Bronx, N.Y. - We continue our position-by-position breakdown of the 2021 Fordham football Rams today as we move over to the defensive side of the ball to check out the defensive line.
 
The Rams return three of the four starters from the spring season, led by senior Jonathan Coste, a preseason All-Patriot League selection who earned first team All-League honors in last spring.
 
Other returning starters include seniors Anthony Diodato and Deondre Carter.
 
Diodato, a two-year starter, recorded 14 total tackles, six solo, including 1.5 for loss and one sack during the spring season while Carter, who has appeared in 37 career games, recorded ten total tackles, six solo.
 
Others who bring experience to the defensive line include seniors Alfonzo Dixon IV, Gavin Watson, and Ronnie Fox, juniors Elisha Armstrong, Tom Callahan and John Turley, and sophomores Richard Hofus and Jason Walker.
 
Dixon appeared in all three spring games for the Rams, making one stop, while Watson played in two of the contests, making five tackles, three solo, including 0.5 for loss. Fox, a transfer from Towson, did not see action in the spring while Armstrong appeared in all three games on the defensive line, recording eight total tackles, five solo, including 1.5 sacks. Callahan, who could also handle the long snapping chores in 2021, saw action in two games last spring, recording two solo tackles in the win over Colgate while Turley saw his first action for the Rams last spring. Hofus appeared in two spring games, making a pair of tackles and Walker saw action as a freshman in the spring, appearing in two games and making two tackles, including one for loss and one sack.
 
Newcomers to the defensive line include sophomores Cody Johnson and Ahmir Lyles, and freshmen Javari Rice-Wilson, Jack Low, and Tristan Wright.
 
Johnson moves over to the defensive line in 2021 after appearing in two games on the offensive line for the Rams last spring. Lyles, a transfer from Wagner College, is a Long Island native who attended the Hill School in 2018, while Low, who hails from the land down under, played club football with the Brisbane Rhinos in his native country. Rice-Wilson joins the Rams after earning Big South 3A Defensive Lineman of the Year honors in 2019 at Kings Mountain High School in Kings Mountain, N.C., while Wright is a graduate of Curie Metro High School in Chicago where he earned First Team All-Conference and Second Team All-City honors.