With San Jose State’s training camp underway, its defense looks to rebound from a season in which the Spartans ranked 115th nationally in passing defense.
The Spartans’ offseason was aimed at addressing those defensive woes, adding new coaches, players and schemes.
SJSU hired first-year defensive coordinator Bojay Filimoeatu following a two-game interim stint at the end of last season, after associate head coach and ninth-year coordinator Derrick Odum was fired late in the season.
Coach Ken Niumatalolo built a veteran staff of assistants under Filimoeatu, adding defensive pass game coordinator and cornerbacks coach Brian Norwood along with safeties coach Joe Dale.
“I love our coaches. I’m biased towards Brian Norwood – he’s my best friend. I also think he’s the best secondary coach in the country,” Niumatalolo said. “Joe Dale’s done a really good job adding stuff in the back end; smart coach that’s been a defensive coordinator. He works well with the young men, and Bojay is doing an awesome job with the defense.”
Norwood has made stops at UCLA, TCU and Kansas State and now looks to rebuild SJSU’s secondary.
“I’ve been through two cornerbacks coaches, both great guys, but every new coach brings their own techniques and knowledge of the game,” senior cornerback Caleb Womack said. “I feel like coach Norwood has an abundance of knowledge.”
Norwood has brought new techniques and schemes for the SJSU secondary to learn.
“With guys that haven’t played a lot, they’re open to hearing and taking coaching,” Norwood said. “They’ve really accepted the coaching and everything we’re doing, trying things that may have been different than the past.”
The Spartans’ cornerback room is undergoing a reset, with just four returners who have limited starting experience and welcoming five transfers to the group, making for a crucial competition at camp.
“Coach Bojay and the coaches that were here did a great job giving me information but also understanding I got to see things skill-set-wise,” Norwood said.
SJSU notably signed Isaiah Buxton, who was largely a backup last year as a redshirt freshman at San Diego State as the Aztecs ranked atop the Mountain West in points allowed and opponent completion percentage. Buxton was a high three-star recruit out of Chula Vista in the class of 2024.
“In the corner spot, a lot of guys are working hard for playing time: Kejuan Bullard, Womack, Runye Norton, Greco Carrillo, Francois Jones, Jr, who we just added and Jayden Robertson,” Niumatalolo said. “There’s a lot of depth back there and we’ve got (weeks) to figure out who’s the best for the future.”
SJSU’s refurbished secondary extends to the safety room, where the Spartans have one returner in Charles Cox along with Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa, who spent last year as a wide receiver for the Spartans.
The Spartans recruited safeties Brian Dukes Jr., a three-year starter at Cal Poly, and Pierce Walker, who started all 12 games for Portland State last year.
SJSU’s defensive strong point last season was in its linebackers, but with Taniela Latu, Jordan Pollard and Noah McNeal Franklin graduating in the offseason, their replacements have big shoes to fill.
Unlike other positions on the defense, SJSU has developed returners at linebacker in Ethan Powell, Naseri Danielson and Dylan Lee, all with two or more years in the defense.
“We bring everything that you saw last year, we want to keep that tandem going,” Powell said. “We had a lot of linebackers come through SJSU that have been great to us, so we want to keep that tradition going.”
Up front, the Spartans’ defensive line brings the most continuity on the defense, with players like Justin Stearns, Etu Finau, Solomone Langi and Noa Siaosi who played key roles on last year’s front.
SJSU added to this unit by recruiting Jayland McGlothen from Sacramento State and Ian Shewell, who spent the last three seasons at Arizona State.
For all the new faces and new schemes, the top priority from Niumatalolo and his staff is about something else.
“It starts with our head coach; he asks one thing from us, and that’s to play like our hats are on fire,” Filimoeatu said. “We want our players to play fast; we want them to know what to do and how to do it and execute every play like it’s their last.”