SAN ANTONIO -- There were times during the pandemic last year when North Texas got into stretching lines and had just 43 players on the field. Not 43 scholarship players or 43 rotation players – 43 total players. 

COVID-19 hit every team, but ravaged UNT’s defense across the season. Some weeks, the entire linebacker group was lost to contact tracing. Another, the defensive backs were held out. At one point, North Texas went 35 days without playing a game. 

“It gives me the cold sweats thinking about it,” UNT coach Seth Littrell said. “The guys that have never taken a snap, guys who were playing H-Back the week before going over and playing linebacker.”

With all the issues, several familiar faces were relegated to support roles. Veteran Tyreke Davis, for example, fell to the eighth leading tackler on the team after playing just six games. Absences played a significant role in North Texas falling from a poor unit to statistically the worst defense in college football. 

That’s not an exaggeration. The Mean Green ranked last nationally at 522.1 yards allowed per game. The group ranked third-to-last in scoring defense, allowing more than 42.8 points per game. Comparatively, UNT finished 73 yards and 7.5 points per game behind any other opponent in Conference USA. 

There was a silver lining, though. That opened the door for younger contributors like Kevin Wood, Upton Stout and Jordan Brown to become major playmakers. Now, North Texas brings back virtually every contributor on the two-deep.

“It was a challenging year, a memorable one that I’ll remember forever,” Littrell said. “I hope we don’t have to go back to it. But in the long run, I think it’ll make all of us better because some of those younger guys had a chance to get live reps.” 

With all the adversity, Littrell is confident that the defense is in a much better spot than it looked last season. To take the next step, Littrell brought on longtime defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, who has experience coaching opposite dynamic offenses. His new 4-down alignment should complement the personnel well and allow freshman Grayson and Gabriel Murphy to transition into natural pass rushing roles. 

When North Texas is solid on defense, the sky’s the limit. The Mean Green ranked No. 5 in scoring defense and No. 6 in total defense among Conference USA teams. That was enough for UNT to win nine games and compete for the C-USA crown. 

Last year was a nightmare for this program in many ways. With hopes of a normal year, Littrell feels like the Mean Green can get back on schedule.

“With a healthy unit, I feel great,” Littrell said. “I’ll go back to it: We have talented players. Whenever you’re piecing together a game plan on Thursday and then you lose a bunch of guys, it’s challenging. 

“At the end of the day, I feel like we have the guys to be very successful. I think you’ll see a huge improvement this year defensively.”