Eastern Michigan's Spring-Time Defensive Outlook
It's a marathon, not a sprint, for some premium positions.
Spring football’s back, which means it’s time to take the opportunity to look across EMU’s active roster to see how the team looks through its first round of roster moves. We already took a look at the offense, now it’s the defense’s turn.
No need to delay things with an introduction any further; here’s one storyline for each position group:
Interior D-line
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
RETURNING STARTERS: Peyton Price
RETURNERS: Gary Dorsey Jr., Jez Janvier, Ugo Nosike, Melvin Swindle II, Malik Tullis, Ke’Vion Wellington
IN FOR SPRING: Dylan Shelton (Indianapolis)
NEWCOMERS: Reggie Gardner** (Southfield A&T HS-Michigan), Noah Patterson (Ironton HS-Michigan)
OUTGOING OF NOTE: Adrian Gonzalez, Tim Grant-Randall, Alex Merritt
THIS YEAR IS ABOUT PRICE HITTING HIS CEILING
Unless I’m mistaken, and unless anything obvious changes here, this will be the first season where a ‘true senior’ — somebody who has been here and played as a true freshman with no history of wearing a redshirt — will play out their fourth and final college season as an EMU defensive tackle.
The closest that EMU fans have seen to that in the Chris Creighton era was Kwanii Figueroa, who would’ve had his fourth EMU season in 2018, but he left after his junior year. Plenty of teenaged freshmen have tried their shots, but Peyton Price is the first to hold down his spot at EMU for as long as he has.
Again, no redshirt required.
Price has played in 37 career games with 18 career starts made, and has 94 tackles made with 8 for loss, 5.5 sacks, and 3 pass breakups. Zero All-MAC honors. That’s not to say he’s pedestrian, but his output over the last three seasons wasn't enough to convince voters that he’s at the top-end of this conference at his position.
EMU knows that it needs to have a handful of strong interior guys week in and week out for its defense to have success, but I think the best case for EMU to reach a championship-level defense is if big #94 makes more noise than he ever has before.
Defensive end
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
RETURNING STARTERS: Justin Jefferson, Joey Zelinsky
RETURNERS: Messiah Blair, Maliek Bogard, Carter Evans, Luke Fletcher, Jaden Gaines, Sterling Miles
IN FOR SPRING: Jefferson Adam (Iowa State)
NEWCOMERS: ShuMond Johnson (Creekside HS-Georgia), Javon Thomas (East Lansing HS-Michigan)
OUTGOING OF NOTE: Mikey Haney
PROTECT THEM IN BUBBLEWRAP IF YOU NEED TO
Let’s start with the two starting, senior D-ends from 2022: Jose Ramirez and Grant Trueman. Among others, young players behind them that were grooming for their opportunities in 2023 included Carter Evans, Maliek Bogard, and Sterling Miles. The first two guys graduated out of the system, and the three younger players mentioned were all too hurt to play in 2023.
Mikey Haney, who had struggled to get back on the field ever since his last-second injury during the 2022 spring game, only saw the field twice last season before he graduated out.
Jaden Gaines finally saw the field in 10 games, but for just 91 total snaps (per Pro Football Focus). That doesn’t replace what Ramirez, the only MAC Defensive Player of the Year Award winner in school history, brought to the field for 610 snaps in 2022, Trueman’s 380 snaps played, or the combined 252 spas between Evans and Miles. Bogard, Eastern’s highest-rated prep signee in the 2022 signing class, hasn’t gotten on the field yet.
Messiah Blair, EMU’s highest-rated defensive recruit from 2023 (let alone an all-time recruit from Detroit, for Eastern’s history), also wore a redshirt his first year in college.
Mikah Coleman was able to develop into the best-looking next star at D-end, but he transferred to Cincinnati over the winter. Good thing he got to be on the field for 812 snaps before he split.
The defensive ends came into the 2023 season wildly inexperienced. EMU needed them on the field to build-up some helpful game experience. Say for Justin Jefferson and Joey Zelinsky, no dice.
For a program that gets to show off Maxx Crosby as a way to show that EMU not only knows how to develop low-star and no-chip high schoolers into quality college players, but knows how to develop them near $100-million earners, there’s reason to believe that this position group’s productivity in 2024 won’t be taken lightly. If all goes as planned, getting these young talented ends on the field should hopefully be worth the price of admission at Rynearson this year. But no matter what happens this spring, these guys have to be ready to play once the real season gets here.
Linebacker
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
RETURNERS: Ali Abdul-Barr**, James Doerer**, Bryce Eliuk, Cole McElvany**, Zach Mowchan**, Kendrick Nowling, Amar’e Reed**
IN FOR SPRING: James Djonkam (Arizona State), Luke Murphy (Kent State), Zion Fonua (Tyler J.C.) , J.T. Killen (Coastal Carolina)
NEWCOMERS: Marvell Eggleston (King HS-Michigan), Terrelle Elmore (Merrillville HS-Indiana), Colin Main** (Frankenmuth HS-Michigan)
OUTGOING OF NOTE: Luke Cameron, Chase Kline, Joe Sparacio, E.J. Williams
ANTOHER YEAR OF THE TRANSFER LINEBACKER FIX
Two years and 459 combined tackles later, transfer linebackers Joe Sparacio and Chase Kline are being replaced with, well, more transfers.
