BROOKINGS – South Dakota State opens the 2021 season in eight days. The Jackrabbits will travel to Fort Collins, Colorado, to take on Colorado State on Sept. 3 at 8 p.m.

If the Jacks want to defeat the Rams, they will likely need a good performance from their defense – something that they got a lot in the spring.

The Jacks were 19th in the FCS in total defense, giving up 287.9 yards per game. SDSU was also 21st in passing yards given up per game (172.2) and 22nd in rush yards given up per game (115.7).

One of the reasons SDSU had so much success on defense was because of its defensive line play. The Jacks had 22 sacks last season which was tied for seventh in the FCS. They also had 66 tackles for a loss which was also seventh in the FCS.

SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier said five years ago, his coaching staff decided to emphasize the importance of depth on the defensive line.

“Four or five years ago, we made the decision that we needed to invest more scholarships into the defensive line, just because of the amount of guys we wanted to play and the amount of time it takes to get them ready to play. If you watch that position group there’s a mess of guys down there that are really good players,” Stiegelmeier said.

SDSU had nine defensive lineman play in at least nine of the 10 games last season. Junior defensive tackle Caleb Sanders led the way for defensive line last season with 26 total tackles, seven tackles for a loss and five sacks. Junior defensive end Reece Winkelman had 25 tackles, 4.5 TFL and three sacks.

Senior defensive end Tolu Ogunrinde had 18 tackles, 7.5 TFL and three sacks. Sophomore defensive end Quinton Hicks also had 18 tackles, and had four TFL and two sacks. Junior defensive tackle Krockett Krolikowski had 10 tackles.

Linebacker Logan Backhaus will be playing his sixth season in an SDSU uniform this fall and he said this is the best defensive line unit the Jacks have had since he’s been at SDSU.

“[The defensive line has improved] immensely [since I’ve been here],” Backhaus said “They do one-on-ones with the offensive linemen every day, and we have arguably one of the best offensive line groups in the FCS, so those defensive linemen are going up against top offensive linemen. Iron sharpens iron with them going against each other every day.

“Caleb Sanders has been unblockable for that past year. He’s an integral part of our defensive line. Krockett Krolikowski, Thomas Stacker, all those guys are a little older now and have more knowledge of the game. They’ve been working their hands. At defensive end, I think this is the deepest defensive end group we’ve had. They have about seven guys that are looking to play.”

Backhaus’ group was also a reason the Jacks were successful on defense last season, but they will be missing one of their key members as Preston Tetzlaff graduated. They do return Backhaus and redshirt freshman Adam Bock, who led the Jacks in tackles last season with 74.

Linebacker coach and co-defensive coordinator Jimmy Rogers said there are a group of guys that could fill the final linebacker spot.

“We’re going to play the best 11 and the best three at linebacker,” Rogers said “There is depth at that position. … Logan is taking reps at will [linebacker] and that opened up the door at sam [linebacker] for Isaiah Stalbird to step in and take those reps. But at the same time Graham Spalding could play, and he actually started last year the first couple games before Bock came on. 

“Payton Shafer can switch between mike and will [linebacker] and honestly Payton’s playing the best football of his life right, so he’s really pushing the mike linebacker spot. It’s going to come down to the best three linebackers.”

SDSU’s is returning all of its starting secondary as well. Senior Don Gardner, junior Malik Lofton and sophomore Dyshawn Gales return at cornerback. Senior Michael Griffin II and redshirt junior Josh Manchigiah return at safety.

Gardner had 44 tackles, three TFL, one interception and seven pass break up’s. Manchigiah had 27 tackles and four interceptions and Griffin had 47 tackles and two interceptions.

Backhaus said if the Jacks want to repeat the success they had in the spring, they’re going to have to continue to be aggressive.

“As a defense, if we fly around and get 11 guys to the ball, if one guy misses a tackle, another guy is there to back him up. That’s kind of what we pride ourselves on. We have the acronym T.U.F.F. It stands for team, understanding, focus and finish. That’s what we focus on as a defense, getting to the ball,” Backhaus said.

With the good numbers that his defense put up last year and all the experience the Jacks have coming back, you’d think that Rogers would be satisfied with his defense. That doesn’t seem to be the case though as he realizes the Jacks did not finish the job and accomplish their main goal of winning a National Championship last season.

“This is a different team. It is every year. You can’t bank on what you did in year’s past. Last year is over with, we fell short, and this year will be a brand new challenge with maybe even a bigger target on our back because of the preseason hype we’ve been given. The hype means nothing. We have to come out here and work every day,” Rogers said.