Fall camp is just around the corner, we’ve got a few other positions to cover on the defensive side of the ball. Let’s cover the secondary, which has had its share of ups, downs, criticisms, and praises over the last few years. Fair assessment or not the last few seasons have been littered with losses where the pass defense has really been a major let down. It might not have been a whole game at a time but usually bad moments, bad plays, missed coverage, or bad angles on tackles that turn short/medium length plays into much much longer ones. Now the Griz have two new secondary coaches, a handful of new players and transfers, and are replacing two graduated seniors. Spring camp was an encouraging look, the pass defense looked better – however was it because the group is improved or because the offense was breaking in a new system? (Or a bit of both?)
Starters
CB – Nate Harris
S – Justin Whitted
S- Jake Dallaserra
CB – JR Nelson
Backups
CB – Ryan McKinley
S – Manu Rasmussen
S – Yamen Sanders
CB – Markell Sanders
Depth
CB – Chris Parker, Tyrell Garner, Shane Moody
S – Eric Johnson, Mick Delaney, Evan Epperly, Jerrin Williams, Josh Sandry
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Looking at the starters you’ve got great experience in Nate Harris who will hopefully have his best saved for last in his senior year. Harris missed almost all of spring with a bad ankle sprain, he may be working his way back this fall. JR Nelson on the other side has served in a backup role for 2 years now, each year he’s shown some improvement especially this spring. He’ll need to keep making strides and be prepared for the starting role this season. Nelson in many running drills is the first to finish, he’s one of the faster players the team has I think, and of the corners he’s one of the tallest at 6-2. The safety spot is interesting because all of the message board hype isn’t with the two guys that will presumably open fall camp the starters. Whitted also missed most of the spring as he recovered from an off-season surgery. When healthy he’s a great athlete and covers the field well. Dallaserra is a special teams stand out from prior years and a hard hitter – he seems to really enjoy lighting up WRs. The challenge the safeties have had is health for Whitted who missed a handful of games last season and experience as a starter for Dallaserra who, of the starters, tends to get caught out of position more than the other starters.
The backups are where all the message board chatter is at. McKinley had a pretty good spring and one of the better highlights of the final scrimmage with a tremendous pass breakup. Markell Sanders is a much hyped transfer who missed half of spring camp but came on strong late. Rasmussen is a hitter and appears to be a freak athlete, he’s shown lapses that you see with a younger player learning the role – but I expect him to keep improving. Yamen Sanders I’ve heard word that his size and physical presence is not like a lot of FCS players, we’ve yet to see how he does once the passes start flying though. I’m excited to see what he brings to the table. What’s interesting about the backup group is that I expect these 4 will play a bunch this season. In fact any one of these 4 players could emerge the starter for NDSU. This 2-deep secondary had depth, potential, and good (but not great) experience from prior seasons.
Beyond the 2-deep some guys that could work their way in would be Chris Parker and Eric Johnson, they took a lot of reps in the spring. As did Mick Delaney. Some of these guys as well as Tyrel Garner should serve as great special teams players and could even challenge the 2-deep depending on the effectiveness of others in front of them. I think they’ll be able to safely red shirt the incoming freshman as well.
The secondary feels to me like it’s a whole fresh look. 3 guys in this 2-deep that weren’t even on the team last year. Just 2 that bring starting experience from last season but 2 others that backed up, played as a 3rd CB, and did a lot of ST duty. And then there’s the new coaches too. A shake-up for this group could be just what the doctor ordered. It could also prove to be more headaches. The challenge is that it remains to be seen if this group is actually improved or just looked good against an offense that still had its training wheels on. We’ll have to see how they’re looking this early fall. On the good side when you consider the pass defense aspect of this group the first handful of games are against teams that do tend to run more than pass. The more dynamic passing offenses we’ll see in the mid to later part of the season. That could help these guys to adjust to their roles as well.
Starters
CB – Nate Harris
S – Justin Whitted
S- Jake Dallaserra
CB – JR Nelson
Backups
CB – Ryan McKinley
S – Manu Rasmussen
S – Yamen Sanders
CB – Markell Sanders
Depth
CB – Chris Parker, Tyrell Garner, Shane Moody
S – Eric Johnson, Mick Delaney, Evan Epperly, Jerrin Williams, Josh Sandry
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Looking at the starters you’ve got great experience in Nate Harris who will hopefully have his best saved for last in his senior year. Harris missed almost all of spring with a bad ankle sprain, he may be working his way back this fall. JR Nelson on the other side has served in a backup role for 2 years now, each year he’s shown some improvement especially this spring. He’ll need to keep making strides and be prepared for the starting role this season. Nelson in many running drills is the first to finish, he’s one of the faster players the team has I think, and of the corners he’s one of the tallest at 6-2. The safety spot is interesting because all of the message board hype isn’t with the two guys that will presumably open fall camp the starters. Whitted also missed most of the spring as he recovered from an off-season surgery. When healthy he’s a great athlete and covers the field well. Dallaserra is a special teams stand out from prior years and a hard hitter – he seems to really enjoy lighting up WRs. The challenge the safeties have had is health for Whitted who missed a handful of games last season and experience as a starter for Dallaserra who, of the starters, tends to get caught out of position more than the other starters.
The backups are where all the message board chatter is at. McKinley had a pretty good spring and one of the better highlights of the final scrimmage with a tremendous pass breakup. Markell Sanders is a much hyped transfer who missed half of spring camp but came on strong late. Rasmussen is a hitter and appears to be a freak athlete, he’s shown lapses that you see with a younger player learning the role – but I expect him to keep improving. Yamen Sanders I’ve heard word that his size and physical presence is not like a lot of FCS players, we’ve yet to see how he does once the passes start flying though. I’m excited to see what he brings to the table. What’s interesting about the backup group is that I expect these 4 will play a bunch this season. In fact any one of these 4 players could emerge the starter for NDSU. This 2-deep secondary had depth, potential, and good (but not great) experience from prior seasons.
Beyond the 2-deep some guys that could work their way in would be Chris Parker and Eric Johnson, they took a lot of reps in the spring. As did Mick Delaney. Some of these guys as well as Tyrel Garner should serve as great special teams players and could even challenge the 2-deep depending on the effectiveness of others in front of them. I think they’ll be able to safely red shirt the incoming freshman as well.
The secondary feels to me like it’s a whole fresh look. 3 guys in this 2-deep that weren’t even on the team last year. Just 2 that bring starting experience from last season but 2 others that backed up, played as a 3rd CB, and did a lot of ST duty. And then there’s the new coaches too. A shake-up for this group could be just what the doctor ordered. It could also prove to be more headaches. The challenge is that it remains to be seen if this group is actually improved or just looked good against an offense that still had its training wheels on. We’ll have to see how they’re looking this early fall. On the good side when you consider the pass defense aspect of this group the first handful of games are against teams that do tend to run more than pass. The more dynamic passing offenses we’ll see in the mid to later part of the season. That could help these guys to adjust to their roles as well.
