2019 MSU-N Football: Lights ready to put the D in defense

The Montana State University-Northern Lights certainly had their struggles on defense last season. Starting as many as seven or eight true or red-shirt freshman will certainly contribute to a rough year defensively.

And yet with the 2019 season about to begin, the Lights, second-year head coach Andrew Rolin and his defensive coordinator, Jake Chestnut, are ready to put last year's defensive woes behind them.

"We put a huge emphasis on fundamental defense this past offseason," Rolin said. "We know, we have to be better than we were last year. That's just the bottom line. And it's starts with tackling. We have to tackle better. When an opponent gets to us, or we get to them, we have to put them on the ground. So we have put a huge emphasis on that. We've been working every single day on that."

Better tackling will certainly help amend some of the troubles the Lights had a season ago - a season in which a young Northern defense allowed 46 points per game and 536 yards of total offense per outing.

But to also be better, Northern needs its defenders to simply be better too, and Rolin thinks this year's defensive unit is much farther ahead than it was at this time last season.

"It always starts with recruiting," Rolin said. "And we put a huge emphasis on recruiting on the defensive side of the ball. We brought in some really good transfers, we have some young guys too that will step up. But, the guys we have coming back, they're just different players now. They've matured so much, they've put on weight and muscle, they've worked really hard. We were so young on defense last year, it was unbelievable. But you'll see, physically, we're just a totally different defense now."

No position was Northern younger at on defense than the defensive line. And by grade, MSU-N will be young there again, but, experience-wise, the Lights are no longer green up front. With returning junior defensive end Joe Fehr (6-3, 235), sophomore DE B.J. Hatcher (6-4, 240), and sophomore defensive tackles Justin Pfeifer (5-11, 290) and Trendae Umi-Tuato'o (5-11, 290) all returning, as well as the likes of Ian Sparrow (6-0, 215) and Derante Lamelle (6-0, 255) also back, the Lights have quickly went from a young DL to a front that will be poised for big things this season.

"Joe Fehr is a guy who I think is going to have a huge season," Rolin said. "He's so talented. And Justin Pfeifer, wow, he came in ready to go from day one of fall camp. You have a guy, B.J. Hatcher, who was starting at end as a 205-pound freshman last season, and now he comes in this year at 240, we've just matured so much there. Those guys are going to be a force this season."

The group that has the most veteran presence on the defense, however, is at linebacker. Junior Jaren Maki (6-2, 225) led the Lights in tackles a season ago, and he and fellow junior Jake Norby (6-2, 210) are entering their third year as starters. Transfer Shadarius Jenkins (6-3, 190) is another name to watch at the SAM position, while senior Morgan McCrary (5-10, 195) will also get plenty of time at the nickel. Add in up-and-comers like Dylan Wampler (6-1, 220), Sam Sanders (6-0, 225) and Chase Gilbert, and Northern's talent in the middle is really good.

"We feel really good there," Rolin said of the linebacker group. "We have a lot of talent. Jaren Maki is an All-Conference caliber player. He's also our team leader, and the unquestioned leader of the defense. He's a great player. Jake Norby is another guy, he's going to have a big season. And we've got some new guys there that are going to have an impact. That group is a real strength for us."

In recent years, Northern hasn't been able to say the same about the secondary. It's the hardest position in college football to recruit, and the Lights have had their share of struggles on the back end defensively. However, with key additions and key returners, Rolin's confidence in the secondary is growing day-by-day.

"We put a huge emphasis on getting better in the secondary," Rolin said. "We've brought some new faces in. On paper, teams will probably be licking their chops because they'll see we're still really young in the secondary. But I'll say this, I think we're going to surprise people with the talent we have there."

Northern will likely have four new starters at defensive back, with newcomers Josh Rose (6-0, 170)) and Robert Maxwell (5-11, 180) at corner and Hunter Riley (5-10, 186) and Japerri Powell (5-9, 175) at safety. Add to that more experienced returners like Devariej Criss (5-7, 160), Ostin Welch (6-2, 175), Jeff Tinae (5-11, 170) and Caleb Knoche (6-0, 192), among others, and the Lights are certainly going to improved on the back end of their defense.

And improving defensively is the goal.

MSU-N was by far the youngest defense in the Frontier Conference, if not the NAIA a year ago, so struggles were to be expected. But Rolin never let that be an excuse. He knew, and still knows, the time for his defense to rise up has come, no matter what the grade or age of his players may be.

"We have to be better, across the board," Rolin said. "We have to stop the run, we have to get off the field more on third down, we have to create more turnovers, we have to get pressure on the quarterback, all of it, we've got to improve in every aspect of defense.

"In this league, everybody has a talented quarterback, everybody has an explosive running game, everybody is strong offensively. This league is just so tough, so, we know, we need to get better defensively, and that's been a huge emphasis, from our winter conditioning to spring ball and fall camp."

A huge emphasis indeed. Now, however, it's time for the Lights to make it all pay off. Now is the time for Northern to make those strides defensively. And Rolin believes, his team will do just that.

"No excuses," Rolin said. "We have a lot to prove defensively. We understand that. But you know what? I really believe we have the guys in place to do the job. We have recruited really well. Our guys that are coming back have done a great job of developing and improving. Now they just need to execute. They need to play gap-sound football and tackle well. If we do those things, we'll be fine.

"And I think our guys will do it," he continued. "We're a different defense. We're so much more mature. You can see it. You can feel it on the practice field. As the guy running the offense, calling the plays, I can see it. I know we have the guys in place to make us a better defense than we were last season, and in turn, that makes us a better football team."

The Lights will get their first chance to find out this Saturday night when they face Arizona Christian in their season-opener in Phoenix. For a look at Northern's 2019 offense and special teams, see Wednesday's Havre Daily News.