It’s a great week to be a Bull! Coach Golesh gets his first win as a head coach at home against FAMU. There were a lot of positives to take away from this game, but I want to focus on giving the defense some love. It’s refreshing to see this unit play with so much aggression and tenacity and it’s evident that our scheme is tailored to the strengths of our players and putting them in favorable positions to win.
The first drive started out a bit rough for the Bulls, but never warranted a moment of panic. The first play of the game began with an electric tackle for loss from defensive back, Daquan Evans, but the rest of the drive for the Rattlers offense was high tempo and effective. Quarterback, Jeremy Moussa, seemed to have his way with the Bulls defense and ultimately led FAMU to an opening touchdown.
But, following the first drive score, the Bulls defense turned it up a notch and wrecked havoc. It all started with a forced fumble by linebacker Jamie Pettway, recovered by fellow linebacker Mac Harris on special teams, and the Bulls kept the momentum from that point on. For two consecutive drives, the Bulls defense forced two more turnovers with interceptions by safety Logan Berryhill followed by a tipped pass that found the hands of defensive back Jaelen Stokes on the next drive.
Again, there was a lot to be excited about in the secondary this week in the run support and passing game, and is currently the number 19 rush defense in the country allowing just 74 yards per game. This was a positive we talked about last week, but in week two, we were a lot more balanced and well-rounded as an entire unit. We were able to win on third down for seven out of the eleven attempts while also holding the Rattlers offense to a total of just nineteen rushing yards for the game.
This defense was dominant on the second level and brought a lot more pressure from the line of scrimmage as well. Defensive coordinator, Todd Orlando also got creative by bringing defensive backs Aamaris Brown, Jaelen Stokes, and Tavin Ward off the edge as well. Ultimately, the defense carried the positives from last week into this game and improved on the other details.
Although some plays were made by the Rattlers offense, the defense never let them get comfortable. As mentioned, the Bulls’ defense continued to bring pressure the entire night and it showed up in the stat sheet this week. We had a total of four sacks and two hurries on the quarterback, along with two forced fumbles that we recovered.
This unit played exactly the way we knew they were capable of and it was great to see our guys swarming to the ball all night. We have been aware of the talent on the defensive side of the ball all off-season and seeing them perform the way they did gives this team a lot of promise as the season progresses.
We hope to continue to improve and clean up on the big plays, and get ready for a big week ahead against Alabama.
— #BeatBama —