Editor’s note: This is part of a series previewing the 2014 Bryant Hornets football team heading into their season-opening game against the Benton Panthers in the annual Salt Bowl and War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Friday, Sept. 5.
Photos by Rick Nation and Kevin Nagle
Ben Bruick (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
Last year, the coaches for the Bryant Hornets figured they’d be a little thin on personnel on the defensive line so they adjusted their scheme to a 3-4. They struggled stopping the run and, fortunately, some sophomores developed to help fill the void, making it possible to return to their traditional, more familiar four-man front.
Between that return and the development of the young players, the defense improved the second half of the season. And, to top that off, several underclassmen got valuable playing time in both alignments, which bodes well for 2014.
“We’re back in our four front and we feel good about it,” said Hornets defensive coordinator Steve Griffith. “We’ll use a little three-front as a change up look. We got some good practice on that the last couple of years. We feel more comfortable with it and the kids have confidence in it. So we’re excited about it and feel like we can have a pretty solid defensive unit.”
Bryant lost some solid players in the core of last year’s defense at linebacker so there was some concern about the position.
“We feel like, at this point, we have three guys that have kind of emerged,” Griffith said. “We’ve got some others too that are right there and we feel good about playing any of them.”
Bryant defensive coordinator Steve Griffith. (Photo by Rick Nation)
At this point, the top three are Ben Bruick on the strong side, Connor Chapdelaine at middle linebacker and Devon Alpe on the weak side.
“We moved (Bruick) up from safety,” Griffith said. “We felt like he would do a good job in the passing game and he has. He made some good plays in the scrimmage (against Pulaski Academy) the other night. He’s gotten better and better in the running game, shown he can play physical.
“Jordan McDonald backs him up, another senior, that’s a good athlete and a hard worker, a great special teams player for us,” the coach added.
Chapdelaine is the team’s top returning tackler. He was fourth on the squad in 2013 as a junior with 52 stops.
“He played quite a bit for us last year and he’s in the mix right there,” Griffith related. “Peyton Robertson, a junior, gives us some depth and we’ve got (junior) Devon Howard coming back off injury. He was actually starting when he went down last year.
“Devon Alpe has really filled out,” he continued. “He gives us a physical presence that we haven’t had in a couple of years at the Will, especially for when people try to run at that bubble, try to run the weak-side blast. He and his brother (Drew, a fullback), must have run together in the yard a lot because neither one of them is scared of anything.
“So, it’s good to have him and (Kyle) Lovelace gives us depth there,” the coach noted. “He’s probably a little bit better in the passing game. We can bring him in on third down and he can give us depth at the Sam as well.
“We’ve got a corps of six or seven guys that we feel like, hopefully, can work together and give us a good unit that we can be successful with,” Griffith concluded.
Missy Chapdelaine
It’s Connor Chapdelaine not Collin. Collin graduated several years ago