2015 MSU-N football preview: Northern brings a stout defense to the fall

There’s a football adage that says offense wins games, but defense wins championships. And while the Montana State University-Northern Lights are still putting together a brand new offense under first-year head coach Aaron Christensen, the Lights’ defense is ready to be a championship-caliber squad.

Veteran defensive coordinator Jake Eldridge, who spent last season as Northern’s interim head coach, is back in full charge of the MSU-N defense this season, and so far in fall camp, the Lights are looking like a veteran, and stout group.

“We’re talented and experienced on defense,” Christensen said. “Our strength is on the D-Line because we have some really good players there, and they’re a veteran group. But in general, the defense has played really well this fall, and they are definitely a strength of this team right now.”

The Northern defense, led by the return of All-Conference defensive end Tyler Craig (6-2, 245) is probably going to play with a nasty chip on its shoulder all season long. The Lights were talented on defense a year ago, too, and they started off strong. But, as the season wore on, the Lights seemed to wear down. Though Craig, now a junior, led the Frontier Conference with 10 sacks, MSU-N finished the season allowing 44 points per game and giving up 448 yards of offense per outing.

But that was last year, and a young 2014 MSU-N defense is ready to come of age this fall.

While Craig is touted as one of the top defensive players in the league, his mates along the defensive line are also very good. Fellow defensive end Jordan Brusio (5-11, 240) had 9.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks last season, and he’ll benefit greatly from so much attention being paid to Craig this season. On the inside, MSU-N starts two outstanding tackles, led by Patrick Barnett (6-2, 265), who is both a pass rusher and run stopper. Add in the talents of Lane Urick (6-1, 285), as well as promising backups like Josh Loutzenhiser (6-1, 255) and Linwood Kirkland (6-0, 260) and the Lights should be very formidable up front.

And in actuality, the Lights’ front seven could pose a serious challenge this season for opposing offenses. Junior Tucker Dunn (6-1, 225) is MSU-N’s top returning tackler after registering 71 tackles and seven TFLs last year. And fellow linebacker Garet Fowler (5-10, 205) saw plenty of time a season ago. Jonathan McGinnis (6-1, 205) will also start on the outside, while sophomore Jesse Morales (6-0, 210) should see significant time as well.

“The strength of our defense is our line,” Christensen said. “Tyler Craig is a really good football player who has worked really hard to get even better. Pat Barnett is another guy who I think is a really good football player, and as a group, the guys on the line have a lot of experience and have played together.

“And I think our entire front seven will be really strong,” he continued. “With Tucker Dunn and Garet Fowler back from last year, we have some experienced linebackers. So I think our defense has a chance to do some great things this season.”

Indeed, Northern even returns some experience in the secondary, though the Lights will be breaking in some new players there. With cornerback Malcolm Manuel (5-9, 170) back for his senior season, and Garrett Jericoff (5-9, 195) sliding into a starting safety position, the Lights have some stability in the secondary, even with the losses of two of the top tacklers on the team in 2014 in safeties Hunter Chandler and Butch Hyder.

Still, Christensen said the secondary will be a work in progress. Other than Manuel and Jericoff, the rest of the secondary is brand new, with transfer Trejaun Ford (6-0, 185) and newcomer Logan Sprouse (5-11, 170) set to start alongside Manuel and Jericoff. MSU-N will also have young backups in the secondary, but the talent is certainly there.

“The secondary is the one area on defense where we’re young and inexperienced,” Christensen said. “But Malcolm Manuel is back and he’s a team captain this season, so he’ll lead us back there. And we do have some athletic guys back there, it’s just a matter of learning how to play in the secondary at the college level.”

But even with some inexperience in the secondary, the Lights are showing signs of having a stellar defensive unit this season. And against so many potent offenses around the Frontier, a stout defense can give a team the edge it needs in a league with so much parity.

“I like the way our defense has played in fall camp,” Christensen said. “Those guys have really played well. We have a lot of experience, and we’re developing some young depth, too. So we feel really good about where our defense is at going into our first game.”

Special Teams

While the Lights have a wealth of returning experience on defense, the same can’t be said for the kicking game. Instead, Christensen is breaking in two new players to do the kicking.

The place kicking duties will fall on the shoulders of transfer Jaime Toscano (5-8, 210). He’ll replace All-Conference standout Jordan Rueschhoff, who was stellar for the Lights the last two seasons. The punting job will go to fellow transfer Dillon Barnes (6-0, 160), and Christensen is excited about what both players bring to the table.

“Both of those guys are from the same junior college,” Christensen said. “Dillon Barnes can really boot the ball when he gets ahold of one, and he’s done really well. Jaime Toscano is a very accurate kicker. He isn’t going to be making 50-yarders or anything like that, but he’s very accurate and he makes the ones he’s supposed too.”

In the return game, Jake Messerly (6-1, 195) has been a stalwart for the Lights, and is explosive as both a kickoff and punt returner. After Messerly, the Lights will be working in new returners, but with his explosiveness, MSU-N could be very dangerous in the return game this season.

Countdown to Dickinson State

The MSU-Northern Lights are just two days from the start of the 2015 season, and fans can get all the Lights' coverage they need this week with the Havre Daily News. On Thursday, there will be a full season preview of the Lights and Friday's HDN will feature a preview of their season-opening game at Dickinson State University. Look for online and Twitter coverage of the game over the weekend and a complete wrapup of Northern's season-opener in Monday's HDN.