs suffered much the same way as the line last season with injuries. Junior Blake Perry ended his season early with two broken wrists, which forced then freshman Jay McCareins into situations that he may not have been ready for.

But this season, the backs return more experienced and healthy without having graduated a single starter. Juniors Perry and Brandon Mueller return along with seniors Kevin Kongslie and Paul Simbi to make up the starting secondary. And if the defensive line can get a better rush during pass plays, it will allow the backs to play more zone coverage which defends the long ball better — a weakness of last season's backfield.

"I think we've got six maybe seven guys that can play back there which is as deep a secondary as we've had, and I don't think the quality falls off," Hughes said. "We're hoping our secondary will be much better than last year."

Overall the defense has gained another year of experience under its belt without having lost too many starters, though some of those that were lost will certainly hurt the team. But that extra experience should help the Tigers put away those fourth-quarter games.