Idaho defense shows steady improvement through staff’s first fall camp

MOSCOW – The improvement for Idaho’s defense has been significant over the first two weeks of fall camp. 

First-year defensive coordinator Cort Dennison it’s just been a matter of his learning the system.

“Simple,” Dennison said. “These guys have done a great job, on defense, our motto is FPA, fast, physical and aggressive. And we want to be the kind of defense that attacks, and we want to never make the quarterback comfortable. We never want to make the O-line comfortable. And I think if we attack those two position groups with every team we play, we’re going to be successful.”

Simple might have been accurate for someone who’s studied football as much as Dennison, who arrived this off-season from Missouri State. But watching from the sidelines, the defense brings unusual pressure, something that has been confusing the offense recently.

A linebacker could look like he is going to bring pressure from the edge, then he drops into coverage and a cornerback is suddenly rushing the quarterback.

A safety could be sneaking up and then bringing pressure. Pressure could be created from just about anywhere in Dennison’s defense.

Constant communication is also significant to Dennison’s defense. Whether he is barking out play calls in his usual loud and gravelly voice, or his assistant coaches are putting up signals on the sidelines or whether the players are communicating themselves.

They never stop talking.

Dennison said that it has been a player-led movement.

“We’ve got guys at all three levels of our defense where I think they’re really stepping up and taking on more of a player-led approach, and they’ve been great in the meeting rooms, and they’ve applied it out here,” Dennison said. “And you can see the communications ramped up. The pre-snap talking is getting a lot better. Their eyes are getting better, pre-snap and post-snap. And I think it’s all because of that pre-snap communication, which comes with, oftentimes, really good leadership.”

Junior linebacker Dylan Layne said that the most successful teams have the best communication and are led by the players.

“The best teams are player-led,” Layne said. “So as much as the guys on the field can talk and set things up and motivate each other, then the better we’ll be. So that’s what we’ve been focusing on, and we gotta continue to get better at it too.”

Sophomore safety Hayden John said that the reasoning behind being vocal is that there are no coaches on the field, so players have to act as authority to make changes and prepare the defense for the upcoming play.

“Coaches can’t be on the field so they can’t see everything that the players are seeing,” John said. “A good team is always player-led. And when you’re out here, got to make shifts, got to make checks, and players just got to hold each other accountable to being vocal so that everyone’s on the right page.”