Secondary second to none for Tiger 'D'

If Benjamin Franklin had been the defensive coordinator of a college football team, death and taxes would have taken a backseat to injury and graduation.

Of those things, no one can be more certain than Princeton's own Steve Verbit, who in striving to orchestrate a cohesive defense for the football team this season has already gotten off to a rather bleak start. At the Tigers' opening scrimmage against Yale two weeks ago, Verbit was without 10 of his 11 starters from the last game of 2005, seven of whom had received their diplomas and three of whom had received doctors' orders not to compete.

Yet while listening to Verbit talk about his makeshift defense a day after battling the Bulldogs, it was easy to forget that his only son — Matt Verbit '05 — was no longer Princeton's starting quarterback. His eyes lighting up while he was smiling constantly and practically licking his lips, Verbit responded to questions about the 2006 Tigers as if he were the proud father of the entire lot.

"It's gonna be a lot of fun," Verbit said. "We may not have the stars, but you don't have to. It's the team that's playing the best, and we'll play good team defense all throughout the year."

Verbit plans to use multiple players at virtually every position — a break from 2005, when the same 11 Tigers started the last five games on defense and rarely took off any snaps. Head coach Roger Hughes repeatedly referred to last season's 10 games as "a 10-round fight" for the unit of regulars battling through them, but this year's defense may be less Roy Jones, and more Marion.

"You'll see guys running on and off the field and it's going to look like a track meet out there, with guys handing off batons to one another," Verbit said of the frequent substitutions.

The least amount of running to and from the bench will be done by the two defenders who run the most while on the field. Senior cornerbacks J.J. Artis and Tim Strickland — who may also remain at the strong safety position he occupied last year — are two of the most accomplished and reliable returnees.

Though both corners missed the Yale scrimmage due to injuries — and Artis has been injury-plagued his entire career — they have been putting up big numbers since being inserted into the starting lineup their freshman year.

Artis finished fourth in the Ivies in passes defended last year with 11, putting him nine behind the league-leader, Jay McCareins '06. Strickland hauled in four interceptions last year, and holds a share of the Princeton record for interceptions in a game, with three against Colgate in 2004.

"The last five games of the season, people stopped throwing to Jay's side, and Tim Strickland really picked it up," Verbit said. "He actually became our big cover guy at that particular point, because [opponents] said, 'Why throw against Jay McCareins?' "

If Ivy offenses start wondering why they should do the same against Artis and Strickland this season, they will seek to attack the less experienced members of the Tiger secondary. That group includes sophomore cornerback Tom Hurley, freshman cornerback Dan Kopolovich — a converted running quarterback — and junior safety Blake Williams, for whom Verbit certainly reserved the strangest of his loving praise.

"[Williams] is missing a little bit up top, but you've got to have those types of guys on the defensive side of the ball," Verbit said. "He's a good, solid player who's highly committed and just loves every moment he steps on the football field."

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Similar intensity will be needed from the linebacking corps, which graduated all four starters from the last game of 2005, and will likely go seven or eight deep this season. The group is led by seniors Brig Walker, who started the first five games last year, and Luke Steckel, the defensive co-captain.

"We're a little bit concerned about our linebacker position, not because of lack of ability, but lack of experience," Hughes said.

Rather than letting that concern convince him to ditch the 3-4 defensive package that was so successful last year, Hughes will stick with four linebackers because of the team's confidence in the three big men up front on the defensive line.

Sophomores Peter Buchignani (six feet, three inches and 265 pounds) and Tom Methvin (6'3", 240) are the projected starters at defensive end, with senior Mike Meehan (6'2", 265) serving as a backup with starting experience from last year. Senior Jake Marshall (6'3", 270) will be the leader of the unit at the nose guard position when he recovers from the injury that could sideline him for the season opener tomorrow at Lehigh.

"I think up front we'll be able to get a little more pass rush this year because of some of the size," Verbit said. "That will help us not only in terms of sacks, but also disruptions — forcing the quarterback to step up, change the launch point, throw it a little bit sooner than he'd like to throw it or a little bit higher than he'd like to throw it."

If Marshall & Co. can manage that, it'll certainly make life easier on the untested linebackers and cover guys behind them — not to mention the offense, their head coach, the fans, and themselves.

Everyone but Verbit, who's already talking like he's got the "D" of his dreams.