PINE BLUFF — Reigning in Brandon Thurmond is still a work in progress.
Thurmond, Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s senior defensive end from Augusta, Ga., has recorded 15 career sacks, but he has strayed from an assigned task to freelance toward a quarterback so often that his slips in concentration have earned their own name among the coaching staff.
“Wildcatin’,” as defensive line coach Dennis Winston likes to call it.
Thurmond’s responsibilities on most plays include containing the outside edge to defend sweeps, bootlegs or reverses. But say Thurmond decides instead to try to sneak around the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle for a shorter route the quarterback. He might get there, but if the quarterback bootlegs around the outside shoulder of the tackle the play probably goes for a big gain.
“That’s your Wildcat,” said UAPB Coach Monte Coleman, who is also the defensive coordinator for the Golden Lions (2-1, 1-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference).
Those instances have been fewer through three games this season, Thurmond’s fifth at UAPB after arriving in 2008 as an academic nonqualifier.
Thurmond’s six sacks lead the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision and his six tackles for loss lead the SWAC and are tied for fourth in the FCS heading into today’s 6:30 p.m. game at Alabama State (2-1, 2-0). In last week’s victory over Alcorn State, Thurmond had 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and 2 quarterback hurries as he has continued to show an ability to do what is expected while also taking advantage of his pass-rushing opportunities.
“He plays by the rules now,” Coleman said.
It’s taken some work to get Thurmond to this point since Winston arrived in 2010. That’s when Winston, a former Arkansas linebacker who played 10 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints, introduced different personnel packages based on down and distance.
Before, Thurmond was an end and he only came out if he was tired or hurt. The past three years, Thurmond has slid inside to play defensive tackle in certain pass-rushing situations such as second-andlong or third-and-long.
“It’s good. I’m quicker than the guards, so it’s easier for me,” said Thurmond, who has spent his entire career as an end. “Sometimes I ask them to put me at [defensive tackle] just because.”
Winston said all of Thurmond’s sacks this year have come from the end, but he was playing tackle when Demarcus Berry forced a fumble in the final minutes of a Sept. 1 victory over Langston (Okla.) University. Thurmond recovered the fumble, and four plays later UAPB won on a last-second field goal.
It’s one of several plays this year that Coleman and Winston can point to as evidence Thurmond is finally getting it. Winston said there are still lapses when Thurmond does what he wants rather than what he’s told, and there are plays when he isn’t going as hard as Winston would like.
“Some plays you’ll look at [Thurmond] and it’s like, ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ ” Winston said. “Last year and the year before he was Wildcatin’. I had no clue what he would be doing sometimes, but I think it happens less this year.”
Thurmond’s goal is to top the 19 1/2 sacks Adrian Hamilton recorded for Prairie View A&M last year — a goal he set for himself once he tired of everyone telling him he could accomplish more than what he had.
“My peers tell me I have the talent to get the job done,” Thurmond said. “It’s just up to me to get greedy.”
Today’s game ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF
AT ALABAMA STATE
WHEN 6:30 p.m. Central today WHERE Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Ala. RECORDS UAPB: 2-1, 1-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference; Alabama State 2-1, 2-0 COACHES UAPB: Monte Coleman (21-26 in fifth season); Alabama State: Reggie Barlow (29-30) RADIO KUAP-FM, 89.7, in Pine Bluff TV ESPNU INTERNET uapblionsroar.com
Sports, Pages 25 on 09/20/2012