FARGO - The standard of the quintessential FCS linebacker at North Dakota State was well established by the time Nick DeLuca arrived on campus in 2013. Even before the playoffs became a reality for the school, Joe Mays was a pretty good starting point. He finished his career and left for the NFL before NDSU's Division I reclassification was over, but there have been plenty of capable replacements. To DeLuca's credit, he's taken a little bit of what he learned from older players and applied it to this season. And what a year it's been-one that ends Saturday when NDSU plays for a fifth straight national championship against Jacksonville State of Alabama. DeLuca, a junior, leads the team in tackles by a fair margin with 126. He's had three quarterback sacks, an interception and 13 passes either broken up or defended. "I think we've grown up a lot on the defensive side of the ball," DeLuca said. The growth pattern in the middle was set by Grant Olson when DeLuca had his redshirt pulled two years ago. That was the season Olson had his senior year cut short with an ACL injury after nine games, although he returned to gut it out for a bit in two games in the playoffs. Outside linebacker Carlton Littlejohn moved inside with Olson out. If there was a dropoff, it wasn't noticeable; Littlejohn led the team in tackles that season with outside linebackers Travis Beck and Esley Thorton establishing themselves as defensive forces. "I think I took different traits from each guy," DeLuca said. "Grant was big with the game-plan aspect side of things. (Littlejohn) was a big athletic guy and Travis ran around and flew around to the ball, so you take little pieces from each guy and try to mold it into your own."
It wasn't a very smooth start this year with the 38-35 loss at the University of Montana, but the last half of the season was more of what NDSU has been used to for the past few title years. Juniors MJ Stumpf and Pierre Gee-Tucker have grown into their roles. "We just wanted to pick up right where they left off," Stumpf said. "Obviously there's been a few growing pains throughout the season but we feel like we've really progressed. With Nick, there have been no growing pains, he's just continued to get better." DeLuca made his mark on special teams for much of his first two seasons, often being the first guy down on kick coverage. It showed the speed of a 6-foot-3, 244-pound linebacker-an important facet of a linebacker playing the Tampa 2 defense. The middle linebacker is often counted on to cover the middle of the field in passing situations. "[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"2240760","attributes":{"alt":"North Dakota State's Nick DeLuca reacts after a sack in the 2014 playoffs. David Samson / The Forum","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"364"}}]]He's so versatile," Stumpf said. "Some people call him a hybrid between being the guy that can go in there and make tackles for losses and run the deep middle and cover passes in the cover 2." He was at his best in the playoffs in the quarterfinal win over Northern Iowa with 16 tackles. He needed only six stops to lead the team in the semifinal victory over Richmond. DeLuca's 54 solo tackles this season is the fourth-best single-season effort in school history. His 126 overall tackles ranks him No. 10. The season best was 20 tackles at Southern Illinois when the Bison limited the Missouri Valley Football Conference's top offense to a season low 398 total yards, with just 121 on the ground. DeLuca finished second in the voting for the Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year award, which went to UNI cornerback Deiondre Hall. "As a defensive lineman, there are times I get double-teamed and I won't be able to make a play," said Bison defensive tackle Brian Schaetz. "And he's right there. He's been taking every opportunity and he's moving forward with it."FARGO - The standard of the quintessential FCS linebacker at North Dakota State was well established by the time Nick DeLuca arrived on campus in 2013. Even before the playoffs became a reality for the school, Joe Mays was a pretty good starting point. He finished his career and left for the NFL before NDSU's Division I reclassification was over, but there have been plenty of capable replacements. To DeLuca's credit, he's taken a little bit of what he learned from older players and applied it to this season. And what a year it's been-one that ends Saturday when NDSU plays for a fifth straight national championship against Jacksonville State of Alabama. DeLuca, a junior, leads the team in tackles by a fair margin with 126. He's had three quarterback sacks, an interception and 13 passes either broken up or defended. "I think we've grown up a lot on the defensive side of the ball," DeLuca