New Idaho defensive coordinator Ronnie Lee likes to think of himself as an artist. His preferred craft? Creating turnovers.
In 1986, the Washington State Cougars defensive back led the Pac-10 in forced fumbles because he made creating turnovers into a craft he worked to perfect, he said.
Knowing the ball carrier, knowing how he carries the ball, knowing how to get the ball out. If Lee couldn’t punch it out, he said he’d try to break the ball-carrier’s fingers.
“There’s always a way to get the ball out. If you hit a person hard enough, they’re going to forget about the ball,” Lee said.
This is the mentality Lee wants his defense to carry into Saturday’s season opener at North Texas when the unit will try to execute the new defensive scheme in a game for the first time.
When first arriving in December, and through spring practices, Lee said the No. 1 thing he wanted to instill with his defense is the mantra that they will get off the field on third down, stop the run, and
create turnovers.
“That has not changed and that will be our motto for as long as I’m here,” he said.
On the surface Lee speaks and presents himself with a calm demeanor, but his players never know which defensive coordinator they will get on any given day.
“I guess it matters what day it’s on,” sophomore defensive end Quinton Bradley said. “Sometimes he comes in the meeting room just quiet, others he’s loud, I don’t know it just depends on how he feels or what he wants to say to us that day. He’s hard to read sometimes, but he’s coach.”
Idaho spent Friday afternoon executing the defensive scheme against Idaho’s scout team running North Texas’ offensive schemes. Going into the final week of game preparation before the season opener with the new coaching staff Lee said he’s looking for the depth to work itself out.
“The biggest thing we’re trying to do is continue to create chemistry from the front end to the back, and doing that is developing depth as well, because the scheme is going to fit the players, not the other way around,” he said.
Idaho fans will get their first taste of the new defensive scheme on Saturday, a scheme that Idaho hopes will improve on last year’s defensive unit that ranked No. 110 in the country last season in total defense allowing opponents to gain 6.6 yards-per-play, and No. 95 in the country in third down defense allowing opponents to convert 44.44 percent of the time on Idaho’s third-down defense.
“I’m going to watch the tape today and that’s going to tell me who. You can tell by body language, you can tell by obviously the easy part you can tell by making plays so that’s what I’m looking forward to watching this film and making the two-deep known,” Lee said.
As the defense gets closer to the line of scrimmage, that is where Idaho starts to see its strength. A group of junior college transfers anchor the linebacking core which has been together all through the spring and now fall camp. The group is headlined by Marc Millan, the junior who lines up at the line of scrimmage and is used in creative ways to get after the quarterback.
“That’s my specialty, that’s my bread and butter, rushing the passer is what I was raised to do. Setting the edge.” Millan said.
In front of them is a defensive line unit which lost only two of its rotation members from last season, one of them to the offensive line. Anchored by Bradley and Maxx Forde and bolstered with the return of QuayShawne Buckley, the line shows athleticism and ability to get after the passer.
Forde and Bradley specifically present different talents and abilities on the line. Compliment is the word there, Forde said.
“I think when you have D-lineman that’s your goal is to complement each other,” Forde said. “If you can complement each other well, know where each other is going to be we’ll be able to cut off the lanes where the quarterback is going to rush, that’s going to help us make more plays.”
So what does Idaho have to do to make it all click on Aug. 31?
“Be crazy,” Bradley said. “Be crazy, because you have to have passion out there. Just be crazy, have fun, sprint to the ball, it’s just a defensive mentality.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]