Lights Football 2016: MSU-Northern defense ready to get defensive

A year ago, the Montana State University-Northern defense wasn’t devoid of talent. That certainly wasn’t an issue. But, like all facets of the MSU-N football team in 2015, the Lights’ defense had to endure the growing pains that are accompanied by a true rebuilding season.

And, despite all that talent, the pains were many, as the top offenses in the league terrorized a young Northern defense which allowed a whopping 51 points per game, and 480 yards per outing.

Now, as a new season dawns, the Lights still have talent, and even more of it. Northern, through an outstanding recruiting class this spring, has built some solid depth. So there’s reason to be optimistic that the Lights’ defense can be much better this season and, if Northern is going to succeed as a whole, it certainly must be.

“We expect that our defense is going to play well this year,” second-year MSU-N head coach Aaron Christensen said. “We have to play better, and I feel like we have the guys to do that. We have a lot of really good athletes on defense, and we have depth, too. I think we’re much better off there than we were at the end of last season.”

For the MSU-N defense, led by longtime coordinator and former Frontier All-Conference standout Jake Eldridge, everything starts up front — where the Lights are absolutely loaded, starting four seniors with a lot of reps between them.

Of course, the mainstay is at defensive end where Tyler Craig has been a nightmare for opposing offenses for the last three seasons. A First-Team All-Conference performer last season, the 6-2, 230-pound Craig, a native of Great Falls, is entering his fourth year of starting for the Lights, and, his last year of what’s been a remarkable career. As a sophomore, Craig paced the Frontier in sacks with 12, and he racked up 10 more last season. In his last three years, Craig has nearly 30 sacks and another 40-plus tackles for loss, while also being productive when not rushing the passer. Last season, the ferocious Craig racked up 82 total tackles.

“He’s just an outstanding football player,” Christensen said. “He does everything right, on and off the field. His motor never stops. Every single day he does something in practice against our offense where we just had no chance at stopping him.”

And Craig is literally the engine for what should be one of the best front fours in the Frontier Conference. Fellow senior defensive end Jordan Brusio (6-1, 230) had six sacks and 10.5 TFLs last season, while senior tackles Pat Barnett (6-2, 265) and Lane Urick (6-1, 285) are back as two of the top defensive tackles in the league. Northern also likes its depth on the line with Elijah Dennison (6-2, 245), Mitchell Harmon (6-1, 245) and Linwood Kirkland (6-0, 260).

“Our defensive line is experienced, and they’re playing well,” Christensen said. “That’s definitely one of the biggest strengths of our team.”

At linebacker, the Lights also feel they’ve gotten better and deeper. They lost standout tackler Tucker Dunn, but returning junior Garet Fowler (5-10, 205), who had 73 tackles a year ago, should be the heart of a linebacking group that also returns Jess Morales (6-0, 210), who had 74 stops last season. Other LBs who are expected to be in the hunt for major reps this season include Alec Wagner (5-11, 210), T.J. Gasetoto (6-0, 215), Kyle Martinez (6-0, 240), Jonathan Gragg (6-2, 210) and David N’Guessa (6-0, 190).

“Garet Fowler is probably the most improved player on our entire roster,” Christensen said. “He’s made the biggest jump since I’ve been here. He’s going to have a big season for us.”

On the back end, Northern will look to its two returning starting safeties to lead the way. The Lights were solid against the pass last year, but lost starting corner Malcolm Manuel. Still with senior Logan Sprouse (5-11, 170) and Garrett Jerricoff (5-9, 195) back, the Lights will have a veteran presence in the secondary. Sprouse led the Lights with three interceptions last season, while together, the two safeties combined for nearly 150 tackles. Corey Lee (5-10, 175), Dujuan Jones (6-1, 190), Sherman Arthur (6-1, 170) and Dequincy Bergen (5-10, 180) are all players who will also see time at corner and safety this season.

“We have our safeties who are seniors, and both are very good football players,” Christensen said. “So we have a veteran presence in the secondary. We’re going to be a little more inexperienced at corner, but, again, I think we have better depth there than we had last season, and that’s going to help out a lot.”

Depth, Christensen said, is one of the biggest keys to Northern’s defense being much-improved this season. The Lights had talent last season, no doubt, but, they also had very few seniors on the defensive depth chart, and very little depth to back up injuries and other things, and that certainly led to Northern’s share of struggles.

Now, however, as Northern enters a 2016 season

hungry to put last year’s 0-11 campaign behind it, the Lights’ defense will look much different, even with stars like Craig, Brusio, Barnett, Fowler and Sprouse still there.

“I know it’s kind of a recurring theme with this team right now,” Christensen said. “But I really do think we are a lot better now than we were at the end of last season. Our defense has a lot of talent and a lot of veteran guys in key areas. But with the depth we’ve added, they’ve just gotten better and better. I think we were better at the end of spring than we were when we started, and I feel that way with how the defense has played in fall camp. They’ve gotten better every single day.

“I think our defense is going to be a strength this season,” he continued. “I like the athletes we have, and they have really been getting after it in camp. So I expect our defense is going to play very well this season.”

Special Teams

Like all areas on the football field, special teams matters. And the Lights are looking for big things out of their special teams units this season.

Northern will have some new faces in different areas this season, including at kicker, where Tommy Langley takes over the duties. Langley (5-11, 190) is a transfer from Modesto Junior College in California and, thus far, he has been booming good kicks throughout fall camp.

In two other key special teams areas, the Lights return leaders from last season.

Punter Dillon Barnes (6-0, 160) is back for his senior season after averaging 39.9 yards per punt a season ago. Also back is sophomore running back Jett Robertson to handle kickoff return duties. As last season went on Robertson became more and more of a threat on kickoff return, and by the end of 2015, he was averaging nearly 25 yards per return.

Northern will also look at wide receivers Donovan Garner and Ethan Snow, as well as cornerback Sherman Arthur to return punts and kicks as well.

Editor’s Note: For a complete look at the MSU-Northern offense, see Wednesday’s Havre Daily News. For an entire breakdown of the 2016 Frontier Conference season, see Thursday’s HDN. And, for full coverage of the Lights’ season-opener Saturday against Rocky Mountain College, see Friday’s sports section and Game Day issue.