Locked and Loaded

Scott Patchan

Locked and CSU defensive line could be loaded the best in the conference By Eddie Herz

Colorado State’s defensive line casually trotted toward Canvas Stadium following a grueling session of spring practice. Only, instead of effortlessly walking into its meeting room, an obstacle stood in the group’s way. Specifically, a hurdle blocked the players’ from entering their posttraining congregation.

No one would have blamed CSU’s athletes for hesitating. Or even naturally muttering a sarcastic response.

Come on, coach, why not just leave that for the practice field?

But neither occurred. The Rams didn’t flinch. Instead, they instinctively crawled through the doorway oneby-one without a murmur— which tells you everything you need to know about how bought-in CSU’s defensive front is to Antoine Smith’s methodology.

“That’s when you know you have a good group of kids that believe in what you’re doing,” the secondyear defensive line coach said. “There was no reaction from them other than each guy just crawled under the hurdle. Matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with one of them about the hurdle. And there’s a lot of similar things that I do to keep these guys on their toes.”

When Smith arrived as part of Steve Addazio’s inaugural staff, his players weren’t quite sure of what to

“A good coach like that is obviously going to push you, point out your flaws and try to make you the best he can. That’s exactly what he does. He’s the glue that keeps us all

motivated together.” -Patchan on Antoine Smith

Photo Courtesy of CSU Athletic Communications anticipate from the veteran assistant—who landed in Fort Collins owning an 18-season tenure on the collegiate sidelines. But over the past year-plus, players have certainly learned to expect the unexpected.

As Smith alluded to, placing a hurdle in front of the meeting room constituted one of countless “spur of the moment” measures he utilizes to force positive reactions amid “chaos”—as required when uncertainty strikes during live-game scenarios.

In the moments before a spring scrimmage, the coach once even spontaneously put his unit through a “physically taxing and draining” workout to see whose true colors would reveal themselves when the going gets tough.

Nevertheless, the Rams haven’t merely grown accustomed to Smith’s sporadic, stern approach. They’ve embraced the coach’s techniques in every sense of the word.

“He’s the glue that puts all the pieces together, to be honest,” graduate transfer Scott Patchan said. “He hammers home what we need to get done in an urgent manner. We have a clear agenda for each practice. We know what we need to attack. We know how we need to get better. A good coach like that is obviously going to push you, point out your flaws and try to make you the best he can. That’s exactly what he does. He’s the glue that keeps us all motivated together.”

Smith may have provided the glue that enabled CSU’s front-four to turn the corner in 2020, but the line-ofscrimmage contributors themselves, of course, deserve a great deal of credit for ferociously rising to the tricky campaign’s occasion.

Despite the evident inconveniences of the stopand-start-filled season, the Rams’ defensive front operated as an unwavering force upon ranking fourth in the FBS in sacks per game (four) and first in

McBride is one of the vocal leaders on the team

average tackles for loss (11.5). With the defensive line contributing vitally in the run game, CSU also allowed the FBS’ 12th-least rushing yards per contest (108.5).

Considering junior college product Brandon HickersonRooks and Patchan had only recently joined the team, while fellow eventual 2020 starter Manny Jones found himself transitioning from the edge to defensive tackle, the line’s ability to expeditiously attain an elite level warrants an abundance of praise.

“With spring getting cut short and then that little fall we had, nothing was easy,” Jones said. “But just staying focused and being very key to details were huge for us. We communicated well and knew our assignments. We were very adamant about doing our jobs to make sure the rest of the team succeeded.”

This time around, both communication and success should occur even easier in light of retaining the entire starting quartet up front.

Locked and loaded to continue dominating at defensive end, Pathan enters his second CSU campaign after posting 5.5 sacks and 7.5 takedowns for loss on his way to first-team AllMountain West honors. Opposite the veteran, who also provided an immediate locker-room impact, fellow first-string DE HickersonRooks is back in the mix.

Meanwhile, Jones returns since proving efficacious via recording 5.5 TFLs as an allleague honorable mention. Last but surely not least, redshirt senior Toby McBride, another vocal leader of the group, bounced back from various injuries to total 12 tackles (3.5 for loss) in three games upon garnering an honorable mention.

“With those veteran anchors, I think the defensive line will certainly be one of the conference’s finest,” Addazio claimed. “It certainly has the makings of being a very good d-line throughout the country too.”

The troupe boasts every reason to hold its head high as the 2021 season approaches. Still, reflecting

Antoine Smith

Smith’s daily mantra, the defensive line will never feel content from a collective production standpoint.

Plus, it isn’t as if Smith must dig for unreasonably specific statistics to convince his contributors of necessary improvements. In fact, the green and gold possess blatant focal points in the trenches that begged for refinements last year.

Namely, CSU’s red-zone defense ranked dead-last in the Mountain West, allowing points on 16-of-16 occasions (seven of which were rushing touchdowns).

“As good as it all sounds, we have to improve in a couple areas to become dominant,” Smith said. “This front four is getting coached like incoming freshmen. They’re not polished. I’ve experienced defensive lines that were conference championship level. We’re not there yet. But they know my voice and my intentions now. Let’s not make any mistake about it.”

There is undeniable work to be done up front. However, as the defensive line continues seamlessly abiding by Smith’s standard of excellence, doubting the unit’s capacity to excel further wouldn’t be wise.

Simply put, CSU’s defensive front remains destined to prove 2020 wasn’t anything close to a fluke. And following a spring camp which Smith described as “the best (he’s) seen these guys look so far,” the troupe is seemingly in line to do so.

“Everyone likes to pat us on the back for that little season we had last year,” Patchan said. “But at the same time, they’re also whispering that it was only four games. So we’re motivated to build off last year by doing this over the course of 12 games. That’s what we’ve preached to each other, leave no doubt and put the judgment to rest.”