There were a host of problems last year that needed fixing for McNeese State.

It was a long season, but with a fresh outlook, the Cowboys hope to find answers to their problems starting this spring.

Workouts began this week for McNeese with the biggest emphasis being on fixing the defense, especially when it came to stopping the run.

The young Cowboys were overmatched at the line of scrimmage, as they allowed 249 yards a game on the ground while giving up 38 points. It limited McNeese’s offense to just 26 minutes of possession a game as well.

McNeese allowed 5.4 yards a run and saw teams convert on 54 percent of their third downs.

“We have to stop the run,” said Cowboy head coach Gary Goff, who enters his third season with a pair of new assistant coaches on the defensive side.

Josh Brown and Chaz Scales bring a lot of defense experience to McNeese. Brown will be the co-defensive coordinator, working closely with defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro to put in game plans.

Brown spent the last four years as the passing game coordinator at Texas-El Paso while coaching the safeties.

Scales is McNeese’s new cornerbacks coach coming from Western Carolina where he was the defensive coordinator and coach of the defensive backs the last three seasons.

“I’m very excited about bringing them on board,” said Goff. “Two great additions to that side of the ball and they have blended great with the rest of the staff. They have a lot of experience under their belt.

“Tony has welcomed them with open arms. We are going to do some things differently on defense, but Tony is still going to call it with those two having big inputs.”

The staff has already made changes and will simplify what they want to do. Goff said last season the Cowboys may have tried to do too much while looking to find success.

“I don’t know if more things are better,” Goff said. “There were times last year when on both sides of the ball we were looking for magical answers.

“We have to be able to put our cleats in the ground and go forward and play ball. I’m more about simplifying things right now and not being so complicated. I think that is one thing Coach Brown has brought.”

There are also personnel changes on the roster, starting with the front line. Undersized and overmatched a lot last season McNeese went out and got new pieces in four defensive linemen from FBS programs.

New to McNeese are transfers Stephen Johnson (6-4, 330, Auburn), Thomas Lane (6-6, 340, Marshall), Connor Knight (6-3, 298, UAB) and Myles Winslow (6-3, 275, Georgia Southern).

“We spent a lot of resources and effort into improving that area,” said Goff. “These guys are massive people.”

Both Johnson and Knight were 3-star recruits coming out of high school and both were highly recruited by most schools in the country including Power 5 programs. Winslow was tabbed as one of the top 200 defensive ends in the nation in high school by both 247Sports and ESPN.

Injuries and transfers left the linebacker corps short-staffed as well which was led by All-American Micah Davey. As a redshirt sophomore, Davey led the FCS with 15.2 total tackles and 8.2 solo stops per game. Named an All-American by six different organizations last season, including first-team honors by the AFCA and Walter Camp.

Davey was also named first-team All-Southland Conference and was an All-Louisiana recipient, finishing seventh in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in the FCS.

Davey will be limited this spring, especially early, as he continues to recover from a knee injury that he played through last fall. McNeese hopes they get him help both from inside and outside the program.

Goff said Jackson Anders and Peyton Lemaire, both forced to play as freshmen last year, are bigger and stronger this spring. They will be joined by newcomers Marques White, a grad transfer from Dartmouth (All-Ivy League, 6-2, 232), and a pair of ULM transfers Tristan Diggers (6-1, 202) and Gabe Hughes (6-1, 225).

Goff also said he looks forward to the return of Jordan Toaston who missed all of last season with an injury.

“We have a lot more depth in that linebacker room than we did last year,” said Goff.

The Cowboys hope depth and improved talent makes for a better defense in the fall.