From laughingstock to elite: How the Bishop Verot defense turned things around in 2023 season

After allowing a season-high 626 yards to Florida High in the Class 2S state semifinals last season, Dave Villegas knew things had to change with the amount of young talent he had coming up on the defensive side of the football.

The Bishop Verot defensive coordinator had heard the criticism all season. His players had heard it. Knowing that this year is the Vikings' window to potentially capture a state title, they all stopped listening to the criticism and went to work in the offseason.

That work involved extensive time in the weight room and also working with players to understand the scheme he was trying to install. Verot coach Richie Rode knew installing it would take time, and that Villegas received a fair amount of undue criticism because of many seniors that had left following the 2021 season. There was lots of youth and inexperience at key positions that were exploited by opponents.

Now, that undue criticism has turned into commendable praise.

The Vikings have tightened the defensive side of the ball, going from allowing 386.7 yards per game last season to just 245.3 yards per game this season, helping Bishop Verot to a 10-1 record entering Friday's Class 2S-Region 3 semifinal contest against Estero.

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“They took the weight room serious, plus playing defense is a physical, physical game," Rode said. "You have to control the line. We know we’re a little undersized, but we know we have to play relentless. This group, led by Jeremiah (Dean), led by Parker (Turner), led by Ryan Gadson, our senior leaders had a group to buy in and be relentless in the weight room, be relentless in practice. We tackle every day. They’re a sound tackling team and they fly to the ball. If we play with effort on defense, you’re gonna have a chance. We have 11 guys who play with effort, but it goes beyond that. We preach depth, we preach getting your moment, and when you get your moment, you’ve gotta step in because injuries happen. We have a bunch of guys who can do that. We rotate on the D-line. The guys are ready for their moment. We have a lot of depth.

"Heck, we’re dressing like 55 guys. It’s killing the food budget. The pregame meal budget is expensive. They deserve it. Everybody we dress has earned it and deserved it. We have a lot of depth in our program. We have over 100 kids in our program. We’re proud of that.”

Verot has often gone to the second-team defense in many second-halves, leading to partially inflated numbers defensively this year. The Vikings' defense is allowing 14.1 points per game on the field this season, but just 9.9 points per contest with the first-team defense on the field. The first-team defense is also allowing far fewer than 200 yards per game, a winning formula if the Vikings want to become the first team in Lee County to capture a state championship in football.

“The core group of these guys, like Jeremiah, Parker, and Ryan Gadson, they’ve been with us for three years now,” Villegas said. “They’re finally starting to grow into their own. Even last year, when we weren’t doing well, I felt like we had something there. All the pieces weren’t together yet. We moved Parker, we just looked at what we were running scheme-wise and cut some things out, and added some things we were good at, and what our coaches were good at coaching and comfortable doing. We just blended it to what we are.

"Leroy (Roker) has fit in like a glove. It’s all worked. I’m just happy for them because those kids bust their tails and they never got anything. Now they’re getting a little bit of love. Parker, Ryan, Leroy, Eddie, Jeremiah, Ryan Peterson, all those guys, they deserve all of that.”

Turner saw the potential this team had over the summer in weight room sessions, especially with the transfer of Roker from Canterbury. Committed to Ohio State, Roker leads the area with seven interceptions this season, which ranks tied for sixth in the state. Coupling that in with returning many young players who were still gaining varsity experience, the Vikings are a formidable group that's racked up 18 takeaways, four blocked kicks, 27.5 sacks, and 109 quarterback hurries. All of those metrics are improvements from last season.

“We knew we had something special coming into this summer,” Turner said. “Especially, coming to workouts and stuff, we put in the work and it’s starting to show. It’s definitely a big improvement. Last year, I know you guys saw, we gave up a good amount of points, more than we probably should have. We were young last year, but Coach V has done a great job with us on and off the field.”

“For defense, for Coach V, it’s coming out and doing what we do. There were definitely doubts coming into this season about giving up enough points. I think we’ve proved enough. We bring Coach V gifts. We bring in donuts sometimes.”

Having been on staff together at Cypress Lake as well, Rode and Villegas have known each other for years, as Villegas was the secondary coach with the Panthers, who won their first district title in 25 years back in 2019. That year, Cypress Lake allowed just 141 points in 11 games, tying the mark for the lowest points allowed in a season in the MaxPreps era. In the two prior years under Rode at Cypress Lake, the defense allowed a combined 507 points in 2017 and 2018.

It follows a similar track that the Verot defense has taken this year, having allowed a combined 643 points over Rode's first two seasons with the program in 2021 and 2022, to just 141 points allowed over 10 games on the field this season.

“It takes time to install your stuff,” Rode said. “Like I’ve said before, this is only year three. Last year was only year two. As a coaching staff, it was a different defense, a different scheme, a learning experience. After our first year here, we lost guys like Austin Redd, who led the area in tackles. We had key guys we needed to replace. Last year against Florida High in the state semifinal game, we started six freshmen, four on defense. We were young. You go through that, especially early on in a program. Sometimes when you cycle through, the older senior leaders were good, but we were thin. We had to play a lot of guys and a lot of guys early.

"We started Micah Anderson as a freshman. We started Dwyer Camron as a freshman. We started Ryan Peterson as a sophomore. We had a lot of young guys starting that are now superstars, and people are like, ‘Where’d they come from?’ They were playing and taking some of that abuse last year and making good plays but not enough of them. They took the criticism to heart, and then they grew up and got older, testosterone kicked in, and they lifted really hard. They came back as experienced players."

Villegas believes this year's defense will be enough to give the Vikings a chance to win the last game of the season, especially when the two sides square off in practice. The third-year defensive coordinator had a sense of his unit's potential in practice, going up against the area's most potent offense.

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"The one thing we've had all year, we've played with an edge," Villegas said. "We've played with an attitude and a chip on our shoulder. That's what paid off. We didn't walk into a game intimidated because we're playing a kid going to Florida, or Notre Dame, or this or that. It doesn't matter to them. You see who we go up against in practice every day. We've got Division I guys and future Division I guys in our offense.

"We play against those guys, and we hold our own. That's when I knew things started to click. They aren't scared of those guys, they're ready to beat them and smack them in the mouth and not be intimidated by their trash talk or anything. Once that happened, I knew they were ready for anything. I still feel that way. They're a hard-nosed group of kids."

Follow Southwest Florida Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X: @NP_AlexMartin. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: After lackluster 2022 season, Bishop Verot defense arguably area's best in 2023