said. The growth pattern in the middle was set by Grant Olson when DeLuca had his redshirt pulled two years ago. That was the season Olson had his senior year cut short with an ACL injury after nine games, although he returned to gut it out for a bit in two games in the playoffs. Outside linebacker Carlton Littlejohn moved inside with Olson out. If there was a dropoff, it wasn't noticeable; Littlejohn led the team in tackles that season with outside linebackers Travis Beck and Esley Thorton establishing themselves as defensive forces. "I think I took different traits from each guy," DeLuca said. "Grant was big with the game-plan aspect side of things. (Littlejohn) was a big athletic guy and Travis ran around and flew around to the ball, so you take little pieces from each guy and try to mold it into your own." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2240807","attributes":{"alt":"Nick DeLuca shouts out defensive signals during the home opener against Weber State at the Fargodome. David Samson / The Forum","class":"media-image","height":"2071","title":"","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"2981"}}]]It wasn't a very smooth start this year with the 38-35 loss at the University of Montana, but the last half of the season was more of what NDSU has been used to for the past few title years. Juniors MJ Stumpf and Pierre Gee-Tucker have grown into their roles. "We just wanted to pick up right where they left off," Stumpf said. "Obviously there's been a few growing pains throughout the season but we feel like we've really progressed. With Nick, there have been no growing pains, he's just continued to get better." DeLuca made his mark on special teams for much of his first two seasons, often being the first guy down on kick coverage. It showed the speed of a 6-foot-3, 244-pound linebacker-an important facet of a linebacker playing the Tampa 2 defense. The middle linebacker is often counted on to cover the middle of the field in passing situations. "
He's so versatile," Stumpf said. "Some people call him a hybrid between being the guy that can go in there and make tackles for losses and run the deep middle and cover passes in the cover 2." He was at his best in the playoffs in the quarterfinal win over Northern Iowa with 16 tackles. He needed only six stops to lead the team in the semifinal victory over Richmond. DeLuca's 54 solo tackles this season is the fourth-best single-season effort in school history. His 126 overall tackles ranks him No. 10. The season best was 20 tackles at Southern Illinois when the Bison limited the Missouri Valley Football Conference's top offense to a season low 398 total yards, with just 121 on the ground. DeLuca finished second in the voting for the Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year award, which went to UNI cornerback Deiondre Hall. "As a defensive lineman, there are times I get double-teamed and I won't be able to make a play," said Bison defensive tackle Brian Schaetz. "And he's right there. He's been taking every opportunity and he's moving forward with it."FARGO - The standard of the quintessential FCS linebacker at North Dakota State was well established by the time Nick DeLuca arrived on campus in 2013. Even before the playoffs became a reality for the school, Joe Mays was a pretty good starting point.He finished his career and left for the NFL before NDSU's Division I reclassification was over, but there have been plenty of capable replacements. To DeLuca's credit, he's taken a little bit of what he learned from older players and applied it to this season.And what a year it's been-one that ends Saturday when NDSU plays for a fifth straight national championship against Jacksonville State of Alabama.DeLuca, a junior, leads the team in tackles by a fair margin with 126. He's had three quarterback sacks, an interception and 13 passes either broken up or defended."I think we've grown up a lot on the defensive side of the ball," DeLuca said.The growth pattern in the middle was set by Grant Olson when DeLuca had his redshirt pulled two years ago. That was the season Olson had his senior year cut short with an ACL injury after nine games, although he returned to gut it out for a bit in two games in the playoffs.Outside linebacker Carlton Littlejohn moved inside with Olson out. If there was a dropoff, it wasn't noticeable; Littlejohn led the team in tackles that season with outside linebackers Travis Beck and Esley Thorton establishing themselves as defensive forces."I think I took different traits from each guy," DeLuca said. "Grant was big with the game-plan aspect side of things. (Littlejohn) was a big athletic guy and Travis ran around and flew around to the ball, so you take little pieces from each guy and try to mold it into your own."
