Heading into the 2024 Premier Lacrosse League season, the California Redwoods had huge holes to fill on the defensive side of the ball. Eddy Glazener – the team captain – and John Sexton both retired while Garrett Epple signed with the Boston Cannons.

Defensive coordinator Chris Collins said those three were irreplaceable, and it wasn’t just because of their talent level. That trio, alongside Collins, had been working together for five seasons. They reached the championship game in 2019. They played in the bubble together in 2020. They had played in multiple semifinals together. They were veterans who played a lot of minutes in the biggest games.

“We basically had to reinvent who we were defensively,” Collins said. “The four of us, we could finish each other’s sentences, and that was something, from a coaching point of view, I can’t put a price tag on.”

The Redwoods had one rookie earn a spot in the rotation last season: Chris Conlin.

Conlin began his college career at Holy Cross and led the nation in caused turnovers in 2020 and 2021. He transferred to Notre Dame and helped the Fighting Irish win back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024, and he was an Honorable Mention All-American in his final season. 

Between his ability to stand out nationally at a smaller school and take on top matchups in the incredibly talented ACC, his winning pedigree, and the fact that California’s roster was filled with players from Notre Dame, Collins said adding Conlin was a no-brainer.

“That’s someone who checks a whole bunch of boxes,” he said, “and we really benefited from that.”

Despite the fit, the Redwoods didn’t draft Conlin. Collins said because it was such an offense-heavy draft (10 of the first 16 players selected were attackmen or offensive midfielders), the California coaching staff believed it could address the defense at the end of the draft. 

Ultimately, California waited out the entire league completely, picking up Conlin through waivers after the draft concluded.

While he was eager to play, going undrafted did not affect Conlin’s mental state or ego.

“It’s very easy to get hung up on where you're getting picked and where you'll go, but as with anything in life, you kind of just go into things with an open mind and put your best foot forward,” he said. “Good things happen, and I think my kind of scenario situation was a good testament to that if you're a good player, coaches will find you.”

Conlin arrived at training camp the day after the NCAA Championship game and started practicing on Wednesday. Collins said the team wanted to give him a break between the NCAA Championship and his first game, so he was not part of the roster for the 2024 season opener against the Carolina Chaos. He made his debut the following week against the New York Atlas.

Collins said the Redwoods defense relies on players being able to cover “a handful of different guys,” and they wanted to immediately expose Conlin to that style against a team that Collins said could dodge from all four corners and had two strong players on the inside, not to mention having Trevor Baptiste barreling down the field after faceoff victories.

“Chris was trying to help a little bit too much, and that’s only natural,” Collins said. “That’s the kind of game you want those guys to play in because you want them to experience everything and have their heads spin a little bit because everything kind of slows down pretty quickly after that. I’m definitely a big believer in letting your guys play early because it’s always easier to slow things down then ask your guys to speed things up.”

While the first game presented some early struggles for Conlin, Collins said his second matchup was the one that showed them what he was capable of.

When California took on the Denver Outlaws, Conlin was tasked with guarding top pick Brennan O’Neill, a player he was very familiar with from his time at Notre Dame. In that game, Conlin caused his first turnover and picked up two ground balls. O’Neill scored only one goal, which didn’t come until the fourth quarter, and added only one assist; he shot 20% on the day.

Though the Redwoods ultimately lost 13-8, it was the day Collins said the rookie defender showed his true potential.

“At the end of the game, we looked around, and we’re like, ‘Conlin can play,’” he said. “Con’s played O’Neill probably six times between the ACC schedule and the ACC tournament, and for two years, Con basically covered him, so when we were able to create that opportunity again for him, familiarity for him in that game, he was lights out. I remember walking away from that game saying, ‘I know we did not win that game, but defensively, Con really answered the bell.’”

Playing with and against some of the best players in the world, Conlin gave credence to the phrase “iron sharpens iron.”

“As you play with these players that are so phenomenal, it only elevates your own game,” he said. “I notice myself continuously improving and getting better, when I played so many years in college that I didn't even think that was possible.”

Looking just at the statistics, the Redwoods defense struggled in 2024, finishing last in the league in scores against average. But those numbers are slightly misleading. Not only did the team have to replace three veterans, but Owen Grant – the second overall pick in the 2023 draft – also missed the entire season due to injury. That meant the team relied on a number of players who lacked experience; the team started Conlin and Chris Fake on close defense in most games, and those two had combined to play one total PLL game coming into the year. 

Additionally, the struggles the Redwoods’ offense had – they finished seventh in the league in scores and second in turnovers – meant they had a lot of pressure put on them to keep games close. In two of the three games they won, they didn’t surpass 10 goals.

It wasn’t all bad, however, and Conlin can pick out the 9-7 victory over the Boston Cannons as a glimpse into the group’s potential.

“I really think our Cannons game when we won out in Boston was a huge win for us,” he said. “That was like a game when we kind of felt empowered as a team, and defensively, I think that was like a defining moment where … we knew we had something that we could build off of in the future.”

Over the course of his first season, Conlin caused nine turnovers – tied with Arden Cohen for the most on the team – and picked up 17 ground balls, which was the third-most on the team among long poles. Collins said he’s “thrilled” to have Conlin return to the defense and is excited to see what he can do in Year 2 with a little more experience under his belt.

“We went from being pretty vet savvy and nothing fazed you, to a group that was so green that you knew there were going to be some growing pains,” Collins said, “But you needed those pains to happen because, not that our focus was this year … but you wanted those guys to experience everything – good, bad and ugly – to have a big time opportunity to turn things around in 2025.”