Opportunistic hustlers

It brings a smile to senior linebacker KJ McCrae’s face to talk about hitting hard, especially when he touches on the fact that in Portland State’s defense there is “no technique to it, you just hit.” During the dog days of summer leading up to the season, the Vikings defense did not spend time practicing tackling and their scrimmage sessions were usually void of full contact. This season, there have been moments when that lack of tackling may have hurt the team as opposing ball carriers have squeaked from the grasp of a Portland State defender for more yardage.

It brings a smile to senior linebacker KJ McCrae’s face to talk about hitting hard, especially when he touches on the fact that in Portland State’s defense there is “no technique to it, you just hit.”

During the dog days of summer leading up to the season, the Vikings defense did not spend time practicing tackling and their scrimmage sessions were usually void of full contact.

This season, there have been moments when that lack of tackling may have hurt the team as opposing ball carriers have squeaked from the grasp of a Portland State defender for more yardage.

But there have been many occasions when the defense’s propensity for hard hitting and thusly created turnovers has proven valuable for the squad.

“It’s all aggressiveness and hard hitting,” said head coach Jerry Glanville of his team’s inclination for causing turnovers.

Through five games this season, Portland State has forced 18 turnovers, placing the Vikings atop the Big Sky Conference in takeaways and tied for first place in turnover margin.

The Vikings also fit in among the nation’s best teams in those categories. Only Grambling has caused more turnovers this season, and Portland State is tied for tenth in turnover margin for all Football Championship Subdivision teams.

Those figures that Glanville calls “huge” have also been a driving force in both of the Vikings’ victories this season.

In the Vikings’ 47-36 victory over No. 11 ranked Eastern Washington this past Saturday, coming up with turnovers was a definite key.

Freshman cornerback Deshawn Shead had his nose in on three of the five turnovers of the game. Shead intercepted two of junior quarterback Matt Nichols’ passes and stripped an Eagles wide receiver to force a fumble at a crucial moment in the fourth quarter.

After Saturday’s game, Shead seemed unfazed by his superb performance, acting almost like takeaways were a given with the kind of defense that the Vikings play.

For the most part, Shead is spot on.

Glanville preaches to his players that they must tackle the ball carrier in numbers, with one person heading the attack and the other defenders swooping in behind to strip the ball and cause more damage.

And hustling to the runner with all 11 defenders is something the Vikings have done in practice since Glanville arrived last year.

“If the [ball carrier] jukes one person, you know the second person is going to hit him,” McCrae said. “We just hit people, and you have to hold onto the ball.”

McCrae added that it is usually the second or third player that flies in for a hit who causes the fumble. That is when the numbers game really begins to benefit the Vikings.

Glanville, who contends that you “never know how it is going to bounce,” believes that one of the keys to the abundance of Portland State takeaways in the mere fact that the Vikings have a high concentration of players in one area.

“When you hit as hard as they do and hustle, good things happen,” Glanville said of his defense.

Even though the Portland State defense has been much maligned this season and often given up chunks of yardage, the head coaches of UC Davis, Sacramento State and Eastern Washington each told Glanville that the Vikings hit harder than any other team they had faced the entire season.

McCrae and Glanville both explained that with the amount of risks the Vikings take on a given play, referring to the defense’s tendency to blitz, opposing quarterbacks are more apt to throw interceptions.

This season the Vikings have picked off a Big Sky-leading nine passes, with Shead and fellow starting cornerback Reggie Jones combining for seven interceptions.

But these interceptions and fumbles are not only stymieing opposing offenses and often changing the momentum of the game, the takeaways are also paying dividends for the Vikings offense. Not only does the turnover often give the offense terrific field position, sophomore quarterback Drew Hubel said that when the defense creates takeaways it gives the offense a heightened sense of confidence.

“It puts the life back into us,” said Hubel. “It gives us the life and juice to go out and put more points on the board.”