Boise State football hired a tackling specialist. Here’s what he’s seen so far
The makeup of Boise State football’s defensive backfield will be vastly different in 2026, and the coaching staff is working to ensure that it’s not names and numbers on the jerseys that have changed.
Along with losing four of its starting five defensive backs from last season, the program saw the departure of its cornerbacks and safeties coaches. In response, head coach Spencer Danielson combined the two roles and brought in Terrence Brown to serve as the newly dubbed “defensive backs” coach.
It’s a role Brown held with the Cal Golden Bears for multiple seasons before arriving in Boise, but it wasn’t just his ability to coach a large group that brought him to the Treasure Valley.
He’s also a specialist in teaching tackling.
“Terrence Brown was a huge hire for us,” Danielson said on March 23 ahead of the beginning of spring practice. “... I’ve known him for a long time, a phenomenal defensive football coach, but an elite technician in regards to the defensive backs.”
Tackling remained a sore point for the Broncos throughout last season. Among the five primary starters in the defensive backfield in 2025, four had a missed tackle rate above 19%. Only safety Derek Ganter, who returns in 2026 as a redshirt junior, had a respectable 8.8%.
Tackling woes played a large part in several of the Broncos’ losses last season, whether it be the inability to bring down former South Florida QB Byrum Brown in week 1 or Washington running back Jonah Coleman in the LA Bowl.
It’s Brown’s job this offseason to instill a “violent” and “physical” mindset across the defense — from defensive line to linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks — to lift that facet of the game.
“One of the things that is a consistent theme in terms of missed tackles is you see guys leaving their feet,” Brown said Thursday.
“We want to make sure we get on contact. We want to really step on the ball carrier’s toes, and we want to continue to drive our feet on contact.”
Since arriving on campus, Brown has been watching tape of all the Broncos’ missed tackles from last season and pinpointing specific areas for improvement. He said the biggest thing he’s worked on is getting defenders to tackle at the proper pad level — maintaining a low center of gravity and tackling at or below the hips and thighs.
On top of that, he wants to see defenders constantly keeping their eyes in the right place: locked on the ball carrier’s hips.
The good news after a few weeks of spring practice? Brown said he is seeing improvements across the entire defense.
Players with extensive playing experience, such as redshirt junior linebacker Boen Phelps, have impressed Brown. Up-and-coming talent Travis Anderson, a redshirt sophomore defensive back, has also taken big strides, according to the coach.
“Guys in the space, in the perimeter, open field, those are the guys that you generally see missing tackles,” Brown said. “And we do a really good job with our interior D line, outside linebackers, our edges and our studs ... emphasizing things with those guys. You can see them demonstrating really solid tackling.”
