Lobos leaning on committee to replace lost sack production

It’s not a question of what Spence Nowinsky wants from his defense, and never has been.

Stop the run on first down.

Stop the run on second down.

On third down?

“We’re gonna get after the quarterback,” New Mexico’s second-year defensive coordinator said Wednesday. “We’re gonna harass the quarterback. We’re gonna make the quarterback uncomfortable.”

Who will be able to do so at a rate similar to last season? That is a question the Lobos are trying to answer this spring.

Just one year after posting a league-worst 11 sacks, UNM finished atop the Mountain West with 36 — the program’s highest total since 2005. And no players had more of a hand in that worst-to-first turnaround than defensive ends Keyshawn James-Newby and Brett Karhu, a duo who tormented opposing quarterbacks to the tune of 16.5 combined sacks.

At present, neither are set to return: After earning All-Mountain West honors, James-Newby (a team-high 9 sacks) is set to move on to the NFL while Karhu (7.5 sacks) waits to hear from the NCAA on a potential extra year of eligibility. If the latter’s appeal is denied, UNM will officially be down 65.3% of last season’s sack production from eight since-departed defenders, James-Newby and Karhu among them.

“We’re gonna greatly miss those two,” Nowinsky said. “It’s hard to replace those kinds of players and those guys that have those abilities and skills.”

How, then, does UNM replace, or even begin to replace, that production?

Nowinsky didn’t hesitate with his answer.

“By committee,” he said. “That was our approach in the portal: to get guys that had pass rush ability.”

Of the players UNM brought in this winter, Albert Tuakalau (College of San Mateo), Jalen Charles (Memphis) and Trenton Rocker (Copiah-Lincoln Community College) fit that bill. Charles and Rocker have logged reps at UNM’s Jack (boundary end) position while Tuakalau has largely worked on the opposite end of the line throughout spring practice.

If all have flashed at points, the 6-5, 235-pound Tuakalau might be the biggest revelation thus far. After winning a junior college national title last season, he’s become a mainstay on UNM’s first-team defense with a high motor and lots of bend, an “awesome, pleasant surprise” for Nowinsky.

“He’s the first guy to breakfast, he’s the first guy in the meeting room,” he said. “ … You know what you might be getting from (the) raw materials at times. But as a worker, he’s been terrific.”

But if UNM lost plenty of production off the edge, the cupboard isn’t totally bare. While Elijah Brody is still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and Cody Thumlert (who was competing for a starting job) suffered a season-ending knee injury last week, Darren Agu has returned to serve as the Lobos’ first-team Jack for virtually the entire spring.

Where James-Newby (UNM’s Jack last season) was slimmer, but lightning-quick off the edge, Agu is a thicker 6-6, 244 pounds that does some of his best work against the run. However, Nowinsky believes he’ll be able to generate pressure at a position that requires him to wear multiple hats.

“We’ll get to a point where we’ll move him around the line so people can’t turn the protection to him,” he added, “(so) people can’t chip him all the time with a back or tight end.”

Agu is also benefitting from simply being available and healthy this spring. A former Vanderbilt transfer hailing from London, he missed half of spring practice last year before visa issues held him out all of fall camp and the Lobos’ first two games.

“Just being able to come out everyday and get better, it’s gonna help me a bunch,” he says before a laugh. “I’m not going back home for summer, so I’ll be here for fall camp. That’s gonna help me even more.”

Of course, UNM will scheme up a few wrinkles to give their edge rushers the best chance when third down comes along. Nowinsky said they’ll try to dictate the offense’s protections by putting five guys up on the line (otherwise known as a bear front) and it's almost assured that linebackers and cornerbacks will get blitz opportunities.

And unlike last year, the defense isn’t starting from square one; players know how it's supposed to look and what Nowinsky wants from them.

To him, it’s a good spot to be in. It’s just not the same as last year. How important that is remains a question.

“Again,” Nowinsky chuckles, “it’s not Karhu. It’s not Key. But I think we’re in a good, first-step progression.”

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.