RAPID CITY, S.D. --- To play football in the strong Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, defense is a must.

For South Dakota Mines, playing that type of defense has been an uphill climb throughout the years, but the Hardrockers have made some strides as of late. Thursday during the team's first full scrimmage of fall camp, the Mines defense ruled the day.

It all started early as the defense held the offense out of the end zone in an eight-play, red-zone possession from its own 20-yard line. In fact, the Mines offense was never able to hit pay dirt during the scrimmage and had unofficially 131 yards (not counting QB sacks). Six Mines quarterbacks combined to complete 10-of-31 passes with one interception for 78 yards. The offense ran the ball 20 times for 53 yards and one fumble.

"The defense came out with a lot of enthusiasm and energy today, and in a game situation that is what you need. The kids came out and answered the bell right away," Mines head coach Charlie Flohr said. "Offensively, we just didn't do things that we needed to do consistently. We made mistakes up front, and we didn't do the things that we needed to do."

Both Mines seniors, defensive end Kyante Christian and defensive back Adrian Eastman, said the Hardrockers have to start with energy and enthusiasm, and then let their abilities do the rest.

"We're just playing with a lot of high intensity. That has been one of the changes – playing with high energy and just taking it to people," Christian said. "If you sit back and catch things and wait for things to come to you, that's where big plays happen, that's where losses come from."

That was evident early as the Mines defense was loud and boisterous, especially on the sidelines after that opening stop, often chanting "Money" on third down.
"I think it just is a lot of energy," Eastman added. "That was one of our biggest things on our defense, that's what we preached – just bring the energy every day and fight to the ball and good things will happen.

"We preach that even when in the low moments, bring the energy back up because there is always the next-play mentality on defense. The offense is always practicing well, and they are going to make plays, but we just have to make sure we are making more plays."

Last season the Hardrockers gave up 26.5 points a game during the 6-5 campaign (4-5 in the RMAC), improving from 31 points a game in 2019 (2020 was a shortened Covid season) and 41 points a game in 2018.

The Mines defense is led by All-RMAC first team performers Christian, linebacker/defensive end Gavin Chaddock and Eastman, safety, in his fifth and final season with the Hardrockers.

As is often the case early in the fall camp, the defense is likely playing a little ahead of the offense. Christian said one of the keys to their success this season is just talking to each other.

"One of the things we wanted to do was to communicate better," he said. "Last season we faltered on a lot of things just because of the lack of communication. Right now we're communicating on a high level, so that was what the difference was."

Despite a good start and good first full scrimmage, Christian added that the defense has plenty to work on before the Hardrockers open the season Sept. 1 at Missouri S&T.

"We have to tighten up on the little things," he said. "Coverage-wise from the linebacker position, we have some things to fix there. DB-wise we're playing a lot better. On the defensive line, there are a lot of things we can fix, but they are small details that we can pick up on."

Eastman, who has 195 tackles in his career, believes they have the ability to be one of the best defenses in the RMAC if things go as planned.
"We can be top in turnovers; our guys up front can be near the top in sacks, for sure," he said.

In these scrimmage situations, when one side of the football dominates, that usually means the other side struggled. That was the case for much of the scrimmage for the Mines offense, which only played about 15 plays with its' ones.

"We had some guys out with injuries and things, but that is no excuse," Flohr said. "We have to have the next man up mentality. It just wasn't the offense's day today and a lot of that was due to what the defense did."

It has been a solid camp, however, for the Mines quarterbacks, led by redshirt sophomore Jayden Johannsen and senior Spencer Zur. Johannsen, named All-RMAC honorable mention last season, appeared in 11 games and was 177-of-295 passing for 2,062 yards, 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also led the team in rushing with 132 rushes for 559 yards and eight TDs. Zur was 16-of-28 passing for 180 yards and one TD in five games.

"Both of those guys have done a really good job of stepping up. We're just looking for consistency from both," Flohr said. "Every single day they have to show up and be able to manage the game and make plays and take care of the football. Both have done a good job of that. We're excited about the next week to see how they progress with our offense."

The Hardrockers will look to step up their run game this season but have been a little slow coming along with injuries to second-leading rusher Kaleb Roth (394 yards, three TDs) and newcomer Bryan Lumsden, a transfer from Division I Utah State before he played two years at D-II University of Mary, where he rushed for over 1,037 yards and had 11 touchdowns.

Redshirt-sophomore Orlando Westbrook-Sanchez III returns after rushing for 343 yards and one TD last season.

"We have some mild injuries right now. But we have some talented kids that have stepped up and done a good job and shown us that they care capable of playing," Flohr said. "We're giving them as many reps as we can to see if they are going to be able to play. They have really pushed one another to become a better position group. Orlando Westbrook is healthy and has done a good job. We know he can play at our level."

On Thursday, freshmen running backs Ty Harris, Konnor Berndt and Dax Polka all saw action, some with the first team.

"We have had a number of young freshmen who have stepped up and we want to give those younger kids an opportunity to play with some of the ones to see if they can handle some of the high-pressured situations," Flohr said. "We're excited to watch the younger kids come in and develop, and we'll see if they can help us this year."

Receiving, freshman tight end Jack McFarland had a nice scrimmage with four catches for 65 yards.

Flohr was pleased with the fact that much of the scrimmage was used to look at younger players in multiple positions and players who can step up to contribute in game situations.

"With where we are in camp with a few nagging injuries we have a lot of younger kids who we feel can step up and help us out this season, whether it is on special teams or on offense or defense," he said. "This was kind of the day to see if they can do that and we can start fitting them into a little bit more pressure situations in practice."

In the meantime, seniors like Christian and Eastman look to be saving the best for last in 2022.

"Going into my last one, I'm excited to finish it out with these guys, play a full season and get a lot of these young guys some reps," Christian said.

Added Eastman: "It's been a good ride, so I am excited to go out and show there one last time, and hopefully go out on top."

The Hardrockers will have another full scrimmage Aug. 24 before opening the season Sept. 1 in Rolla, Mo., against Missouri S&T.

About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 11 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.