By Ernie Gonzalez
When Inland Empire’s Arroyo Valley high school and Carter high schools clash on the gridiron, it’s everything a rivalry entails.
In 2014, Zamore Zigler, whose primary position as a Carter Lion was a defensive back, tallied 71 tackles and intercepted three balls thrown his way. A season prior in the league’s other corner, Arroyo Valley were struggling to win games but there was a diamond in the rough on defense, named Maurice McKnight.
Later that year, McKnight committed to San Diego State, only to decommit and choose to play for San Jose State defensive backs coach Donte Williams. Zigler and McKnight shared friends growing up but never met, however both settled for SJSU and found themselves not only on the same football field, but in the same room.
“Me and Reece were roommates … we came from the IE together and we both used to play defense in high school. This was the plan and now it’s my turn,” Zigler told The Spear.
After four complete seasons with the Spartans and being one of the better tacklers SJSU’s secondary has seen in some time, McKnight elected to play in the CFL. He even recorded an interception with the Edmonton Eskimos before they released him on Aug. 6.
Ultimately for Zigler, the decision behind changing from running back to cornerback came from within.
“Highly my decision … I played defense for two years in high school so I am trying to get the vibe back and make sure my technique gets down,” the corner said.
One thing that’s for certain is that it won’t be a cakewalk for the 166-pound ex-back. He will be part of the gap the Spartan secondary has to fill, one that leaves trace of his former roommate.
The junior played in 21 games at the running back position, which included playing time in all 13 games last season. Combining his 2016 and ‘17 campaigns, Zigler rushed for 775 yards and found the endzone four times, three coming his freshman season.
Not only is McKnight gone, but Andre Chachere and Jermaine Kelly, who are both now a part of the Houston Texans organization have left as well.
“For me it was simple,” Zigler said. “Had a talk with the head coach, learned the scheme in spring, studied the playbook and felt good where I fit in.”
Given that the Spartans placed 129th in the country last season in turnover margin (-26), it will almost come by habit that the defense would need to be on the field more times than not. In order to lower that turnover margin, the defense will need to be on its feet and collect a few of their own.
Last year, of the 16 total turnovers the SJSU defense forced, only six were through the air, so Zigler will have his hands full for sure, but that won’t stop him or anyone else on the defense.
“I think its real exciting … we’re getting everyone back [from injury], we got a lot of youth in the secondary and I think the defense is definitely looking to be solid this year and help us win,” said senior defensive back Dakari Monroe.
Of the team’s six interceptions last season, Monroe was responsible for half of them, which included picking off Wyoming quarterback Nick Smith twice in last season’s Senior-Night victory, the team’s lone conference win.
Sophomore linebacker Tysyn Parker, who also finds himself in a similar position as Zigler given he has a giant hole to fill at his position is on the same page as Monroe.
“I feel as a unit we have bought into the process in terms of what are coaches are trying to get us to do, and that’s win games,” Parker told The Spear.
Last season, the heart of the Spartan defense was Frank Ginda, who not only set a Mountain West single season record for total tackles, but led the country in that department with 173.
Back to Zigler, who stands no taller than 5’10” and already has a four-inch disadvantage to the average receiver in the conference.
Now it’s a bit ironic, but Zigler has a chance to be viewed as a hero, given the fact that he will now serve as a second fence to stop the run, a position he once played and a statistic the Spartans were absolutely torn apart in last season.
Just 15 yards per game separated SJSU from charting the opponent with a 300 rushing YPG average last season, as they ranked 128th of 129 teams in the inability stopping the run.
That stat plus the fact that the Spartan defense only got newer and younger, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Mountain West and others sticking to the agenda.
Zigler made it clear to head coach Brent Brennan that he wanted to tackle and not to be tackled since February, and from that point on, he’s spent every moment in the eyes of first-year defensive backs coach Aric Williams.
“Met him in spring ball, really good coach. Vocal. Always flying around with us,” Zigler said.
Zigler told The Spear it was tough leaving coach Alonzo Carter and the young running back mix, but he’s sure they will be just fine and he’s always going to be there for them.
“I’m still going to cheer them on and even at practice, now that I’m on the other side of the ball, I might even be more competitive with them so they can grow too,” Zigler said.
Although the SJSU defense has gone through a rough patch the last couple seasons, to number 24, he couldn’t care less.
“We aren’t worried about last season or the season before that,” Zigler said. “We are starting fresh, we are zero and zero right now and this whole team is on 12 and 0 behavior.”
Follow Ernie on Twitter@superego1012