Despite losing a wealth of experience, Kill is confident in NM State’s defense

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- The big question heading into the second year of the Jerry Kill era at New Mexico State University, surrounds the defense.

In 2022 the Aggies defense was ranked in the top 30 in FBS football, but since then a wealth of experience graduated.

The Aggies will be without linebackers Trevor Brohard and Chris Ojoh as well as defensive lineman Lazarus Williams to name a few. In fact the Aggies return just four starters on the defensive side of the ball.

But Kill isn't concerned about their lack of experience in the slightest.

"We'll be better than we were on defense a year ago," Kill said. "Athletically we are gifted with a tonne of speed and it's one of the faster teams I've had since Northern Illinois. We're going to run bigger, we're bigger up front and we're stronger up front."

The Aggies do return standout cornerback Andre Seldon who told ABC-7 they are way ahead of where they were this time last year as an overall defense despite having a lot of new guys.

"Going back a year ago we had to build that trust going into the season and now I feel like we all trust each other more now and that's part of the culture here," Seldon said. "Even though we're young, we're deep. We're about two or three deep at every position which is an advantage to us and even though we're young we've got good athletic ability on defense." 

The Aggies kickoff their season at home on Aug. 26th against UMass at 5 p.m. on ESPN.