Forbes 'factors into' Bison coach's plans

New Bucknell University head football coach Joe Susan is a no-nonsense guy.

Susan also knows talent when he sees it.

As a Bucknell assistant coach in the '80s, Susan recruited Greg Schiano to play for the Bison. That set up a relationship that led to Susan and Schiano coaching together at Rutgers, where Susan was a coach and recruiting coordinator from 2001-09 under Schiano.

While at Rutgers, Susan had a hand in bringing in such current NFL talents as Ray Rice, Kenny Britt and Anthony Davis, so when Susan takes an interest in a player, it's not a smoke job.

He even went so far as when asked about Brent Forbes, a Shamokin Area graduate and a true freshman at Bucknell this season, to claim that, "Everybody factors into the plan."

After playing fullback and a slew of positions on defense, including defensive end and linebacker, for the Indians for the past four years, Forbes has just one position to focus on - defensive end.

"Brent is a guy we got on late," Susan said. "I coached with Joe Gubernot at Bucknell in the late '80s, and Joe called and said this was a special kid. I got to know Brent, got to know his family.

"Being a running back and a linebacker in high school it was obvious that he was athletic and very physical. He's going to spend time with us in a three-point stance and we'll play him as a defensive end."

While Susan couldn't make any predictions going into preseason camp on whether Forbes will see time in his first year on campus, he did have the feeling that the defense would be the strength of this year's Bison team.

"The physical positions, o-line and d-line, are big transitions from high school to college," Susan said.

"There are a lot of open doors for us on both sides of the ball, but I would say that if we have very good depth at any one position it's along the defensive line with a lot of returning experience on our team.

"Brent's going to wind up being a big, physical kid when it's all over. In terms of maturity, when kids go from 18 to 19 to 20, nature runs its course combined with what we do in the weight room."

The Bison defense gets a big boost with the return of Josh Eden after a two-year Mormon mission. Eden started every game as a freshman and sophomore. As a sophomore he was a first team All-Patriot League player, and he reassumes his starting spot at end.

"I think from the standpoint of preparedness, our defense is a little ahead of our offense," Susan said. "Our defense, transitionally goes from a three-down to a four-down team. The obvious is a change in language, but the technique things are the same. We have a little bit more in the way of experience on defense as well."

After losing all of 2009's starting linebackers to graduation, Travis Nissley leads a renewed group, while two of the four starting defensive backs are returning starters.

The offense not only gets a new starting quarterback with the graduation of Marcello Trigg, but a completely revamped philosophy.

The offense, which relied so much on the option under former coach Tim Landis, will now be a pro-style offense, something close to what has been run at Rutgers.

"Offensively, we're making a big transition from what was an option team to being a pro-style attack," Susan said. "Those pose learning curves for the offensive line and quarterbacks especially. We had the opportunity to install it in the spring, and have the opportunity to re-install it in the preseason. I think the kids have really caught on to what we're doing, and our personnel is structured the way I want it."

But everyone knows that what happens in spring can sometimes be just a distant memory come fall practice and Susan, who has been in college coaching for nearly 30 years, knows the reality of dealing with students.

"Obviously we'll see when it starts, but we've created some competition at quarterback," Susan said. "On the offensive line we're trying to prepare to get the best kids ready, not necessarily the first five, but getting the best group of kids ready and we'll find out what positions they fit in as we go.

"These are intelligent kids, but we as coaches spend time on it every day, and I'm not sure the kids are spending time on it every day, even though we encourage them to do so. We're going to start again from ground zero and work our way up, but I think if they feel confident about what we're doing they'll catch on fairly quickly."

As with any team, ball control is an easy barometer for success. Susan pointed out that last year's Bison squad had 23 takeaways on defense, but also turned the ball over 23 times.

Bucknell posted a 4-7 record, with just a 2-4 mark in the Patriot League. And while installing a new offense and a change in defense may help the Bison compete for a league title long term (Bucknell's only Patriot title came in 1996), improvement this season will be based on how the team reacts to each new challenge presented it.

"We expect them to approach each and every opportunity one at a time," Susan said, "and really knowing what I know about football, if we can be good on defense and be smart about how we protect the football, we have a chance. I think we have a chance to be pretty good on defense."

Bucknell opens the season Sept. 4 at Duquesne.