Enos focused on recruiting defense after struggling last year

Head coach Dan Enos and his coaching staff realized the positive and negatives from last season when they went recruiting for the future.

The Central Michigan football team ranked 11th in the Mid-American Conference in total defense last season, allowing 428.8 yards per game. Teams scored an average of 33.3 points per game against the Chippewas, also ranking 11th in the MAC.

Defense was a focus during the 2012 recruiting process. Thirteen of the 25 newest recruits are from the defensive side of the ball.

A majority of those defensive players play up on the defensive line or in the secondary.

“We felt that we had to get better there,” Enos said about the secondary. “We wanted to get bigger and we did that. We felt like we had to get faster, we felt like we had to get bigger and also, we’re planning for the future.”

Enos said that he has heard from other people that you need to outscore opponents to win in the MAC, but he doesn’t believe that.

“The identity is that we want to be the best defense in this league,” Enos said. “I think that you can play good defense and win, and that’s what we’re going to do. I think that offensively, obviously we still have improvements that we still have to make there. We’re a little ahead personnel wise than we were defensively and we made a huge emphasis that we’re going to get better on defense, and what better way to do that than to change the personnel.”

Enos said he wanted his defensive to get bigger and faster.

Six of the seven defensive backs from the recruit class are six-feet or taller. Also, four defensive linemen are 250-plus pounds.

Defensive emphasis was a priority for this recruit class, no doubt.