In Chadron State College defensive coordinator Todd Auer's mind, having a collection of players at defensive line is vital to the success of the entire unit. And in 18 years at CSC, Auer has never seen better depth up front than now."There's no doubt we're excited about our depth at D-line," Auer said. "Last year, we had about four starters at D-end and all four rotated and played basically the same for us. All the years we won the conference and been a better team is when we've had depth at defensive line."The Eagles, who open the season on Aug. 25 at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., return four starters on the defensive line from last season's 12-1 campaign. The returning defensive ends are Barton Cron, a 6-foot, 216-pound senior from Lakewood, Colo., and Jared Koester, a 6-2, 240-pound junior from Peetz, Colo. Koester finished the season with 44 total tackles, including 10 tackles for loss, four sacks and an interception he returned 47 yards. Cron, who is one of the Eagles' speediest ends, had 21 tackles, with four sacks and five tackles for loss. However, in addition to Cron and Koester, there are plenty of talented defensive ends working to get into the line rotation. "This is the best depth we've ever had at defensive end," Auer said. "We've got six or seven guys competing for four spots. We've never had that. It's tight and there are some of those guys like Jay Meduna (a 6-3, 234-pound sophomore from North Platte), who finished the spring at six or seven, and he's in the top four now. He worked hard in the summer and did some good things. It's early still but a lot of guys are doing some good things."Shaine Odell, who transferred to CSC from Black Hills State a year ago, is one of the top candidates for playing time at DE. A couple years ago, he was one of the Yellow Jackets leading tacklers. Eric Ide is a 6-4, 242-pound prospect, who could see some time at defensive tackle. Auer said Odell may play some at DT, too. Other candidates looking to crack the rotation are redshirt freshmen Cory Beran and Chris Maldonado."They all run well," said Auer of the defensive ends. "Some run a little better than others, like Bart Cron and Cory Beran. They're both on the light side, but they're the most athletic and fast of the D-ends. Odell, Koester and Eric Ide are athletic and run well, but they're not quite as fast as Beran and Cron. They have more size than speed."Although the Eagles have an abundance of defensive ends, Auer said the depth at defensive tackle isn't as good. But the Eagles welcome back Josh Knouse, a redshirt sophomore from Gering, who had a breakout season last fall. Knouse finished with 38 total tackles, and he led the team with 17 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. For his efforts last season, Knouse was named to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference first-team, the D2Football.com Southwest Region second-team, the Football Gazette Southwest Region second-team, and the Football Gazette All-American third-team."I think more teams are going to know about him and be concerned," Auer said. "I guarantee most teams, especially the first half of the season, saw a D-tackle who was a freshman and small. So they didn't think much of him. But he's going to get more attention and we'll still get teams to overlook him because he's small."Knouse added some weight during the summer. He's now listed at 260. CSC's other returning starter is Aaron Ide, a 6-0, 255-pound junior from Holdrege. Aaron Ide played some valuable minutes last season and he finished with 18 total tackles. Ryan Holmquist, a 6-1, 260 pound sophomore from Anchorage, Alaska, Byron Korf, a 6-1, 260 pound sophomore from Yuma, Colo., and Jovan Mays, a 5-9, 258 pound junior from Aurora, Colo., will do their best to provide depth at DT and each should see playing time since Auer likes to rotate the defensive line when he can to keep players fresh for the fourth quarter. Auer also noted that incoming freshman Maverick Churchill, a Scottsbluff High School graduate and the Star-Herald All-Region Football Player of the Year, will be a good fit at defensive tackle. Although Churchill will most likely redshirt this season, Auer sees good things from him."He's going to be a good player for us," Auer said. "If we have a lot of guys who get hurt, he could fill in and do a nice job."A solid rotation is also essential to the stack 3-3 defense CSC frequently uses. The stack 3-3, which is designed to get speed on the field, is favored by Auer because it's deceptive and compensates for CSC's lack of size up front."The defense we use is built on speed and we like having the (defensive back), linebacker type kids," Auer said. "It's a deceptive defense because whenever you play a three man front, you never know where the fourth or fifth rusher is going to come from, and that's a big thing for us. We have to have deception to get pressure. And by doing the three man front, we can stunt and bring a lot of pressure with linebackers and defensive backs." - See more at: http://www.csc.edu/modules/news/public_news/view/2030#sthash.f4JghhwM.dpuf