Big Sky Conference

Santiago still chewing up yards despite extra attention

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John Santiago sees a wall of defenders staring back at him every time he lines up in the backfield these days. It is only to be expected after one of the best debut seasons in the history of the Big Sky Conference.

Flash back to August of 2015 and Santiago’s first fall camp at North Dakota. Despite being a finalist for Minnesota Mr. Football after rushing for 1,859 and 24 touchdowns at St. Francis High in 2014, UND envisioned the shifty 5-foot-9, 180-pounder as a wide receiver in its ball control offense.

By the third week of fall camp, injuries led to Santiago getting a shot in the backfield. By the end of the 2015 season, Santiago piled up more rushing yards than any true freshman in Big Sky history, earning Co-Freshman of the Year honors with Northern Arizona quarterback Case Cookus and All-America honors. Santiago rushed for more than 100 yards in nine of his 11 starts, averaging 132.6 yards per game. He piled up 1,459 yards, the top total in the Big Sky by 333 yards. He scored 16 rushing touchdowns and his 2,159 all-purpose yards ranked third in the FCS.

UND running back John Santiago (22)/by Brooks Nuanez

UND running back John Santiago (22)/by Brooks Nuanez

Santiago’s breakout performance coupled with an offensive line that graduated standout senior guards Brandon Anderson and Sean Meehan and center Colton Boas means Santiago is now a marked man. In UND’s first three games this season, Santiago has seen stacked boxes with eight and sometimes nine players hungry to swallow him up.

“I’d like to think it’s the same, I want to play like I did last year but defenses are starting to pack the box more when they see me in the backfield,” Santiago said. “They know what we did last year. We still have to play our game and we still have to study the film and we still have to locate where things are going to be boxed. I’ve definitely been keyed on more this year than last year.”

Despite returning just one starter on the offensive line — junior left tackle A.J. Stockwell — and the offense losing wide receiver Clive George, its biggest speed threat, for the season in its opener against Stony Brook, Santiago has still found success. Stony Brook stuffed Santiago, holding him to 51 yards on 16 carries, although he did score a 16-yard touchdown for UND’s only trip to the end-zone in Long Island during a 13-9 loss.

Santiago rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown against Bowling Green, his second straight 100-yard outing against an FBS opponent after his 148-yard, two-touchdown debut in North Dakota’s 23-14 win over Wyoming last season in his first career start.

UND running back John Santiago (22) in 2015/by Evan Frost for Skyline Sports

UND running back John Santiago (22) in 2015/by Evan Frost for Skyline Sports

In last week’s Potato Bowl against South Dakota in Grand Forks, Santiago helped spark a comeback from a 34-14 deficit to put the game into overtime. His seven-yard touchdown catch, the first scoring reception of his career, cut the lead to 34-24. His 25-yard touchdown run in the first overtime set the stage for UND’s 47-44 double-overtime win. Santiago finished with 140 yards on 22 carries, giving him 11 games of more than 100 yards in 14 career starts.

“I’m trying to keep working on my craft and find the details, watch a lot of film over the week and figure out people’s weaknesses and capitalize on them when they make mistakes,” Santiago said.

On Saturday, Santiago begins his second season in his favorite feasting ground. Santiago rushed for at least 117 yards in every single one of UND’s eight Big Sky Conference contests last season. He totaled 1,283 yards and 13 touchdowns against league foes, averaging 160 yards per outing. His career days came against Montana with a 180-yard outing that included an 80-yard touchdown on UND’s first offensive play in Missoula and a 230-yard, three-touchdown effort against Montana State.

“Our man, Santiago, he is one of the best in the league,” said Montana State first-year defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak, the DC at Montana last season who now will try to help his Bobcats slow down the superstar. “What I noticed — he had some big runs when we played them (at Montana) last year and watching (Montana State) last year — is he does a great job with his hands, for a guy who’s not very big, he does a great job of knocking away tackles. We have to practice knocking his hands down on the way through the tackle. We have to run through his legs. When you think he’s tackled, keep swarming because he’s awesome at bouncing the football and making guys miss.

UND running back John Santiago breaks a 45-yard TD vs. MSU in 2015/by Brooks Nuanez

UND running back John Santiago breaks a 45-yard TD vs. MSU in 2015/by Brooks Nuanez

“He’s still a young guy and to come on the scene like he did last year, he’s impressive. They do a great job of getting him the football. It’s an unbelievable challenge.”

Montana State first-year head coach Jeff Choate singled out Santiago in his opening statement of his press conference on Monday, noting the burner is “as advertised”. Santiago’s 230-yard day against MSU started with a 45-yard touchdown rip in the first quarter, continued with a 75-yard touchdown run before halftime and ended with a four-yard fourth quarter touchdown to give UND a 44-38 lead, the final margin of victory. The Bobcats gave up 426 yards rushing that Halloween day, suffering a loss that officially ended their playoff hopes. The performance sparked a three-game winning streak for UND; the Fighting Hawks finished 7-4 and were controversially left out of the 24-team FCS playoff field.

“We will see if we are any good at tackling on Saturday,” Choate said. “I think we’ve made strides. But he’s a different animal. They just feed him the ball and he just wills the ball into the end-zone.”

“There’s a lot of really good running backs in the Big Sky but he’s definitely one of the top,” said MSU junior captain Mac Bignell, the Bobcats’ leading tackler for the second straight season. “You just have to be physical with him every chance we get and try to slow him down that way.”

Santiago’s size belies his power. He can run between the tackles as well as much larger tailbacks and his stiff-arm is one of the Big Sky’s most potent weapons. Although UND loses several veterans up front, the line is still one of the biggest in the league.

UN running back John Santiago vs. Montana in 2015/by Evan Frost for Skyline Sports

UN running back John Santiago vs. Montana in 2015/by Evan Frost for Skyline Sports

Stockwell is a 6-foot-7, 315-pound junior. Left guard Dan Bell is a 6-foot-5, 310-pound junior. Center Michael Coe is a 6-foot-3, 300-pound senior. Right guard Demon Taylor is a 6-foot-4, 310-pound sophomore. Matt Cox is a 6-foot-5, 300-pound junior. Santiago likes to use the big bodies to create creases and piles before bouncing to the outside and turning on the jets.

“John, he bounces — I call it pile leverage — he’ll get everybody in there,” Choate said. “He’s not a big guy. He can run between the tackles effectively but he can really create some problems for you because he can bounce it, you lose leverage of the pile and he’s got the speed to accelerate and create explosive plays that way.”

Montana State’s defensive front has been decimated by injuries since the beginning of fall, particularly on the edges. Junior defensive end Devin Jeffries is lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee. Junior end Tyrone Fa’anono has missed the majority of practices since the beginning of camp and did not play last week against Western Oregon. Junior Shiloh Laboy did not play last week or practice this week. Junior tackle Brandon Hayashi has not practiced in two weeks with a left knee injury. Senior tackle Matt Brownlow missed practice time this week.

Montana State has primarily employed 6-foot-4, 245-pound redshirt freshman Marcus Ferriter and 6-foot-1, 227-pound true freshman Derek Marks at the end spot opposite sophomore Buck end Grant Collins. Choate called MSU’s defensive line depth, or lack there of, “a very big concern, especially when you are playing a team like this.” Bignell is an anchor and an All-Big Sky performer but redshirt freshman Josh Hill is expected to start at MSU’s other outside linebacker spot on Saturday.

“We have got to get lined up,” Gregorak said. “We probably won’t see a team that has more shifts and motions. We have to have great leverage on the football, which means our edges have to be great. And then we have to run through our tackles on No. 22.”

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About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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