Bulldog Blitz: Summer workouts see progression in defensive cohesion

Ruston, La. (KTVE/KARD) — In this week’s Bulldog Blitz sponsored by Jim Taylor ford in Ruston Louisiana Tech football head coach Sonny Cumbie recently spoke about the progress the defensive side of the ball has taken since spring training. The trust they have gained from each other has seemingly grown under new defensive coordinator Jeremiah Johnson.

“I think we’re going to be a lot better football team that’s going to win football games. Last year we lost five games by one score or less, and I think we’ve really closed the margin from the standpoint of personnel in particular on defense, ” said Cumbie. “I think that you can just see the work our guys have put in this summer, and I’m excited from the spring– the work that coach Jeremiah Johnson has done with our defensive staff, they’ve really made a turnaround with our defensive players, and it has very little to do from a schematics standpoint and I think just from them gaining our players trust and I think you could tell on defense if you watched in the spring and saw in the spring game that our defense is playing really fast. Our defense knows what they’re doing and that’s really a testament to our defensive staff. I think from that standpoint it’s a football team that’s going to play very hard and win football games.”

The process of going from worst to first is an uphill battle, but it’s one that the team is determined to reach for after finishing last in Conference USA in scoring defense.