Once he gets the team in position, he must then focus on
his own responsibilities, which encompass the pressure of being the last line of
defense and the attention he will get if anyone gets behind him. Even if it
wasn’t his fault, the thousands of fans in the stands will usually see the back
of his jersey chasing the opponent to the end zone and focus their criticisms
accordingly.
Winning is any football player’s #1 motivation, but for a
strong safety the play of his teammates on defense has a whole other importance.
Poor play from the players in front will usually make a safety look bad. And
what player enjoys looking bad?
The Oregon State Beavers’ Sabby Piscitelli is no exception.
However, his responsibilities this year seem to be even above and beyond other
Pac-10 safeties. With a new set of linebackers in front of him and a young
supporting cast in the secondary, there may be a lot of opportunities to make
this senior look bad.
“The most important thing this year is discipline,”
explains Piscitelli. “That’s a big thing we lacked last year. We had the talent,
I just think we lacked discipline at times. That’s getting beat on the big plays
and we can’t do that this year.”
With the obvious lack of experience surrounding Piscitelli
on defense, the temptation to lose sight of his responsibilities is always
great.
“Last year I think I got myself in trouble by trying to do
too much,” reflects Sabby. “This year I am really going to focus on doing my
assignment and making my plays. When you start worrying about other things,
that’s when you are going to get yourself into trouble.”
So how is #28 going to balance the focus between
player/coach and All-Pac-10 safety?
“I’m not a big rah-rah guy,” explains Sabby. “I’ll say
words here and there, but my big thing is to go out there and lead by example. I
just want to go out there and make my plays and that will carry over to the
younger guys,”
“You can’t really speak that much. The more and more you
speak they will start tuning you out. You got to say something when the time is
right, meanwhile you just got to go out there and play. The harder you play the
more the young guys are going to follow.”
The first real test of the year resulted in a big F-minus
for the young defense. Poor tackling, missed assignments and lack of focus on
crucial plays allowed Boise State’s Ian Johnson to have a career day with 240
yards rushing and five, yes five, touchdowns.
“Everyone is going to make mistakes, and people learn. The
more mistakes you make (early) the better player you can be,” explains the
optimistic safety.
Well, if Piscitelli is right, Oregon State’s defense
learned a lot in Boise.
“I think our linebackers are very athletic and young. But
they will learn quick. They are very capable of making a lot of plays,” assures
Piscitelli. “Do I think our secondary is going to learn quick? Yes.”
The key to growth is simple: “Just keep the motor going,”
continues Piscitelli. “If the motor goes in practice then it will go in the
games. That’s the biggest thing. That’s what we started to lack last year, was
our practice habits. If our practice habits are great then we are going to play
great.”
Piscitelli is a good player on the border of being a great
player. His play as a sophomore and a junior was good enough to have earned him
All Pac-10 Honorable Mention honors and to capture the attention he deserves as
one of the premier safeties in the conference, and maybe even the country.
The rest of the defense must step it up soon so Piscitelli
can focus on his job. In all honesty, he hasn't looked that sharp this season
and has been exposed on missed plays that have some novice fans questioning his
ability. Some of it may be deserving, but some of it has been #28 trying to pick
up the slack.
Time has run out. The Beavers are now in conference play
and the learning needs to evolve quickly into performing. Every game counts and
a struggling defense will not help keep Beaver fans from speaking their
collective minds.
“You have to go out there and play every game as hard as
you can. In the Pac-10 anything can happen. Any team can beat any team and we
all know that,” preaches Piscitelli. “We all have worked very hard and are
determined to get back to the Oregon State level in the secondary, known for
great defense.”
For Sabby’s sake, you hope that’s true. But reality seems
to be against him. This young defense appears to be even too much for Mr.
Piscitelli to handle.
***
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