From transfer to leader, Nathan Laperi helps anchor USD's defensive front early on
· Yahoo Sports
Aug. 6—VERMILLION, S.D. — When Nathan Laperi arrived at the University of South Dakota a year ago, his focus was simply to earn a spot, learn a new defense and adjust to life as a transfer.
Now, just one season later, the Plano, Texas, native has entered the Coyotes' preseason football practices carrying a different responsibility. Laperi is no longer simply fighting for playing time. He is being asked to help lead a developing Coyotes defense.
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It has been an outstanding rise for a player entering only his second season with the program after transferring from North Texas, where he spent his true freshman season in 2024. Yet within the program, Laperi has become one of the voices teammates lean toward, a role that was reinforced when he represented USD alongside teammate Tysen Boze at Missouri Valley Football Conference Media Day in July.
For a defense replacing several experienced players, particularly along the defensive line, the trust that the coaches have placed in Laperi says as much about his consistency off the field as it does on it.
"I feel a lot more comfortable coming into this year, especially rotating behind two really good players last year in Caden Crawford and Nyle Dickel," Laperi said. "And the biggest thing I have done this offseason is going back and watching some of the games from last year and watching the reps I was in, as well as the reps those two guys were in. Those were two guys that I watched and learned from every day last year."
Laperi's willingness to learn paid off throughout last year's campaign. Although he never earned a start, Laperi appeared in all 15 games and became USD's best rotational defender. He finished with 17 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, with both his tackles for loss and sack totals ranking second on the team despite not starting.
His breakout performance came early in the season against Lamar in Week 2. Even in a losing effort, Laperi showcased himself as a disruptive pass rusher by recording the first two sacks of his collegiate career in the same game. It was exactly the type of production the Coyotes pictured when Laperi made the decision to leave North Texas after his freshman season.
And with Crawford, Dickel and Mosai Newsom no longer anchoring the defensive front, Laperi now finds himself among the experienced faces in the room as a junior. Joining him up front is senior defensive tackle Chris Dixon, who started all 15 games last season at defensive tackle. Dixon returns as one of the defense's most experienced players, giving the Coyotes an established tandem to build around.
The remainder of the front, however, is still taking shape during the first few weeks of fall camp.
At defensive end, redshirt junior transfers Isaiah Wray from Concordia, St. Paul (Minn.) and Tyler Sapit from Bemidji State have been rotating with the first-team unit alongside Laperi. Inside, redshirt senior transfer John Starman, who arrived from Brown University, and senior Jeff Bowie, entering his second season with USD after beginning his collegiate career at Iowa, have shared first-team reps next to Dixon.
The combination provides athleticism and experience, but it also leaves plenty of questions entering the season, which makes Laperi's leadership even more valuable as newcomers continue learning the system.
Last season, the Coyotes finished near the bottom of the conference in generating sacks and quarterback pressures. Improving that statistic has become one of the defensive line's primary goals throughout fall camp.
"Me and Chris Dixon will be leading the way up front, and obviously, that is where our defense starts," Laperi said. "I think the way we approach each down will be huge for us. Last year, we were too worried about the run. So, I think this year we just need to have the mentality on each down to want to stop them behind the line. We have to create more pressure as an entire unit."
Last season also required much more than learning a new defense. Laperi had to adapt to a new campus, new teammates, new coaches and everything else in between that accompanies a college football transfer. But those adjustments are no longer distractions heading into Year 2 for Laperi.
"I love it here," Laperi said. "I love the staff. I love the players, and I love the town of Vermillion, too. I feel much more comfortable about everything than I did last year, which has really helped me develop over these last few months compared to last year. Also, I have lived in St. Louis and Nebraska, so it's safe to say that I love the Midwest."
For a player who arrived simply hoping to establish himself, Laperi has become one of the faces of a program with championship aspirations despite being picked fifth in the MVFC preseason poll, behind South Dakota State, Illinois State, Youngstown State and North Dakota.
But Laperi and USD believes its defensive front can take a significant step forward this fall. If that happens, it will likely begin with the example set by Laperi and Dixon every day in practice. And if Laperi's first season in Vermillion was about proving he belonged, his second is shaping up to be about proving he can lead by example.
"For this team, the sky is the limit," Laperi said on the squad's expectations heading into the 2026 campaign. "It just depends on how much we want to come together and how hard we want to push one another. And it's on us to prove everyone wrong."