UNI defensive line hopes to bounce back with addition of impact transfers

CEDAR FALLS — The 2022 football season was one to forget for Northern Iowa’s defensive line.

Typically one of the more productive and reliable segments of UNI’s team, the line registered just 10 1/2 of the defense’s 17 sacks last season — tied for the fewest in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and its lowest team sack total since 2012.

That lack of production provoked head coach Mark Farley and defensive line coach Bryce Paup to restock the position with help from the transfer portal this offseason.

Three transfers and four freshmen have since joined the Panthers and, after last Friday’s media day, it’s clear that all three of those transfers are being looked at as contributors when the season opens at Iowa State on Sept. 2.

“So we have depth there (now) and you’ve got to have depth at the (defensive) line because of the rotation of the d-line,” Farley said. “(It’s) probably the most physical position, conditioning wise, that plays in a football game. D-linemen, man, they are pushing, they’re pulling, they’re dragging.

“That was the focus of going (into) recruiting. We had to get that cleaned up from last year and there’s no question we’ve made gains on the defensive line.”

Cartez Crook-Jones, Warren Peeples and Malik Stewart from Kansas State, Memphis and Butler Community College, respectively, are the trio of additions Farley was alluding to.

At 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, Crook-Jones — a graduate student — should offer veteran depth in the interior of UNI’s line, while the 6-2, 220 pound Peeples and 6-5, 240 pound Stewart will rotate in at defensive end.

“(Cartez and Warren) have added their knowledge that they got from those (previous) teams and they came and fit right in with us,” defensive tackle Khristian Boyd said. “Also, Malik Stewart had a good spring ball and he’s got some more years to come, too. It’s very exciting to see those guys do their thing.”

At a minimum, the transfers are poised to bring the snap counts of UNI’s returnees back down to a number that typically equates to more production.

“Everybody is going to be fresh,” defensive end Cordarrius Bailey said. “So there’s going to be more pressure on the quarterback and more stopping (of) the run. The rotation is going to be really big for us.”

Boyd and Bailey — both all-MVFC preseason honorees — return alongside fellow seniors Caden Houghtelling and Devin Rice. Redshirt sophomores Cannon Butler, Jack Kriebs and Carter Hewitt also are expected to be part of the line’s rotation.

Add it all up and Paup has 10 linemen at his disposal, a number that’s seemingly stirring intense competition for snaps and should consequently provide a step up in production from a season ago.