“They’re all great leaders, and they’re all very motivated and excited about the season, ready to work hard and motivate everyone else,” FitzGerald said. “I’m very lucky from that standpoint.”

Perhaps just as important as the experience of the defensive players is the number worthy of heavy minutes, particularly on the defensive line. Last year, the Crimson heavily favored its starters—Kern, FitzGerald, and then-junior defensive ends Marc Laborsky and Phil Scherrer deep into games.

A week into training camp this year, Murphy feels he goes two deep across the line. In addition to senior Kyle Sims, the new starter at right tackle, expect to see juniors Michael Armstrong, Jesse Brush and Greg Parker among a group of freely rotated defensive linemen.

“We can play eight guys on the defensive line this year,” Murphy said. “We didn’t come close to having that kind of depth last year. So with eight fresh veteran players on the defensive line, just by virtue of that we’re going to be in better shape in the fourth quarter.”

Murphy believes that the Ivy League’s transformation into a passing-oriented conference makes the presence of depth on the defensive line more important. With more capable bodies to throw at increasingly lively offensive schemes, late-game fatigue becomes less of an issue.

“These days in our league, if you’ve got only four defensive linemen, they’re running up and down chasing the quarterback for four quarters,” Murphy said. “It’s a little different than if a team lines up in the ‘I’ formation and just tries to pound the ball away at you. If you’ve got quality depth—especially in the defensive line—then I think your conditioning in the fourth quarter is there.”

Special Again?