Gathering Monday afternoon for a weekly meeting, Jammerio Gross stood before his fellow defensive linemen prepared to take no credit for what transpired two days earlier.
En route to becoming the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s defensive player of the week, Gross sacked Abilene Christian quarterback Dallas Sealey 2.5 times in the second half of Saturday’s 33-14 McNeese win. His fellow defensive end, Chris Livings, sacked Sealey twice in the first half — part of a 6.5-sack night for the Cowboys defense.
“That was one of y’alls best games,” Gross told his defensive tackles, Anthony Yruegas and Isaiah Golden. “And we couldn’t have done it without y’all.”
Yruegas and Golden play a thankless position. With two rushing ends like Livings and Gross, the task of these two middle men is to push an opposing team’s center and guards into the pocket, forcing the quarterback to shuffle and scramble right into either Livings or Gross’ path.
There are no statistics to reflect both men’s proficiency. Livings and Gross receive the obvious acclaim with their sack totals but their two teammates get no such recognition, only the closed-door praise from teammates and coaches.
“That’s the best thing that can happen,” Livings said, “them pushing the pocket and forcing the quarterback to come into my area. I love them for that.”
Gross now leads the team with 6.5 sacks. The junior had four total in his first two seasons. Couple that with Livings’ six and McNeese has 17 total through nine games — 7.5 of which came in the last two weeks.
Come Saturday, those are lagniappe.
“The sacks are like bonuses,” defensive line coach Lark Hebert said Tuesday. “We tell the (defensive) linemen we want him to be uncomfortable, we want to get him off his spot. We just can’t let him sit, be comfortable and be able to step up.”
Hebert speaks of Sam Houston State quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe, the former UAB starter who completes nearly 70 percent of his passes without much forced movement in the pocket.
Briscoe operates offensive coordinator Phil Longo’s Air Raid style attack with devastating accuracy. Few teams, if any, have pressured Briscoe. Sam Houston’s allowed just three sacks all season.
Allow him to stand in his one spot under no duress, McNeese coaches say, and the 23-year-old journeyman can deliver a pass wherever and to whomever he chooses.
“We just have to disrupt him,” Gross said. “When he’s sitting back there, comfortable in the pocket is when he makes good throws. We just try to push the pocket and the ends have to come around and scare him a little bit, get him off his spot and that’s when, hopefully, he’s going to throw some bad passes and get some interceptions for our (defensive backs).”
Gross and Livings are forthright. The duo, along with Hebert, knew Abilene Christian’s tackles were no match for the speed around the edge. Sam Houston presents a stiffer test, aided by the return of Mitchell Watanabe, hurt during a win against Houston Baptist, at right tackle.
“He played last weekend and played well, so we’ll have him back this week at full speed,” Bearkats coach K.C. Keeler said Tuesday. “That was a real concern for us. We knew that we were going to go up against some unique athletes on the edge when we played McNeese. But when you just watch their defense, their whole defense can just run to the ball. I think it’s one of the best defenses we’ll see this year.”
Livings and Gross are hardly alone. The three starters in the middle of Sam Houston’s offensive line — the one that’s allowed three sacks this whole season — are all upperclassmen. Two seniors and a junior.
Yruegas and Golden, after their best game together, will need to create leverage.
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