Jesse Minter remembers sitting on his couch three years ago, talking to his dad Rick Minter, a well-known defensive coordinator, about Georgia State’s roster.
Rick told Jesse that his second year as Georgia State’s defensive coordinator was going to be tougher than the first year because of the make-up of the roster: more than 25 seniors would have to be replaced by less-experienced players. As for the third year …
Well, Georgia State seems to have figured some things out, especially in the second half of the season.
After what Minter called a “brutal” second year in which the team gave up averages of more than 40 points and almost 500 yards a game, the Panthers are allowing averages of 28 points and 416 yards per game this season. During the four-game win streak that secured an invitation to the Cure Bowl in Orlando on Dec. 19, the defense has been even better in allowing averages of 14.25 points and 328 yards per game.
“This group has some confidence, even though we didn’t play as well as we would have liked in the first part of the season,” Minter said. “They never lost faith in themselves. They gained a lot more confidence as the season went on.”
Despite an influx of depth and talent with the signings of a few junior college players and the transfers of several UAB players, things didn’t start as well as some expected with at least 500 yards surrendered in three of the first four games.
Oddly, the transformation began after the fourth game, which was also the defense’s worst: a 41-33 loss to Liberty in which Minter’s players couldn’t get off the field. The Flames held the ball for more than 40 minutes by converting nine of their 17 third downs. Minter said everything that could go wrong in that game did.
While evaluating the performance, Minter said the players let their guards down and truly analyzed their individual play. That honestly resulted in a new-found dedication to preparation so that those results wouldn’t happen again.
“We put in a lot of that same work that we do now, but the way we prepare is different,” safety Bobby Baker said. “We were trying new things, what worked, what didn’t work, and now we’ve kind of figured it out as far as what we need to do to prepare the right way.”
The next game against Appalachian State could also be a considered a superficial disaster with 37 points and 498 yards surrendered. But it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Minter said they tried to force the Mountaineers to defeat them by passing the ball. They did by throwing for more than 300 yards.
But within the loss Minter saw things being done consistently well that didn’t happen in the previous 2-plus seasons.
“Sometimes you win more from losing than winning,” Georgia State coach Trent Miles said, noting Tom Landry said it first.
And then came the win against Ball State in which the defense allowed just 19 points, then a low for the team under Miles.
Two more losses followed, but even in those the defense played better. Miles said the team just hadn’t learned how to close those types of games out.
The group quickly learned, culminating in a 34-7 win over Georgia Southern in which safety Tarris Batiste said they played like a pack of wild, but disciplined dogs in holding the Eagles to season-lows for rushing yards (135) and their worst-ever loss at home.
The group will lose just two starters – all-conference performers Joseph Peterson and Batiste – going into next season and expects to be even better. Batiste said there are two players, Ed Curney and Chase Middleton, ready to step in for Peterson, and Bryan Williams, Ronald Peterkin and Cloves Campbell will compete for time at Batiste’s spot.
It’s an odd expectation that next year the defense could be what carries the team considering the slap-your-forehead moments throughout the first 29 games.
“Our defense won’t miss a beat,” Batiste said. “It will just keep going and keep going.”
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