South Dakota State football: Rookie coordinator Jesse Bobbit has Jackrabbit defense rolling

Nov. 17—BROOKINGS — With a 34-0 shutout of Youngstown State last Saturday, top-ranked South Dakota State's defense had its best game of the season and, perhaps, the best it has put forth during the Jackrabbits' 24-game winning streak

SDSU won its first national championship last year and the defense spearheaded the charge, limiting opponents to 15.8 points and 273 yards per game. It was widely regarded as the best defense in Jackrabbit history.

A year later, this South Dakota State defense, so far, has been even better. The Jacks are No. 1 in the nation in total defense (258 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (10.7 points allowed per game), and they're clearly improving as the season advances towards the playoffs.

And they're doing it all under the direction of a rookie defensive coordinator, 29-year-old Jesse Bobbit.

Following last year's title season, head coach John Stiegelmeier retired and was replaced by defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jimmy Rogers. One of Rogers' first moves after taking the job was promoting Bobbit to his former role, and with the departure of defensive assistants Christian Smith (to Northwestern) and Rob Erickson (now head coach at Wisconsin-Eau Claire), Rogers and Bobbit were the only two defensive coaches to return from last year.

That has hardly been an obstacle.

Bobbit, who was an SDSU captain and all-conference linebacker not too long ago, has made a seamless transition to the booth as defensive playcaller after just one season as a full-time coach (he was the safeties coach last year), with new assistants Jalon Bibbs (defensive line), Mike Banks (cornerbacks) and Pete Menage (safeties) all assimilating quickly into the program.

For Rogers, himself a former SDSU linebacker, captain and overall defensive football junkie, the play of his defense has been satisfying, and that it's come together with Bobbit and the new coaches at the controls is a point of pride.

"I'm really proud of the new coaches," said Rogers, whose 10-0 team will look to complete a perfect regular season Saturday when they host Missouri State. "For all those guys to come in and learn it speaks volumes about their commitment to one another. To learn what we do and take from their past experiences and blend it with what we're doing, I think they've done a really good job."

What's been the key? Talent obviously helps, and the Jacks have plenty of it. They graduated two stars on the D-line in Caleb Sanders and Reece Winkelman and two reliable defensive backs in Malik Lofton and Chase Norblade, but the rest of the starters and top reserves returned. With the extra year provided by the pandemic (a year the Jacks played 10 games), most of their starters have played five full seasons of college football. That experience, as opposing coaches continue to emphasize after every loss, is a big reason the Jacks are so good.

But beyond that there are traits Bobbit has identified as major factors in the continued improvement of his troops.

1. Communication

"It's not always gonna be perfect," Bobbit says. "We'll get something (from the opposing offense) we didn't see on film or didn't practice against, but as long as the communication is there and we're all on the same page on the field — sometimes it might not be the best call and the guys still make a play. That's due to the communication."

2. Effort and energy

"We're causing turnovers," Bobbit says. "We're finishing at the ball with all 11 guys. The mentality of getting to the ball, of making things happen. The physicality."

3. Response

"We've given up explosive plays," Bobbit said. "How we've responded when things have not gone our way has been consistently what you want it to be."

For Bobbit, the biggest adjustment to taking over as coordinator was making the calls for each play. It's a skill, perhaps even an art form, that can only really be mastered through experience, and Bobbit had none when the season started.

"In fall camp you could tell he kind of had the jitters with calling plays," says linebacker Jason Freeman, the team's leading tackler with 64 stops.

But that didn't last long. More time in the press box, more time watching film of opposing offenses, and more time getting a feel for what his players respond to best in certain situations enabled Bobbit to sharpen up as a playcaller.

"He's gotten continuously better," Rogers said. "That just comes with the reps of doing it. He doesn't lack confidence. The repetition of doing anything, you get better as you go. Some of our worst games defensively we might've tried to be too perfect. As Stig used to say, the perfect call is the one that gets in on time. You're not always gonna be perfect. You teach how you do it and it's the kids' effort and technique of how they do something that leads to you having success."

That's a lesson the players taught the coaches. Because obviously, no defense becomes the best in the nation without great players. SDSU is loaded at linebacker, where they've shrugged off another injury to star middle Adam Bock thanks to Freeman, Isaiah Stalbird, Saiveon Williamson and Graham Spalding, while the defensive line has returned to dominance after a somewhat slow start. That's made things easier on the secondary, where cornerbacks DyShawn Gales and Dalys Beanum have played almost every snap, with Tucker Large, Cale Reeder and Colby Huerter providing support at safety.

When asked what's contributed to the defense's success, Freeman's suggestions echoed Bobbit's.

"When you've got 11 really good players on the field that play hard and then have that communication with each other, it's big," Freeman said. "Sometimes we do get a wrong call or it comes in late, but we just play the call and live the next down. We haven't had too much adversity but when we do the trust we have in each other is what makes the difference."

The defensive line's improvement has keyed the defense steadily becoming even more dominant as the season has gone on. The Jacks didn't record a single sack through three non-conference games, but are now up to a respectable 17, led by Cade Terveer's five. Ryan Van Marel, Jarod DePriest, Quinton Hicks, Zac Wilson, Caden Johnson and Brian Williams have all played well, ensuring the Jacks can again rely on a big rotation that keeps the line fresh and makes them more effective.

"Our goal is to make sure there's no drop-off no matter who we put in the game," said DePriest, who has 15 tackles and 1.5 sacks. "We just kept working (on the pass rush) and we knew the stuff we do would come and eventually it would start to go our way."

Bobbit has also done a nice job of mixing in blitzes, as five of the team's sacks have come from the second and third levels.

The hope all along was that since Bobbit was a direct protoge of Rogers the results would be largely the same, and now, if anything, they're better. There are times, both men say, that after a successful play Rogers will tell Bobbit he'd have made the same call. Those moments are especially satisfying.

"Every game is its own animal," Bobbit says. "You have to remember, (the opponent) is gameplanning you, too. There have been games where I've been like, 'I know this look is coming, I know it's coming', and it just never did. So those are things you learn as you go. The cool thing is Coach Rogers and I see eye-to-eye, and he hired the right people for this staff. It's been pretty incredible how well we've all come together, and that's made it pretty fun, too."