Enter James Djonkam from Arizona State (and Indy C.C.), who might be able to provide some edge ability in this linebacking room. Enter Luke Murphy from Kent State, who was once one of the HS top tacklers from the state of Ohio (Massillon Washington HS) and already saw what it was like for Kent State to win its division and go to Detroit. Enter J.T. Killen, a graduate transfer from Coastal Carolina, who has some inside/outside range. Enter Zion Fonua, a Polynesian junior college transfer from Texas who loves to lay the lumber.
Some of it has to do with the state of player movement. Some of it has to do with how few linebackers have to see the field in EMU’s base scheme (2) as opposed to defensive backs (5) and D-linemen (4). But in the transfer portal era, EMU’s decided to lean more into transfers, especially those with FBS-level experience, to captain the middle of its defense and focus their developmental efforts on a select, few underclassmen, walk-ons, and other position movers.
Who’s the young LB worth circling? For me it’s the Bryce Eliuk, the Linden native who wore a redshirt last year as a freshman, but not before getting a little bit of instant playing time against Howard.
As Chris Creighton days after Eliuk’s college debut:
Said Creighton: “I remember coming back in July and just talking to the strength staff and they just said, undeniably, that Bryce was the leader of the freshman group.”
Also: Amar’e Reed, who spent the 2022 season with EMU after the death of his father and former EMU cornerbacks coach Fred Reed, and the 2023 season off the team, is now back on the roster for 2024.
Safety
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
RETURNING STARTERS: Quentavius Scandrett
RETURNERS: Chase Arrington**, David Carter Jr., Barry Manning**, Jason Marshall**, Josh McCarty**, Jaivian Norman
IN FOR SPRING: Bryce Llewellyn (Charleston Southern)
NEWCOMERS: Ray Hester (Chippewa Valley HS-Michigan) , Elisiah Lovett** (Wayne HS-Ohio), Caleb Turner (Green Run HS-Virginia)
OUTGOING OF NOTE: Londyn Craft, Korey Hernandez, T.J. Peavy, Cameron Smith
ALL HANDS ON DECK
EMU gets to keep Quentavius Scandrett around to play some center field, but Cameron Smith, who had been developing well in his role as a starting safety last year, is no longer with the team.
With two returning starting safeties, I loved EMU’s chances of having a controlled defense in 2024. Now, it’s going to take some convincing.
It’s not just Smith leaving, it’s three other safeties who have graduated after playing at five other combined schools before they all respectively transferred to EMU. EMU’s current room of safeties doesn’t have that kind of background.
David Carter Jr. has been a regular in the secondary, yet hasn’t started since his two made in 2021. Javian Norman was a 2023 signee who enrolled early last year so this is his second spring with the team, but didn’t play his true freshman year. All of the other returning safeties are former walk-ons, and one, Josh McCarty, joined the team as a running back. Even with the walk-on asterisks and switch from offense to defense, he’s probably made the most noise of any returning non-starting safety on the roster. According to PFF, McCarty’s nine special teams tackles in 2023 has him tied for sixth nationally, and 10 made in 2022 was tied for third in the country.
Cornerback
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
RETURNING STARTERS: Joshua Scott, Daiquan White
RETURNERS: Soloman Bell**, Keylen Gulley, Tristen Hines, Hussein Hussein**, Jaheim Jenkins, Jesse Vasquez**
IN FOR SPRING: Caleb Dobbs (Cocoa HS-Florida; 2023 signee), Dramarian McNulty (Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C.), Jordan Toney (Hapeville Charter HS-Georiga)
NEWCOMERS: Emil Burton** (Romulus HS-Michigan), Dylan Camp (City College of San Francisco), Jaylyn Monds (Westwood HS-Florida), Wendell Smith (Southfield A&T HS-Michigan)
OUTGOING OF NOTE: Kempton Shine, Bennett Walker
WE’LL LEARN SOME NAMES IN 2024
Joshua Scott and Daiquan White were immediate, standout cornerbacks in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Scott eventually won the starting job opposite of Kempton Shine, who is now a graduate transfer for Virginia, and had a stellar bowl game performance that included a clutch, near-miracle of an interception. He was too hurt to play basically all of 2023, meanwhile While broke through as an everyday corner that led the team with 12 pass breakups as a true freshman.
While Shine and Bennett Walker have both split, EMU still has to feel good about their two, proven, returning corners. Even if they haven’t played a full game together yet.
Somebody’s bound to break through at this position — EMU’s done well for itself in finding handsy corners that fit its system well over the years. But with Shine gone, who has held things down for 2,473 career snaps before he left, there’s just that much more room for the newcomers to fill the void he (and Walker, who made 11 starts in 2023) left behind.
