INDIANAPOLIS – If a single adjective could describe the atmosphere on the defensive side of the ball for the UIndy football team this month, “competitive” would have to be at the top of the list.  The Greyhounds appear to have significant depth at each level of the defense, leaving some question as to who will get the majority of snaps this season.

That doesn't concern third-year head coach Bob Bartolomeo, however.  In fact, that's exactly how he likes it.

“That's just going to make our football team better,” said Bartolomeo, when asked about the depth of his defense.  “That's something we've been striving for for three years is to get competition at each and every spot.  We've got it up front (with the defensive line), we've got it at the linebacker position, and we've definitely got it in the back end with the corners and the safeties.”

Much of the competition spurs from the departure of 2011 seniors Demetreius Wilson (DL), Mike Dum (LB), Nate Jackson (FS) and Collin Coffer (CB), all of whom earned all-conference accolades last season.  Replacing names like that won't be easy, but the Greyhounds appear to have an arsenal of student-athletes ready to step up.

On the defensive line, the Hounds have a number of experienced bodies looking to earn time at one of the four spots.

“Up front, we feel like we have nine or 10 guys we can put out there,” said Coach Bart, “and a lot of them have played a lot of football for us.  Eight of them are returning letterwinners, so there are a lot of guys up front.

“Justin Robinson and Jovone Jordan are the only seniors in the group, and they'll be the guys to lead us up front.  But there's also Vince Maida and Mark Strong, who've played a lot of football for us; Jordan Sharp has started some games; Mike Phillips is back after taking a year off to get his back in order; and Blake Surface and Chris Woods have played a lot of football for us.”

Bartolomeo added: “I think everybody's a starter, but somebody's going to play more snaps than the others.  That's just the way it works.  So we'll see who comes out on top, and that's what training camp is all about.”

Moving to the linebacker position, the Hounds return a pair of senior leaders in Max Davis and Tyler Peterman.  The two have combined for more than 450 career tackles at UIndy, with Davis garnering 2012 All-America Honorable Mention from USA Football News.

“Peterman and Davis are guys that have played a lot of football for us.  Both are 30-game starters for us going into their fourth year of competition, and both are solid guys and great leaders.  They'll both graduate in December and have their degree so both are great kids.”

Peterman and Davis should anchor two of the linebacker spots, leaving just the inside LB position to fill.

“We've got a great competition for that other linebacker spot,” noted Coach Bart.  “Todd Hacker is a guy that played some football for us, but he was hurt this spring.  Luke Harbers had a shoulder injury so he also missed the whole spring.  Jayme Comer is a guy that played on every special team last year so he's in contention.  Eddie Antonietti is another guy in contention who played on every special team last year.

“We've got some players, they just haven't played the down-in, down-out linebacker spot in terms of experience there.  But they are linebacker guys that have gotten a lot of reps so we expect big things out of them.

“Again, there's a lot of competition, a lot of completion at that spot, so that's good.”

With the return of senior Paul Corsaro from injury, a trio of Greyhounds could see time at safety, as the Roncalli grad is joined by sophomores Koby Orris and John Strickland.  The latter two made solid contributions as true freshmen in 2011, making for an interesting camp in the defensive backfield.

“In the back end, we're real solid at the safety position with Orris, Strickland and Corsaro.  Those three guys have all started and played well at the safety spot, so we're pretty solid there.

“But we can only play two of them so there's a lot of competition at that position.”

However, after saying that, Bartolomeo threw in a wrinkle that could change the landscape of the defensive two-deep.

“Corsaro is going to be battling at safety to get his position back,” conceded the third-year coach, “but the thing that's nice about Paul, because of the type of athlete he is, we're toying with putting him at outside linebacker a little bit and moving Peterman to inside, so we're going to see how that shapes up.

“We want to get our 11 best on the field and that's the whole key.”

Rounding out the defense are the cornerbacks, led by incumbent Jerrett Ban.  A native of Roachdale, Ind., Ban started all 11 games at corner as a redshirt-sophomore a year ago, corralling four interceptions to share the team lead.

With Ban seemingly on the inside track to starting at one corner, Coach Bart is looking for a standout among an athletic quartet to lock-down the other side.

“Along with Ban, we have four other guys we feel comfortable with playing corner,” Bartolomeo explained.  “That includes Will Brucker, who'll be a senior, Nick Wehby, Andre Smith and Josh Bass.

“Those four other guys haven't necessarily started at corner, but most have played 30-plus snaps on all the special teams.  So they've all been in and played the special teams and done well in that respect.”

Coach Bart knows there are a lot of names for the Greyhound fans to digest, but he also knows the upside that much depth can bring to his team.

“There are a lot of guys that I mentioned,” admits Bartolomeo, “but when you mention a lot of guys, that means that you have a lot of competition, so that'll be good for us.”

Check back Friday, Aug. 24 for a preview of the Greyhound offense.