Delaware’s defensive line room returns eight impact players from 2024, while adding young pieces and a transfer with SEC experience to the rotation this fall.
Delaware Defensive Line Coach Kyre Hawkins, creator of the “Trench Mob” for the Hens, believes that the development up front is on the right track this summer. “We’re nowhere near where we would like to be in the end game, but we are definitely stacking days on good days,” stated Hawkins.
Out of the returning group, graduate student Keyshawn Hunter is standing out as a leader, using his prior experience at the FBS level to communicate with the locker room. “I think Keyshawn does an amazing job at just making sure that everybody understands what this transition really means. Guys might be a little bigger, they might be a little faster. Football is still football at the end of the day,” applauded Hawkins. After transferring from Old Dominion in 2023, Hunter has clogged the interior line of scrimmage for opposing offenses, having 66 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles in 18 games as a Hen. In order to maximize his last collegiate season, Keyshawn has focused on developing more as a coach on the field instead of just a player. “Learning offensive alignment and formations, actually becoming more of a student of the game instead of just playing,” Hunter expressed. “I really focused on making my last year the best year. Leaving no stone unturned, and just becoming the best person I could be.”
While being asked about Hunter’s leadership up front, Hawkins also tagged in sixth-year members Jack Hall and Ethan Saunders, stating “Jack and Ethan, playing here for so long, have done a great job just making sure that we have a tight nucleus group.” Both members of the 2020 Signing Class, Hall and Saunders have combined for 80 career games played, 145 tackles, 26.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 2 fumbles recovered. While emotional entering his last season as a Hen, Saunders is proud to forever be attached to program history in its rise to FBS. “Now you have to go out and have a great year to truly be remembered for the right reasons. We’re excited to get that opportunity and face that challenge.”
Also returning on the line are a quartet of seniors in Dominick Brogna, Q’yaeir Price, Nick Karika, and James Yelbert Jr. In his second full season in Newark, Brogna had 27 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and a pass deflection in 2024. Price, who transferred in from Rutgers last season, had 19 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks as a member of the defensive line rotation. After arriving from Wagner, Karika has recorded 17 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble in two seasons as a Hen. Yelbert Jr., a Wilmington, Delaware native, outputted 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and a blocked PAT attempt the last two years after signing from Iowa Central Community College.
After redshirting in 2023, junior Kion Wright appeared in all 11 games in 2024. He finished the season with 6 tackles and a pass breakup. Sophomores Trace Scott III and Kaeden Singleton completed redshirt seasons in 2024, where Scott maximized his four-game limit and recorded two tackles. “Both of those guys have done a great job,” Hawkins echoed when asked about second year developments of Scott III and Singleton. “They push the guys who have been here like no other. They look like guys who have been here for multiple years.” Completing the list of returnees include junior Nate Ray and sophomore Carson Shockley.
The trenches received a major boost in landing Kentucky transfer Noah Matthews. The Bridgeville, Delaware native and Woodbridge alum returns home after three seasons for the SEC side, where he accumlated 13 tackles, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry, a fumble recovery, and 2 starts over 26 total appearances. “Noah has done a great job buying in. He doesn’t bring any ego to the room… things that you fear in a program, especially guys coming from a higher level. He comes to work every single day as if he’s out there to prove who he says he is and prove to others that he can help us win,” Hawkins described on Matthews’ early impact.
Matthews, who played as an outside linebacker at Kentucky, views this homecoming as a full-circle moment. “Playing in high school, I had championship games here as a young athlete. And now coming back and being a part of something special in moving to FBS… it’s really been a dream come true.” Happy that his family will be able to attend more games now, Matthews presented even more excitement in the opportunity to become teammates again with his cousin Kshawn Cox, a junior cornerback on the roster. “We’ve been talking about this for awhile,” Noah claimed. “We play hand-in-hand. He shuts his guy down, then the quarterback has to stay back there longer and go through another read… giving me more time to get to him.”
Speaking on depth pushing the room forward, the program added a trio of quality freshmen on the line in defensive tackles Micah Pryor, Yamdry Hernandez and defensive end Brandon Gorham. “The transition is different from high school to college. You’re not the guy just yet, until you prove it. Those guys understand that, and they’re working for it,” Hawkins said when speaking of their growth as first-year members of the program. Pryor, a graduate from Greater Atlanta Christian in Georgia, has been developing both inside and outside in camp. Hernandez, whose nickname is “Taco”, has gained 15-20 pounds since his arrival to Newark from Atlantic City Institute of Technology. Gorham, who arrived from Arundel High School in Maryland, has been seeking assistance from the veteran leaders on the edges in Noah Mathews, Ethan Saunders, and Q’yaeir Price. “Those young guys are right on track. They have done a good job buying in and trying to learn, doing everything they can to get mental reps,” added Hawkins.
“The biggest thing that we harp on in our room is you cannot be a selfish defensive lineman or pass rusher. One sack is not caused by just one person. There are a family of guys working together to build that uncomfortable pocket for the quarterback,” replied Hawkins when asked about running a positional group that rotates between almost every snap. “The guy that you’re out there competing against is the same guy cheering for you when you get a sack.”
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