That process seems to be bearing fruit, embodied by sophomore defensive end Porter Small earning defensive player of the week honors from the Big Sky Conference after WSU’s two-overtime win at Cal Poly.

It also signifies Small’s own journey, too. The 6-foot-4 Springville native served a two-year mission in Florida, spent a year grayshirting at BYU, then played as an occasional backup at Weber State last season, totaling six tackles in nine games.

So Cal Poly was definitely his coming-out party, though he doesn’t see it that way.

“It’s really special,” Small said about having the chance to be a key contributor in Division I football. “I love these guys. I feel like they’re my brothers, genuinely. I’m not a huge celebration guy after a play, because I like celebrating with the guys more than dancing or something.”

Robert Casey, Weber State Athletics

Small totaled five tackles in last week’s win. Four of them went for a loss, and three of them were sacks.

Two of those sacks were gamechangers. With Cal Poly leading 27-24 and just more than 7 minutes left, the Mustangs started a slow drive across midfield and looked like they might ice the game. But after a self-inflicted wound on a holding penalty, Cal Poly was in iffy territory when Small chased quarterback Anthony Grigsby Jr. well out of the pocket for a sack.

That pushed the Mustangs back to the 39, out of field goal range. CP punted to WSU with 2:07 left, and the Wildcats converted a field goal to get to overtime.

The two teams traded quick touchdowns in the first overtime, and Weber State took the lead on a Nate Dahle to Tate Kjar touchdown pass (and two-point conversion pass to Noah Kjar) in the second OT, meaning Cal Poly had to answer with a touchdown.

On third-and-9 from the WSU 24, a collapsing pocket had Small dropping Grigsby again, this for a loss of 10 yards. Grigsby chucked the ensuing fourth-and-19 from the 34 as a prayer to the end zone, and it was not answered.

“It’s special to do it for (teammates), to give them a chance … none of the plays I made at Cal Poly were just me, it was everyone,” Small said. “It’s nice to capitalize on it this week but other weeks it might be someone else, and that’s just as fun.”

Defensive coordinator and safeties coach Gavin Fowler said he’s proud of Small, but not surprised after seeing him work in spring camp despite being out with a shoulder injury.

WSU’s injured players work off to the side in “the pit” on things like walking or running stadium stairs, or exercise sessions directed by strength coach Micah Cloward.

“People don’t see how hard he works every day,” Fowler said. “I would watch him every day in the pit … Porter would get after it and work his butt off every day. The second he stepped back on the field, there was no lull with him.

“He’s worked really hard to improve on the techniques that coach (James) Cowser and coach (Ono) Tafisi are teaching those guys. He’s really embraced the grind and working hard. To finally see someone have a big breakout like that made me really happy. Nobody deserved that more than Porter. He’s worked so hard … and seeing his teammates get so excited for him, too, because they’ve seen how hard he worked, that was really cool.”

WSU has given up 39 points per game over the last two contests, but in ways that felt different than previous struggles. A turnover-prone offense has put the defense in a bind more times than would be desired.

Small’s plays were snapshots of the moments Fowler says are becoming more frequent for his defense, building them into stretches instead of flashes.

Fowler keeps a list of Weber State’s defensive goals for each game and, after each contest, changes them to either red (didn’t meet the goal) or green (met the goal). The first few games of the season, the entire sheet ended up red.

“We weren’t far off from playing good defense and the last couple games, a lot more green is showing up on that sheet,” Fowler said. “My goal sheet is us playing great defense. … Did we play great defense? No, but we played pretty good. Good enough. But we want to be great, we don’t want to be good enough.

“The guys have really bought in and are starting to see that when they trust the calls, the techniques, and then trust each other, and just play hard, we’re seeing bigger and bigger stretches of playing great defense.

“Now,” he concluded, “we’re just waiting to put together a whole game of great defense. The guys are starting to see it and feel it, and they’re pushing each other.”

At 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big Sky, Weber State plays its next two games at home, hoping to show fans that continued effort as the team hosts Idaho and Idaho State in consecutive weeks. Both games kick off at 1 p.m.