Harvard will continue to use the same eight-man pressure front Murphy teams have run since his days coaching at Cincinnati, in which defenders are stacked on the line of scrimmage to stymie the run and rush the passer.

Junior All-Ivy linebacker Dante Balestracci and senior John Perry will be called upon to shoulder a lot of the load of front. But don’t tell Balestracci that he will have to carry the bulk of the weight for an inexperienced line.

“I think a couple guys have been overlooked on the defensive line,” Balestracci said. “We had a lot of guys in the rotation last year like Michael Armstrong, Jesse Brush. Pat Lavin as well. They had a lot of experience on the field last year. And I think three of those guys are seniors, so as far as leadership goes I think it’ll come from them.”

Just a few days into camp, Armstrong believes that the defense can only improve from last year.

“We look pretty good, pretty solid,” Armstrong said. “Honestly, I think we might have a little more talent than last year, might fly around a little faster from sideline to sideline. It’ll be fun to watch and fun to play.”

Even if talent isn’t a question among the top four, depth should be. Murphy was able to freely rotate the likes of Armstrong and Brush into the defensive line throughout games last year, keeping starters like Laborsky and Scherrer fresher for crunch time.

As a result, Harvard surrendered more than seven points in the fourth quarter only once—a meaningless period against Columbia in which the Crimson already led by 24 points—and the late-game sacks came in bunches.