Hanson Gives Tough Love To D-Line

HARRISONBURG — The gruff, yelling-from-the-back-of-his-throat defensive line coach who can be heard from across the practice field isn’t exactly the old-school assistant his exterior portrays him to be.

Jeff Hanson, a veteran of the coaching profession for more than four decades, is in his second season of his second stint at James Madison. He’s helped the team’s defensive front become one of the best in FCS by meshing together an unrelenting toughness on the field with the right amount of personal touch off of it.

“When I got here it took a while for [the defensive linemen] to understand me,” Hanson said. “It took a while for them to understand that I care about them as people. A lot of times a lot of coaches, probably 80 percent of coaches in this country, don’t give a [crap] about players. All they care about is winning on Saturdays.

“Well, our players found out that I really, truly cared about them as a person. And when they know you care about them, they give you extra effort, they’re more focused, they concentrate better and as far as the learning situation, it makes the learning situation a heck of a lot better.”

And results have proved Hanson’s point to be accurate and his approach to be right on.

This season, JMU leads the country with 48 total sacks with 30.5 of those having come from defensive linemen. Senior defensive end Andrew Ankrah is a Buck Buchanan Award finalist and leads the team with 8.5 sacks.

Last year, the Dukes registered just 24 sacks as a team and defensive linemen only accounted for 16.

But with more than a year of Hanson’s tutelage, the unit has vastly improved into a run-stuffing front line on first and second down and a quarterback’s nightmare on third.

All four of the Dukes’ starting defensive linemen have at least 8.5 tackles for loss.

“When we got here, that was the weakness of the defense,” second-year JMU coach Mike Houston said. “It was a soft, extremely soft, lazy, slow defensive line. It was not anything that resembled anything that you’d want.

“I thought it would take us years to transform that group, but it’s a credit, number one, to those kids that have worked very hard to change themselves physically and mentally, and number two, Coach Hanson with his approach. They love him. They play hard for him and he has a great relationship with those kids. He’s made them believe in themselves.”

Houston said Hanson is also as knowledgeable as any coach on staff, which is something he found out during the hiring process.

Houston had never worked with Hanson before their first year together at JMU. Hanson had spent the majority of his career as an assistant at Richmond.

“I know quite a few of those JMU defensive coaches and Jeff Hanson, in my opinion, is one of the best defensive line coaches that I’ve ever coached with,” Richmond coach Russ Huesman said. “I coached with him here at Richmond. He’s an incredible, incredible football coach and does an unbelievable job.”

Ankrah is an All-American and along with senior defensive tackle Simeyon Robinson and junior defensive end Darrious Carter, was an All-Colonial Athletic Association team selection. Senior defensive tackle Cornell Urquhart has more tackles (55) than the other three starters.

During the week leading up to Saturdays, Hanson carves out time to meet with each of the defensive linemen individually. He said he likes to get know them as well as he can.

“They have to be able to trust you,” Hanson said. “They know I have their best interest at heart and I care about them and eventually they learned to trust me. But we’ve talked about a lot of things individually in my office.

“The good Lord put me on this earth for one reason and that was to make a difference in young people’s lives and that’s what I want to do.”

Ankrah said he appreciates how Hanson goes beyond the X’s and O’s of a game plan to instill a message to the players.

Hanson uses war analogies and moments in American history to inspire, Ankrah said.

“He really preaches the messages of [World War II] General George Patton,” Ankrah said. “He preaches how the game of football is just like war and how you need to prepare for games just like General Patton used to prepare for his enemies.

“He says you need to know the enemy, which is your opponent, like the back of your hand. But I’ve bought into it and I believe in it and my teammates laugh at me and are like, ‘you sound like Coach Hanson,’ but it’s all about the preparation.

“If you prepare for the enemy and you know them like the back of your hand, when you get out there on Saturday, the games can be easier than practice.”

Ankrah said Hanson has already shared some Patton quotes that can relate to Saturday’s championship battle with North Dakota State when the Dukes (14-0) and Bison (13-1) kick off at noon inside Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

“I try to relate it to the defensive linemen especially because they’re involved in something every play,” Hanson said. “They’re getting hit every play, so it’s an individual battle every play and we need to win those individual battles up front so we can win the football game.”

Urquhart said Hanson is able to get all the linemen riled up before the team takes the field, too.

“So the D-Line and the O-Line and linebackers are the last ones to go out and we always say, ‘Where you at Triple-OG?’” Urquhart said. “That means original gangster from back in the day, but he always comes out.

“He starts talking about war and how we need to beat the opponent up and win the game.”

Urquhart, a Richmond native, added he looks forward to Hanson’s pre-game speeches.

“And you know, out on the practice field, he’s yelling at us and coaching us, but behind closed doors, he’s a great guy and he’s a people person that really cares about you,” Urquhart said. “His whole deal is that if you’re loyal to him, he’ll be loyal to you. We play our heart out for him and he does what he has to do for us. He backs us up.”

Hanson said he just does his job.

“In the game of football, we teach life lessons,” Hanson said. “I’m not only a teacher as far as football, but I’m a teacher as far as life and I feel like if I do my job with my players and spend enough time with my players and let them know what it takes to be successful in life, that’s part of my job and I’m doing it right.”