Kevin Porter wants Fort Valley State team to lean on defense

Kevin Porter has a clear goal for his defense: play aggressive and fast.

His Fort Valley State team will get to see if it can follow that plan starting Aug. 31 at West Georgia. The Wildcats won the SIAC title in 2016 in Porter’s first season as their head coach.

“That’s where we really want to try to hang our hat as a football team,” Porter said of his defense. “We want to be aggressive and be a defense that forces a bunch of turnovers.”

The Wildcats’ defense struggled early last season but got better as the season went along as the Wildcats allowed 27.4 points per game in their 5-6 season.

In the team’s 1-6 start, the Wildcats allowed 30 points per game, but they improved that to 22.8 points per game in a 4-0 finish. That strong finish included a win over Albany State for the SIAC East title and a win over Kentucky State for the conference championship.

“We’ve got guys who we were playing last year, and I think the bond is still good, and I feel like we’re going to have a good season,” junior defensive back Kentron James said. “We started off slow, and I think it helped us that we were able to come along at the end of the season and start winning games and start trusting each other. When it came down to the conference championship the last game of the season, we all played together. “

The Wildcats’ defense is looking to keep that momentum going this season

“We made a few adjustments, and we have more big guys up front, so we should be well put together,” senior linebacker Cannon Thomas said. “We did a lot of bonding early when we were losing games, and we came together at the end and kept winning.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Kevin Porter wants Fort Valley State team to lean on defense."