Behind CMU's defensive revamp is a heavy dose of patience
The Chippewas return just three players who started on defense in 2026, but aren't rushing to figure everything out this spring.
Mt. Pleasant — Sean Cronin isn’t in a rush this spring.
The Central Michigan defensive coordinator, entering Year 2, is almost entirely rebuilding the defensive lineup after the vast majority of starters and snaps from 2025 exhausted their eligibility or moved on. Of the returning players, only Quavion Bird, Korver Demma and Jaion Jackson started in 2025. It will be a spate of transfers meshing with returning, rising players to fill out the defensive lineups, ultimately.
But for all that is new and changing around Central Michigan’s defense in 2026, Cronin and the Chippewas aren’t in a rush to answer every question before the 15 spring practices wrap up. It’s a simple paradigm — figuring out the players, then fitting the scheme around them, not the other way around — but one that means shelving the urgency to install a scheme and raising the intensity on self-scouting and development.
“There’s a lot of guys out there who were doing something else last semester,” Cronin said of various newcomers on his defense. “And so, they’ve got to learn — they're learning our techniques, our way of doing things, our communication, there's a lot on their plate right now. Just kind of laying the foundation so that as we move forward, you know, we will continue to install the defense over and over again throughout until we get to fall camp until it's, hopefully, they want to vomit when they hear it by that point.”
When Cronin arrived at Central Michigan along with head coach Matt Drinkall and the new staff, the choice was made to try and hold together the roster they inherited, which served the group particularly well on defense with the likes of Jordan Kwiatkowski, Dakota Cochran and Michael Heldman headlining the show.
But the bill came due with so many of them graduating, and a number of others, like cornerbacks Brandon Deasfernandes and Kalen Carroll, transferred out.
So the returning starts for the CMU defense in 2026 are as follows:
- Jackson: 13 at cornerback
- Demma: 13 at defensive line/edge rusher
- Bird: 7 at defensive line
That set the table for this spring, which the Chippewas want to use to help suss out what they have on defense in terms of individual ability and hone that.
Shaping that all into a cohesive scheme comes more in the summer and into fall camp, Cronin said.
“In the fall, our defense may look a lot different than what it looks like right now, 'cause we might make changes to fit,” Cronin said.
And for Central Michigan, it’s likely to be a mix of transfers and returning talent dotting the field on defense come fall.
In the secondary, Jaion Jackson is a likely starter at outside cornerback while the other spots are firmly up for grabs.
As safety, fellow returners Ed Conoran and Tysen Campbell have done well in the safety room so far this offseason, safeties coach Wes Fleming said, and transfers Justin Taylor and Donavan Philord have looked strong through spring, too. It will be a similar story at cornerback, where a mix of returning players will compete with some transfers, namely a pair of long up transfers from different levels: Matthew McKenzie and Ty Williams.
A number of the defensive backs have been cross training across positions, too.
“Everybody's open to learning, and that's one thing I like about our room,” Taylor said. “Our room is very transparent with each other. Like, we watch film together and if we have to get on each other about certain things, we get on each other by certain things. There's never no easy way out with us. Like, we're always gonna hold each other accountable. Probably more than the coaches, to be honest with you.”
Linebacker has no returning starts for Central Michigan, but the returning reserves have stepped up their play through the offseason, led by Victor Earl, Jeremiah Alston and Xavier White. Transfers Antonio Cherry, Charlie Smith and Donovan Brown are also pushing to see the field.
On the defensive line, there’s the most moving parts.
Bird and Demma are poised to be in big roles. Tight end-turned-edge rusher JJ Douglas has looked good in spring, and fellow returners D.J. Bennett and Joey VanWetzinga should also at a minimum be rotational pieces. Nathan VanTimmeren has also made the TE-to-DE shift for CMU.
The Chippewas have actually made a number of positional shifts in the spring, with tight end Logan Borodychuk and offensive linemen Dominique Maiava both repping there of late.
There are also a bevy of transfers: Max Van Fleet, Hunter Zirkle, Leon Howard and Jaxon Cherry.
“You know, we lost a lot of guys to graduation or to the portal, but just keep the main thing the main thing,” Demma said. “Like, let's fly around, let's play relentless, disciplined, violent football, and the X's and the L's will take care of themselves.”
And with two or three dozen players to sift through and sort out, skills to discover and then hone, it’s a long process. And Cronin wants to know what all of the pieces to the puzzle look like before he attempts to put them all together.
“I'm not gonna try to fit players to me,” Cronin said. “I’ve got to fit the — we're gonna fit our scheme to them. You know what I mean? What their strengths and weaknesses are.”
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Cronin managed to take a veteran group of players who he hadn’t recruited or coached prior in 2025 and assembled a bowl-caliber defense that finished in the top half of the MAC in sacks, interceptions and fumble recoveries.
The Chippewas played hard and kept it simple, letting players play fast and execute their assignments, adding just a few wrinkles later in the season to keep things fresh.
It’s a different challenge for Cronin and CMU this time around, marshaling together the various less-seasoned returners and incoming talent into another defense that can help the Chippewas contend for the MAC.
How exactly it all looks is not set yet, though some of the bones of the scheme will remain the same. It’s just that Cronin will tailor it closely around the players that CMU wants to get on the field on defense.
And until he’s figured out who his players are and what they do well through spring, Cronin and the CMU defense aren’t in a rush.
