AMHERST — When Joe Harasymiak accepted the UMass football head coaching job back in early December, a handful of members on the Rutgers staff – where Harasymiak was previously the defensive coordinator – were excited for him. They also wanted to go with him based on the relationships they had built with him over the course of their time together.

Jared Keyte was one of those people. So when Harasymiak asked Keyte, the Scarlet Knights’ nickelbacks coach in 2024, to be the Minutemen’s defensive coordinator, he didn’t hesitate for a second.

He knew he wanted to hop on board in Amherst.

“Joe has been a mentor of mine going back to Maine in 2016,” Keyte said after Wednesday’s spring practice, UMass’ second of the season. “We knew each other prior, but I really started to deal with him in 2016. Just continuing to build a relationship and galvanize trust just by doing the right things. He preaches recruiting and bringing in coaches that are the right people first, so we’ve developed that way. When he accepted the job – I didn’t make any assumptions – I, of course, wanted to come with him. I’m excited to be here and continue to grow.”

There’s no question Harasymiak is going to have his hands all over the UMass defense given his past success as a DC, but it was important to him to have someone he trusts oversee his defensive unit. Keyte has a background coaching nearly every position on the defensive side of the ball. He’s been a linebackers coach, safeties coach, defensive line coach, special teams coordinator and a defensive coordinator.

All of that experience has come into play for Keyte even only a pair of practices into the spring season – he’s found it easier to supervise the entire defensive operation.

“The biggest thing with that is just learning to coach different positions within the scheme, and my foundation is a special teams coordinator – which to me is just offense and defense, you’re incorporating both,” Keyte said of his background. “I’ve been fortunate to coach almost every position on defense, so I think that it gives me an idea and perspective of how guys are being coached within our scheme… Our position coaches do a great job, it just helps me know what’s going on.”

Conclusions on how the defense is going to look or the defensive output expected come fall time simply cannot be made after two sessions, but Keyte has seen flashes of the exact characteristics he wants from his group. UMass has flocked to the ball, they’re always talking to one another on the field and off, and, as much as they can without pads, the Minutemen have given off a physical feel to their defense.

The next steps are simple: watch film, improve and carry on with hammering the fundamentals.

“I’ve been happy,” Keyte said. “The biggest thing we’re coaching right now are effort and response, and I think our guys have the right approach. We want to run to the ball, we want to play violently, we want to communicate. We’re doing those things. And I know we’re going to coach the technique and fundamentals on tape, but I’m pretty happy with where we are as long as we continue to take steps forward.

“I wasn’t here [last year], but I’m really happy with the approach we’ve had,” Keyte added. “Again, we’re coaching effort and response, the things that we can control, and our guys are doing a great job of that. Obviously we haven’t won or lost any games, we’ve only had two practices. So things are good.”

In terms of scheme, Keyte said that the basic formations are in. The foundation the defense has been set, now they’re observing how each player responds to the integration of more schemes/plays. Depending on how well Keyte thinks the defense is retaining and learning information, he may put in more looks, or may slow down if it’s too much.

One aspect of practice that has been extremely helpful to the Minutemen defense is the advanced offensive formations that they’ve had to go up against. Offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian has mixed up his play calling, and it’s presented the defense with some challenges.

All in all, the opening sessions have gone about as smoothly as a first week of practice can.

“For us right now, it’s just installing our stuff,” Keyte said. “We’re getting some difficult looks which is really good for us. It’s allowing us to go back to the tape and coach our guys on those things. Right now… we want to install the foundation of our defense and improve on it, that’s the biggest thing. We’re not trying to win a spring practice, we want to get better.”