Two key seniors from the 2016 St. Lawrence University football team's dominating defense will take on new roles with the team as assistant coaches in 2017.

Chyron Brown-Wallace '17 will coach the defensive linemen, while Jayson Leigh '17 will coach the defensive backs.

Brown-Wallace is the most decorated St. Lawrence football player in nearly 35 years. He earned the highest vote total among NCAA Division III athletes for the Cliff Harris Award, which recognizes the best small college defensive player in the nation. A two-time American Football Coaches Association First-Team All-America selection, Brown-Wallace was the 2016 Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year and earned D3football.com All-America honors. He was a three-time First-Team All-Liberty League selection and earned St. Lawrence's Martha Finch Outstanding Male Senior Athlete Award.

Leigh ranked fourth on the team with 46 tackles, including 25 solo stops in 2016. He finished his career with seven interceptions, returning four of them for touchdowns, including a 92-yard return for a score in a win over Endicott in 2016. He was an Honorable Mention All-Liberty League selection last year and had 26 career tackles for loss.

Last season, the Saints were the top-ranked team in the Liberty League in 13 defensive categories and ranked in the top 10 in the nation in five categories, including scoring defense (second, 11.0 points allowed per game), defensive touchdowns (third, six in 10 games), first downs defense (seventh overall and third among teams that played more than eight games, 129 allowed), red zone defense (seventh, .500), and tackles for loss (ninth, 9.1 per game).

"St. Lawrence football has achieved great success over the last four years," said head coach Dan Puckhaber. "That success was a result of some very talented players. Chyron and Jayson were special players who were main contributors to some of the greatest defenses this program has ever seen. Who better to teach the next class of defensive greats than two of the guys that did it at an extremely high level for the last four years? I am very excited to see what happens in the next chapter in their St. Lawrence story. The first four have been pretty memorable."

Brown-Wallace and Leigh will officially begin their coaching careers on August 1. Players will return to campus on August 12, and the first day of practice will be August 13.