Linebacker Amir Abdullah (22), a transfer from D-II Nebraska-Kearney, leads the Illinois State defense with 5.5 sacks. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Barry Bottino
CHARLESTON — Illinois State’s defense entered the season with plenty of new faces and questions.
Only three starters returned.
Buck Buchanan Award winner Zeke Vandenburgh was off to the NFL. In his place is a former NCAA Division III player.
Two new starters are on the defensive line, and the linebacking corps is full of new names.
But through three games, the rebuilt Redbirds have passed plenty of tests.
ISU leads all NCAA divisions in sacks with 18, has the most tackles for loss (33) in FCS, ranks third in total defense (229.3 yards per game) in FCS, along with third in points allowed per game (10.7).
“We’re an aggressive defense and (we) try to get after people,” ISU head coach Brock Spack said. “We have good young players. They’re not great yet.”
Maybe not, but the young Redbirds have made quite an impression.
Despite a 14-13 loss Saturday to rival Eastern Illinois, the Redbirds collected eight sacks, 12 tackles for loss and held the Panthers to 291 yards of total offense.
Eastern’s 18 rushing yards helped lower the Redbirds’ season average to 36.7 yards allowed per game, which ranks second in FCS.
Redshirt freshman Tye Niekamp had a team-high 11 tackles to increase his team highs in tackles (25) and pass breakups (four).
“Everybody was doing their job,” junior linebacker Amir Abdullah, a transfer from D-II Nebraska-Kearney who leads the team with 5.5 sacks, said after the game. “We just had to keep that going the whole game. We just had certain plays where we didn’t execute as a defense, and it came back to bite us in the end.”
One of those two plays was a 31-yard, second-quarter TD catch by EIU wide receiver Justin Thomas, who lost Jack linebacker Jalan Gaines – Vandenburgh’s replacement who started his career at D-III Dubuque – down the right sideline.
With 30 seconds left in the game, Thomas caught the game-winning 25-yard touchdown in the north end zone between two ISU defenders.
“It looked like we panicked a little bit and got out of sync,” Spack said. “We’d been playing that coverage all day. I just don’t know what happened there.”
Eastern’s winning score capped an eight-play, 93-yard drive.
How rare is that against Illinois State?
Over the last 39 games – dating back to 2019 – the Redbirds have allowed only four drives of 90 yards or more against FCS teams.
ISU quarterback Zack Annexstad said his unit needs to do more to help the ISU defense.
“We just need to put more points on the board,” he said. “If our defense can hold the team for 14 points, I would take that every single week.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
Find us on social media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSPigskin
Facebook: Prairie State Pigskin
Prairie State Pigskin 