Western Michigan Football: Elite offense leads the way for Broncos in 2021

Experienced defense hopes for improvement

If you have been following along with the preview series here lately, one theme there is for teams in the MAC this season is that their defenses are returning a lot of starters, but most of them were not any good. The key to winning the MAC with so many potential elite offenses in the league is whose defense improves the most and the Broncos are among those in that category.

The defensive line has the most potential out of any group on the Broncos’ defense. The team’s top pass rusher Ali Fayad is back for his senior season and for his career he has 16.5 sacks and 32.5 tackles for loss. Defensive tackle Ralph Holley is going to lead the interior and he was a first-team All-MAC. Holley and Fayad will lead the defensive line, but guys like Marshawn Kneeland and Braden Fiske are going to be experienced guys with some talent as well.

The linebackers are going to be suffering a big loss, much like the offense is with the loss of Dwayne Eskridge. Starting linebacker Treshaun Hayward, who was the team’s top tackler and the 2019 MAC defensive player of the year, transferred to Arizona and he will be tough to replace. Corvin Moment is the top returning tackler at the position and he is going to have to be the leader of the group now. Look for Ryan Selig and Zaire Burns to play alongside Moment this season.

The secondary is going to return plenty of experience this season. At cornerback, Patrick Lupro is the top guy on the outside and he has all-conference potential and he will be joined Keith Jones. At safety, the top three guys return and A.J. Thomas, Bricen Garner, and Harrison Taylor combined for 115 tackles last season and could be in for big years in 2021.

This defense has the talent and experience on the defensive line and secondary, but linebacker is a big question mark.