Protecting the deep ball and leading an experienced group of athletes in the secondary will be preseason All-American captain Collin Zych, a do-it-all safety who led the Crimson with 73 tackles last season.

“Our goal as a secondary is to be the best defensive backfield in the Ivy League, which we feel we can do,” Zych says.

While Zych may be the face of the Harvard defense, several new defensive backs will look to make an impact as starters this season. Sophomore DJ Monroe and junior Dan Minamide both had impressive preseasons and will look to replace Barker and Barnes.

“[Minamide] is really the guy who’s probably the most improved guy in the [secondary],” Murphy says. “He’s very athletic [and] had never played defense until he came to Harvard, and now that he’s in his third year, he’s really adapted.”

Junior corner Matt Hanson—the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2008—also returns after registering 31 total tackles and seven pass breakups last season.

“We’ve put a lot of speed and athleticism on the field,” Murphy says. “We think that these four guys are All-Ivy caliber players.”

Despite having blue-chip talent across the board, both Murphy and Larkee have devoted most of the preseason to developing depth—a must-have they believe to be crucial to the Crimson’s success on the defensive end of the ball this season.

“Developing our depth, developing our backups, from my standpoint, is one of the most important things you can do,” Larkee says. “You lose certain guys every year, and we need a lot more [from the players] than they can go, from a depth, substitution, and injury perspective.”

As the season opener against Holy Cross looms, the pieces appear to be in place for a stifling Harvard defense.

“Our defense certainly has been way ahead of our offense in the offseason,” Murphy says.

With the defense looking to be as strong as ever in Murphy’s tenure, an Ivy championship certainly appears to be in the works for the Crimson.

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.