College football: FBA's Blane Briggs playing important role in Colgate's top-rated D

Colgate head coach Dan Hunt has been in this collegiate game for 28 years and he's never been around a defense like this FCS top-rated one.

"It's unbelievable," Hunt said. "Never seen anything like it. They're dominant. But if you watch them practice, you'd understand why and Blane's a big part of that."

That's Blane Briggs, a 6-foot-1, 225 sophomore inside linebacker from First Baptist Academy, where he was a bit overshadowed by Joe Sparacio, the year younger son of FBA coach Billy and the Naples Daily News Player of the Year after last season. Sparacio is now at Boston College and has played as a true freshman.

So even though he was a two-time Daily News all-area player and team captain, Briggs flew under the radar. Programs like Appalachian State and Florida International were showing interest during his junior year, but Colgate offered, and two weeks later, Briggs accepted.

"I figured an education at Colgate, you really can't pass that up," said the son of John, an FBA assistant.

There was a close Colgate connection. Billy Sparacio played tailback for the Raiders from 1990-93.

"I'm good friends with Billy," said Hunt, who recruited Joe Sparacio and came close. "He's one of my favorite people in the world. And when Bill was at Barron Collier, we recruited a bunch of his players. I believe there were four who played for us over the years. Then when he moved over to First Baptist, we recruited a bunch and the situation is never perfect, but Blane was a home run."

Briggs has played in 19 games for Colgate (9-1), which is coming off its first loss of the season, 28-14, at bowl-bound FBS program Army, but is heading to the FCS playoffs as an eighth seed. Even against Army, the defense was something else. The Black Knights managed just 261 rushing yards, which matched their season low, and they had only 286 total yards, 25 more than Colgate. And offensively, Ida Baker grad Sage Attwood completed 11 of 16 passes for 63 yards.

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The Raiders are top-ranked among the 125 FCS programs in scoring defense (a ridiculous 5.7 points per game, more than six less than the second-place team) and total defense (201.1 yards per game; the next-closest is at 254.3). Colgate has pitched five shutouts and outscored its FCS foes 67-0 in first quarters and 195-9 in first halves. The Raiders have scored four defensive touchdowns and rank second vs. the pass (122.5 ypg) and third vs. the rush (77.1 ypg).

There is no weakness.

"It's actually unreal," Briggs said. "Sometimes you get caught up and don't realize you're part of something this special. But coach (Paul) Shaffner, our defensive coordinator, is the best in the business. He really is. Our other defensive coaches are unreal. They push us to the limit every day and they expect a lot of us."

Hunt said Briggs has been following the leads of inside linebackers Nick Ioanelli, a senior, and junior T.J. Holl, both of whom have helped push the sophomore.

"We've had a nice run of having very good linebackers and the exact track that all the really good ones take is their freshman year, they're on the scout team and they wreak havoc down there and you notice them," Hunt said. "And that's exactly what he did. And obviously he played on a bunch of special teams.

"Sophomore year, more special teams, but also get into the depth chart and play positionally and then junior and senior year, ready to take on the world. And that's exactly the path he's taken. The sky's the limit."

During last season, Briggs led the special teams with seven tackles. After it, he was named the Gordon Watson Scout Team Player of the Year.

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"I loved every minute of it," Briggs said. "I love competing every day. I figured it was a chance for me to earn respect among the team, so I went all-out every single day on the scout team and played my role on special teams. I loved going out there and making our starting offense better."

During the third spring practice, Briggs partially tore a hamstring and missed five weeks. But he's long been back to full speed and he has three tackles in seven games after totaling 12 in 11 games last season.

"I feel like I've made big improvements from last year -- gaining weight, getting faster, understanding the schemes more and more," he said.

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Like Joe Sparacio, Briggs is an old-school tough guy.

"You look up linebacker, you'll see his picture," Hunt said. "Exactly what you want."

The Raiders get a bye for the first round of the FCS playoffs. On Dec. 1, they'll host Delaware or James Madison in their first playoff matchup since 2003, when they made the national championship game. Briggs said that, of course, the Raiders can win it all. Especially with this defense.

"It's awesome," he said. "It's a blessing. It's crazy. I know we'll keep it going through the playoffs."