Stingy secondary controls the air for Cedar Rapids Titans

CEDAR RAPIDS – No unit in the Indoor Football League is stressed quite like a defensive secondary.

Tasked with defending quick throws out of formations that allow slot receivers full-speed breaks at the snap of the ball, cornerbacks and safeties have little room to work with as they attempt to stop the league's preferred method of moving the ball.

As the season reaches the midway portion, the Cedar Rapids Titans have crafted one of the best groups in the IFL.

'You've got to be real disciplined,” said Titans rookie defensive back Fred Griggs, who will try to help hold down the potent Nebraska Danger offense in an IFL game at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center. 'You've got a wall, which is an extra defender, but it can honestly hurt you a lot of the time. When you think he's not going, he's right down the wall. It's a whole other game and you really have to adjust and become an arena football player when you play this.”

Griggs, 24, is fourth in the league with 55 tackles for a Cedar Rapids defense that is the IFL's stingiest when it comes to fewest pass yards allowed per game (120.9).

Arius Wright (30 tackles, two interceptions) is the lone returner from last season, while newcomers Devin Ghafoor (two interceptions), Kadeem Satchell, Antoine Tharpe and former Indiana Hoosier Tim Bennett (28 tackles, team-high four pass breakups) have formed an athletic, communicative unit.

Cedar Rapids also added free agent Nathan Lindsey this week, who was in minicamp with the NFL's Detroit Lions last summer.

'Those drives that we get on defense that work out best for us are the drives where our defensive line complements our DBs,” Griggs said. 'They'll get a good pass rush at the perfect time that we cover the best. It's just us complementing each other and just going out there and trying to be on the same page.”

A native of Tallahassee, Fla., the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Griggs spent the last two years of his college career in Oskaloosa at William Penn. Griggs helped the Statesmen reach the 2013 NAIA playoffs as a junior and tallied 81 tackles and two interceptions in 29 career starts.

Griggs signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, but was released last May after suffering a separated shoulder toward the end of training camp.

'Going to camp, running around with some of the faster guys in the country definitely made me feel like I belonged,” Griggs said.

The Cedar Rapids defense will be looking for a bit of redemption Saturday against Nebraska and quarterback Jameel Sewell, who scorched the Titans with 78 points in a March 4 loss.

'Defensively, that was obviously our worst game,” Griggs said. 'We've still got that bad taste in our mouth.”

Cedar Rapids is expected to be without Ghafoor (family leave) and quarterback Dylan Favre, who is nursing an injured throwing shoulder. Receiver Ryan Balentine will move under center.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com