ELON, N.C. – Leading up to the start of the 2018 Elon University football season, we will take a brief look at each position. Today, we take a look at the defensive backs coached by Ryan Smith.
 
With nine upperclassmen, the defensive backfield is one of the most experienced positions on the field for the Phoenix with four of the five players that started the playoff game against Furman returning in 2018.
 
Heading into preseason camp, Greg Liggs, Jr. headlined one defensive back position with Richard Gray backing him up. Liggs had a strong bounce-back season in 2017 in making 59 tackles with 5.5 for loss to go with a team-best 11 pass breakups and two interceptions. The Greensboro, N.C., native missed the 2016 season due to injury, but played in all 12 games in 2017 and had a strong start to the campaign with a career-best eight tackles and an interception at Toledo.
 
The other corner spot has Daniel Reid-Bennett on top of the two-deep with Zavier Williams behind him. Reid-Bennett started all 12 games last year while Williams played in each of the 12. The two combined for 104 tackles, 10 pass breakups and two interceptions. Reid-Bennett finished the year with 79 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, while breaking up eight passes and intercepting another. He finished with a career-best 11 tackles in Elon's road win at No. 6 Richmond and broke up a potential game-winning pass in a win over No. 19 Albany. Williams made 25 tackles on the season with two passes broken up. He had a season-high three tackles at Toledo.
 
The spur position features a battle between senior Efrim Borders and redshirt freshman Jarquez Bizzell. Borders, a former wide receiver on the team, started five games in 2017 before missing the remainder of the season due to injury. Over the course of his five games, Borders made 28 tackles, broke up two passes, forced a fumble and recovered another. He tallied eight total tackles and recovered a fumble in his defensive debut on the road against Toledo. Bizzell appeared in one game in his first season with the program in 2017.
 
At free safety, senior Tyler Campbell held the starting roll entering camp with rookie Cole Coleman of Raleigh's Leesville Road backing him up. Campbell, an Army West Point transfer, started all 12 games for the Phoenix in 2017. Along the way, he intercepted a team-best three passes, had 63 tackles – including 2.5 for loss – and one sack while forcing a fumble and recovering three. A former running back before transitioning to the defensive side of the ball, Campbell also returned 32 kicks for the Phoenix, averaging 21.5 yards per return. Coleman enrolled at Elon in the spring after helping Leesville Road to four consecutive playoff appearances. There, he gave up just one total touchdown in coverage in 27 varsity games and was named an All-CAP performer in 2016.
 
The final spot is the bandit position, where Connor Christiansen entered camp with the edge on McAllister Ingram. Christiansen, who moved from quarterback to defensive back during the 2017 spring session, appeared in nine games a season ago and made 19 tackles, had one interception, one pass breakup and a quarterback hurry. During the year he posted a season-best six tackles at No. 16 New Hampshire and his first-career interception came against No. 1 James Madison. Ingram, a sophomore from Thomasville, N.C., played in all 12 games as a rookie and made seven starts. He made 29 tackles during the season, including a season-best eight tackles with four solo stops against James Madison and followed that performance with six more stops in the playoffs against No. 22 Furman.
 
Adding depth to the position, Elon also has junior Chandler Estep, junior Hobart transfer Marco King, junior Jon Leach and redshirt freshmen Jovon Allie and William Sturdivant returning this season. The program also brought in five other new faces in Adam Chnupa, Joseph Colaio-Coppola, Charles Hartsock, Marcus Hillman and Shamari Wingard.
 
Defensive Back Personnel
Jovon Allie | R-Fr. | 5-11 | 179 | Collingswood, N.J.           
Jarquez Bizzell | R-Fr. | 6-1 | 191 | Kinston, N.C.  
Efrim Borders | Sr. | 5-9 | 186 | Shelby, N.C.
Tyler Campbell | Sr. | 5-11 | 182 | Suwanee, Ga.  
Adam Chnupa | Fr. | 6-1 | 190 | Hillsborough, N.C.          
Connor Christiansen | Sr. | 6-1 | 189 | Fishers, Ind.
Joseph Colaio-Coppola | Fr. | 5-11 | 180 | New Rochelle, N.Y.     
Cole Coleman | Fr. | 5-10 | 174 | Raleigh, N.C.
Chandler Estep | Jr. | 5-9 | 199 | Carmel, Ind.
Richard Gray | So. | 6-1 | 190 | Stone Mountain, Ga.        
Charles Hartsock |Fr. | 6-1 | 176 | Charleston, S.C.          
Marcus Hillman | Fr. | 6-1 | 185 | Camden, N.J.    
McAllister Ingram | So. | 5-11 | 191 | Thomasville, N.C.
Marco King | Jr. | 6-2 | 190 | Hull, Mass.
Jon Leach | Jr. | 5-7 | 182 | Jackson, N.J.    
Greg Liggs, Jr. | Jr. | 5-11 | 187 | Greensboro, N.C.
Daniel Reid-Bennett | Jr. | 6-0 | 199 | Lexington, N.C.     
William Sturdivant | R-Fr. | 6-0 | 187 | Fayetteville, N.C.
Zavier Williams | Jr. | 6-0 | 179 | Ellenwood, Ga.
Shamari Wingard | Fr. | 6-0 | 170 | Charlotte, N.C.