Hopkins Joins Bemidji State Football Staff as Defensive Line Coach

BSU football has announced the hiring of defensive line coach Brendan Hopkins. Hopkins inherits a defensive line group that finished the 2024 season ranked nationally, coming in 11th in sacks, 19th in rushing defense, and 31st in tackles for loss.

It’s also a group that graduated a handful of seniors like Steven Hoffman and Cade Barrett, and saw several other starters transfer out, including Marcus Hansen, and most recently, Eli Coenen.

Hopkins is a 2021 graduate of Chadron State College where he played D-line for four years. He spent the past three years coaching D-line at Black Hills State University and before that spent one year as a graduate assistant at the University of Jamestown. He takes over for Darius Carey, who departed BSU this spring to coach at Henderson State.