Football 3/31/2016 10:32:00 AM By Mark Maloney, MSUEagles.com

Spring Football Outlook: The Eagle Defense

This is the first of a three-part series looking at the Morehead State football team during spring drills. Class designations reflect each player's year for the 2016 fall season. Today: Defense.

As head coach of the Morehead State football team, Rob Tenyer says his top priority in spring drills is to come away healthy.

But, he says, it's also a time to try new ideas and adjust to new personnel.

Adjustments this year include a new defensive coordinator in Zack Moore, a former MSU standout who last season was in charge of linebackers.

"So we want to get back to the basics," Tenyer said. "We know this: we need to get better at defending the run, so we're going to really spend the majority of our time doing that. We hired a defensive line coach (Patrick Hill) that I think is going to help us in that area."

Morehead State gave up 200.9 rushing yards a game last season. Overall, the Eagles gave up 434.8 yards and 25.3 points a game.

Graduation hit the Eagles hard on defense, topped by the loss of all-league linebacker Luke Keller.

Moore says "our No. 1 thing is we need to find out what our identity is going to be in 2016; 2015 was a good year for us, but that was a different team."

MSU is coming off its best season in 10 years, having gone 7-4 overall and 6-2 in the Pioneer Football League.

The Eagles went through their first two of 15 spring drills last week and are now back from spring break.

No major changes are expected in how MSU plays defense.

"We tried to identify the things that we did really well (last season) and build on that," Moore said. "And either repair or replace the things that weren't really good for us. … There are some minor changes, but most of it is just cleaning up what we did last season."

Of course, spring drills don't take into account the freshmen who will be on campus later this year. MSU does not give the names of its incoming freshmen until they report, but Moore says the class will help reestablish quality depth. One thing that was stressed in the recruiting class was getting players who are proven winners because "that's one less thing you have to teach if it's already ingrained in who they are," Moore says.

The MSU front wall is keyed by redshirt junior Colt Briggs, who earned honorable mention on the All-PFL teams last season, and fifth-year senior Dustin Casey at the ends. Each played in 11 games last year, including 10 starts. They combined for 94 tackles and 20 sacks.

Briggs and Casey will be counted on to be leaders on the defensive line. That's because the Eagles lost three defensive tackles to graduation. The players needed to plug those holes will be short on game experience.

Although Keller is gone at the "Mike" linebacker position, fifth-year seniors Kam Able and Nick Wrightsel each saw significant time while Keller was sidelined by injury last season. With Ryan Bennett, who was second-team All-PFL last year and led the Eagles with 96 tackles, on the weak side and fellow senior Evan Yongue, the linebacker corps seems solid.

"In the secondary, we replace two senior corners," Moore said. "Usually the guys you hate to have to replace are your corners, your tackles, your 'Mike' linebacker. We're doing all three. But, at the same time, we have guys that are perfectly capable."

Those "guys" include redshirt sophomores Brandyn Duncan and Chauncey Jones.

"They just haven't proven that they can produce at the level that we need them to quite yet," Moore said. "But that's why we get paid – to get them there."

At safety, senior Dominic Iori (77 tackles), redshirt senior Brandon Louder and redshirt sophomore Sayyid Kanu all saw significant playing time last season. So did fifth-year senior Matt Brewer and sophomore Aaron Turk at the "nickel" spot.

In addition, redshirt freshmen Luke Moses and Justin Winn have been switched from offense.

"We moved them over to safety, looking for some athletes that are versatile and can do that," Tenyer said. "And I think they've got the mentality to play defense.

"So, defensively, we've got to be better at defending the run, and we've got some new pieces over there. I'm excited. I think we're still going to have an aggressive style defense and bring pressure and play 'man' coverage, but we're going to have a mixture of things, too. We're going to play some zone and play smart football and execute well. And I know Coach Moore will do a great job."

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Players Mentioned

#9 Luke Keller: LB; 6' 2"; Senior

#36 Ryan Bennett: LB; 6' 1"; Senior

#97 Colt Briggs: DL; 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior

#69 Dustin Casey: DL; 6' 2"; Redshirt Senior

#39 Brandyn Duncan: CB; 5' 9"; Redshirt Sophomore

#31 Dominic Iori: S; 6' 3"; Senior

#3 Sayyid Kanu: S; 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore

#1 Brandon Louder: S; 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior

#22 Luke Moses: S; 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman

#20 Aaron Turk: S; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#38 Nick Wrightsel: LB; 5' 11"; Redshirt Senior

#32 Evan Yongue: LB; 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

#9 Luke Keller
: 6' 2"; Senior
: LB

#36 Ryan Bennett
: 6' 1"; Senior
: LB

#97 Colt Briggs
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior
: DL

#69 Dustin Casey
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Senior
: DL

#39 Brandyn Duncan
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Sophomore
: CB

#31 Dominic Iori
: 6' 3"; Senior
: S

#3 Sayyid Kanu
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore
: S

#1 Brandon Louder
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior
: S

#22 Luke Moses
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman
: S

#20 Aaron Turk
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: S

#38 Nick Wrightsel
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Senior
: LB

#32 Evan Yongue
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior
: LB