It wasn't a very smooth start this year with the 38-35 loss at the University of Montana, but the last half of the season was more of what NDSU has been used to for the past few title years. Juniors MJ Stumpf and Pierre Gee-Tucker have grown into their roles."We just wanted to pick up right where they left off," Stumpf said. "Obviously there's been a few growing pains throughout the season but we feel like we've really progressed. With Nick, there have been no growing pains, he's just continued to get better."DeLuca made his mark on special teams for much of his first two seasons, often being the first guy down on kick coverage. It showed the speed of a 6-foot-3, 244-pound linebacker-an important facet of a linebacker playing the Tampa 2 defense.The middle linebacker is often counted on to cover the middle of the field in passing situations."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"2240760","attributes":{"alt":"North Dakota State's Nick DeLuca reacts after a sack in the 2014 playoffs. David Samson / The Forum","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"364"}}]]He's so versatile," Stumpf said. "Some people call him a hybrid between being the guy that can go in there and make tackles for losses and run the deep middle and cover passes in the cover 2."He was at his best in the playoffs in the quarterfinal win over Northern Iowa with 16 tackles. He needed only six stops to lead the team in the semifinal victory over Richmond.DeLuca's 54 solo tackles this season is the fourth-best single-season effort in school history. His 126 overall tackles ranks him No. 10. The season best was 20 tackles at Southern Illinois when the Bison limited the Missouri Valley Football Conference's top offense to a season low 398 total yards, with just 121 on the ground.DeLuca finished second in the voting for the Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year award, which went to UNI cornerback Deiondre Hall."As a defensive lineman, there are times I get double-teamed and I won't be able to make a play," said Bison defensive tackle Brian Schaetz. "And he's right there. He's been taking every opportunity and he's moving forward with it."FARGO - The standard of the quintessential FCS linebacker at North Dakota State was well established by the time Nick DeLuca arrived on campus in 2013. Even before the playoffs became a reality for the school, Joe Mays was a pretty good starting point.He finished his career and left for the NFL before NDSU's Division I reclassification was over, but there have been plenty of capable replacements. To DeLuca's credit, he's taken a little bit of what he learned from older players and applied it to this season.And what a year it's been-one that ends Saturday when NDSU plays for a fifth straight national championship against Jacksonville State of Alabama.DeLuca, a junior, leads the team in tackles by a fair margin with 126. He's had three quarterback sacks, an interception and 13 passes either broken up or defended."I think we've grown up a lot on the defensive side of the ball," DeLuca said.The growth pattern in the middle was set by Grant Olson when DeLuca had his redshirt pulled two years ago. That was the season Olson had his senior year cut short with an ACL injury after nine games, although he returned to gut it out for a bit in two games in the playoffs.Outside linebacker Carlton Littlejohn moved inside with Olson out. If there was a dropoff, it wasn't noticeable; Littlejohn led the team in tackles that season with outside linebackers Travis Beck and Esley Thorton establishing themselves as defensive forces."I think I took different traits from each guy," DeLuca said. "Grant was big with the game-plan aspect side of things. (Littlejohn) was a big athletic guy and Travis ran around and flew around to the ball, so you take little pieces from each guy and try to mold it into your own."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2240807","attributes":{"alt":"Nick DeLuca shouts out defensive signals during the home opener against Weber State at the Fargodome. David Samson / The Forum","class":"media-image","height":"2071","title":"","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"2981"}}]]It wasn't a very smooth start this year with the 38-35 loss at the University of Montana, but the last half of the season was more of what NDSU has been used to for the past few title years. Juniors MJ Stumpf and Pierre Gee-Tucker have grown into their roles."We just wanted to pick up right where they left off," Stumpf said. "Obviously there's been a few growing pains throughout the season but we feel like we've really progressed. With Nick, there have been no growing pains, he's just continued to get better."DeLuca made his mark on special teams for much of his first two seasons, often being the first guy down on kick coverage. It showed the speed of a 6-foot-3, 244-pound linebacker-an important facet of a linebacker playing the Tampa 2 defense.The middle linebacker is often counted on to cover the middle of the field in passing situations."
He's so versatile," Stumpf said. "Some people call him a hybrid between being the guy that can go in there and make tackles for losses and run the deep middle and cover passes in the cover 2."He was at his best in the playoffs in the quarterfinal win over Northern Iowa with 16 tackles. He needed only six stops to lead the team in the semifinal victory over Richmond.DeLuca's 54 solo tackles this season is the fourth-best single-season effort in school history. His 126 overall tackles ranks him No. 10. The season best was 20 tackles at Southern Illinois when the Bison limited the Missouri Valley Football Conference's top offense to a season low 398 total yards, with just 121 on the ground.DeLuca finished second in the voting for the Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year award, which went to UNI cornerback Deiondre Hall."As a defensive lineman, there are times I get double-teamed and I won't be able to make a play," said Bison defensive tackle Brian Schaetz. "And he's right there. He's been taking every opportunity and he's moving forward with it."
