With the NAIA season coming to a conclusion this past week with Northwestern winning it all, it gives me time to reflect. Time to reflect on the season we had, and finally see what the final statistics were. I believe this is the first year the NAIA has used Presto Sports to handle their statistics this season and it has grown on me.
As you all know the NAIA used to use DakStats which we were all familiar with. So looking at Presto Sports took some time to get used to. Today I spent most of my time looking at defensive statistics, sacks specifically. At the end of the article, I will show you where I pulled the NAIA statistics for sacks created.
We will look at the team statistics and some substantial individual performances in this area. >70% of the teams that finished top 10 in sacks made the NAIA Playoffs. If you want to have success as a team you better get after the Quarterback. So let’s take a look at teams that did that, get after the quarterback.
NAIA Team Sack Leaders
#1 Lindsey Wilson 52
#2 Baker 44
#3 Cumberlands (KY) 43
#4 Benedictine 41
#5 Dordt 40
#6 Grand View 38
#6 Indiana Wesleyan 38
#8 OUAZ 37
#9 Marian 35
#10 Avila 34
#10 Dickinson State 34
#10 Siena Heights 34
#10 Texas Wesleyan 34
So we all see Lindsey Wilson at #1 for leading teams in the sacks category. The fact that they accomplished taking the QB down 52 times is absolutely wild. What’s wilder is that they came from a multitude of players. It was almost like sack by committee, as a ton of their defensive players had 5+ sacks.
Lindsey Wilson DL Therone Orr led the team in sacks with 7.5 in total. This is a heck of an accomplishment but it’s tied for #32 total in the NAIA. Lindsey Wilson, five different players rack up 5.5 sacks or more this season.
All-American Riley Gerhardt led all NAIA players this season with 12.5 sacks. Luckily for Valley City State Riley is only a Sophomore, and will try to retain his sack title for next year.
Looking at the stats none of the top 5 individual players matched with the top 5 teams in this category. Some guys are just the dudes for their defensive unit.
NAIA Individual Sack Leaders
#1 Riley Gerhardt 12.5 Sacks (Valley City State)
#2 Micah Latin 12 Sacks (Louisiana Christian)
#2 Sam Motzkus 12 Sacks (Presentation)
#2 Paul Vandal 12 Sacks (Jamestown)
#2 Jeremy Walton 12 Sacks (Trinity International)
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