Grambling’s Anthony: Reloaded defense ready to dominate

Talk to Christian Anthony about the defenders that Grambling has lost, and he starts sounding a little like Jim Mora.

Rebuilding? REBUILDING??

The celebrated defensive end is the emotional heart of a line that lost its top two interior stalwarts Melvin Matthews and Otis Young. Top tacklers Jeffery Jack and Keefe Hall have also graduated out of the linebacking unit.

Then, last week, starting cornerback Kenneth Anio suffered a leg injury; he’ll miss a month or more of the season.

Anthony brushes all that aside like a stood-up tackle on an obvious passing down.

Don’t worry about us, he insists.

Two Saturday scrimmages into the fall practice sessions at Grambling, that sounds more like canny prediction than preseason braggadocio.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference’s No. 3 scoring offense, and its No. 2 rushing attack, from a year ago have been stymied.

It’s not just Anthony, the league’s preseason defensive player of the year.

Linemen Charlie Brewer and Jhrron Spencer have made key plays. An aggressive rotation scheme has seen end Kendall Robinson working inside, as well.

Combine that with veteran leadership further back in the defense from Nigel Copeland, Bruna Foster, Cliff Exama and T.J. McCord.

Rebuilding?

Last weekend alone, this defense recorded seven turnovers, 10 sacks, four interceptions and a forced fumble, third-year coach Rod Broadway said afterward.

Starting quarterback Greg Dillon and backup Danny Reyes both tossed interceptions on their first series on Saturday; Reyes also lost a fumble to end Maurice Crawford during the initial sequence.

“That’s how we want to start games all year,” Anthony told me. “We want to establish a line of scrimmage, and put fear in their heart.”

It seems to be working so far on Grambling’s offense, anyway.

In that first scrimmage, Anthony and Co. snuffed out a drive that had advanced to a first-and-goal inside the five, and confused a restructured receiving unit into six drops in the first four offensive possessions alone.

Even Anthony is a little mystified by this turn of events amongst the receivers.

“All camp, they have been catching the ball – all camp,” he said. “Then we come out here (for the scrimmages), and they start dropping it. I don’t understand it.”

The dropsies could be driven as much by a combination of inexperience and overcompensation as they are by a fear of the next helmet-cracking blow dealt by Grambling’s defenders.

Kenneth Bastiste, a fun change-of-pace back, got his hat knocked all the way off two Saturdays ago. Desmond Lenard, moving from nickel to Anio’s spot, smacked Damian Jefferson so hard on an out route last week that it drew oohs and aahs from the assembled crowd at Robinson Stadium.

REBUILDING??

Anthony shakes his head, as a smile curls up his face like smoke from a cigarette.

“We’re going to go like that all year,” he tells me. “That’s our goal.”