Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Secondary foremost concern for Alabama A&M


REGGIE BENSON, Times Sports Staff

Defensive backs have been giving up big plays of late

Alabama A&M entered this season with some concerns on defense, but none of them involved the secondary.

Fifth-year senior Stephan Tucker was back at one corner. Junior Frank Moore, a preseason All-Southwestern Athletic Conference pick after tying for the league lead with six interceptions, was back at the other one.

Sophomore Maurice Thomas, who played a lot last season while Tucker was hampered by an ankle injury, was also considered a starter. Throw in junior free safety Al Donaldson, who was the team's fourth-leading tackler a year ago, and defensive coordinator Brawnski Towns believed he had a group that could be as good as any in the league.

The Bulldogs played that way through their first three games in blowout wins over Tennessee State, Clark Atlanta and Mississippi Valley State. A&M allowed just over 156 yards passing per game and had four interceptions.

However, the Bulldogs haven't been nearly as good in their last two games.

In a loss to Grambling and a win over Texas Southern, A&M has allowed almost 300 yards passing per game, including 352 in Saturday's 48-24 victory.

"We're messing up on little things," Tucker said. "We're not following our technique or we're out of position. It's all about guys focusing on what they need to do."

Towns admits his group can play better. But he said the problems don't lie solely with the secondary.

The Bulldogs haven't gotten consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Their linebacker play in passing situations has been suspect and that has contributed to the problems in the secondary.

"We're not getting it done right now," Towns said. "We're not as fine-tuned in certain coverages like we need to be. We've had some people out of position and then when we've been in position, we've missed some tackles, misplayed the ball or dropped some interceptions.

"We've just got to continue to work to get better in a lot of areas."

That work continued Tuesday as A&M began preparations for Saturday's game at Southern. Kickoff is 5:30.

Like Grambling and Texas Southern, A&M's secondary will be tested against Southern.

Quarterback Bryant Lee has completed a league-high 64 percent of his passes for 1,112 yards, 10 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

Del Roberts has 29 catches for 272 yards and a touchdown, and Gerard Landry has 18 catches for 253 yards and five touchdowns.

"Bryant is doing a good job of distributing the ball," Towns said.

"He's getting the ball out quick and giving his guys a chance to make plays. We've got to do some things to try to confuse him in terms of his reads."

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