POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - The Marist football team is into its final two weeks of spring practices. 
 
With the Spring Game approaching, Defensive Coordinator Scott Rumsey believes his defensive players are playing very well and have made a lot of progress. During the off-season there were a few shifts in coaching positions, but the time off during the 2018-19 winter session benefited both the coaches and players. 
 
A lot of the top defensive players finished their Marist football career this past November, which is an opportunity for the returners and the young talent to step up and apply what they've learned from last year's seniors to this upcoming season. 
 
"And that's kind of what spring ball is about, to see what some of these young guys are doing," Rumsey said. "Some of these young guys have to step up if we want to be where we're used to being."
 
Rumsey highlighted a few of the freshman defensive players that have been showing how much they've grown from the beginning of last season up until now.
 
Coach Rumsey is counting on a lot of the returners to step up and make plays, but is very confident that players such as Matt Thomson, Grant Dixon, Justice Seales, and Maliek Carr will be able to help the defense in a major way in the upcoming season. 
 
"We try to tell them everyone's a leader whether you're a freshman or a fifth year senior," Rumsey said. 
 
Telling everyone on the team that they are leaders allows each player understand their importance on the team. The defensive staff has given the defensive players a lot of new strategies to learn and implement in order to get better and play better, and Rumsey believes they are doing pretty well with the changes.
 
Two of the defensive coaches, Cam Gibson (safeties, in addition to being Special Teams coordinator) and Mike Kagafas (assistant linebackers), are recent Marist graduates that once played on the same team they are currently coaching.  Bringing back former players as coaches post-graduation benefits the young players and the overall Marist football program because they know the program and the Marist culture since they were once Red Fox athletes themselves. 
 
"It's invaluable because not only do they know what we do defensively, but they know what Coach Parady is expecting from us," Rumsey said "The more Marist men we can hire, I think the better off we're going to be."
 
Rumsey has been using his new position as the coach of the linebackers to get used to a new group of guys by sitting in on more position meetings and further understanding the feel of the separate position groups individually which benefits him as Defensive Coordinator. 
 

Key Returners

Defensive Line: Aaron Acosta, Nick Foglia, Mark Gordon (10 games in 2018, four tackles), Darien Townsend (15 tackles, 3 sacks).
Linebacker: Maliek Carr (65 tackles, 5 TFL, PFL Honorable Mention), Grant Dixon (58 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 1 TD, PFL Honorable Mention), Matt Thomson (31 tackles, 2 TFL), Peter Delatour (28 tackles, 3 TFL), John Pierce (18 tackles, 2 INT).
Cornerback: Ryan Webb (40 tackles, 7 PBU), Alex Bergan (13 tackles, 1 PBU)
Safety: Justice Seales (49 tackles, 2 INT, PFL Honorable Mention), Andrew McElroy (32 tackles, 4 TFL, 2 FF), Jack Griffith (24 tackles, 1 INT).