Big Ten Media Days: Cal Haladay 'excited' for Michigan State's 2023 defense

Michigan State’s defensive unit has struggled since Mel Tucker was hired as MSU’s head coach in 2020.

In Tucker’s second season, the Spartans allowed 324.8 passing yards per game and 441.9 yards per game overall. Last season, MSU allowed 237.9 passing yards and 416.5 total yards per game. It was a minimal difference, but didn’t feel any better considering that the offense routinely stalled out. For all of the injuries and setbacks that MSU’s defense faced in 2022 — including having to start 27 different players on that side of the ball — it can be surprising to see that the stats did actually get better.

For redshirt junior linebacker Cal Haladay, he represents the core of MSU’s defensive unit, which has made several additions during the offseason.

For 2023, Michigan State has revamped its defensive unit. Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Tunmise Adeleye transferred in from Texas A&M, while sixth-year senior defensive lineman Jalen Sami is coming in from Colorado. Both of those players, along with fellow transfers Jarrett Jackson (sixth-year senior coming over from Florida State) and Dre Butler (redshirt senior who most recently played for Liberty) will improve the defensive line. Ken Talley, who joined the Spartans in September of 2022 (coming over from Penn State) will compete in the defensive trenches this year as well.

Meanwhile, sixth-year senior Terry Roberts (Iowa/Miami FL.), redshirt sophomore Armorion Smith (Cincinnati) and redshirt senior Semar Melvin (Wisconsin) were all brought in to help improve the secondary. UMass transfer Aaron Alexander also joins the linebackers room.

Of course, the team also brought in several true freshman from the class of 2023 signing class as well.

During the spring, quarterback Payton Thorne was one of the most significant MSU players to utilize the transfer portal and jump ship, heading off to Auburn where he will jockey for the starting quarterback position there.

For Haladay and the rest of the team, they wish Thorne well, but seem to be moving on. But with changes on offense, Haladay knows the defense is also going to have to play better in 2023 than it did in 2022.

“The defense is going to have to step it up,” he said on Wednesday at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis. “We’re going to have to play that much better than we did last year and we all know that.”

Haladay went on to discuss many topics.

Haladay says he refers to himself as a sort of “old soul.” Whenever Haladay is around, it’s often brought up that he doesn’t wear gloves and doesn’t wear anything on his arm. His rosebud is his dad.

“When I was younger, my dad never let me wear them,” he said. "I guess it's been instilled in me."

Tucker embraces his character, saying that Haladay “could play in any era" and that he's an "old-school guy."

MSU’s star linebacker led the Big Ten last season with 10.0 tackles per game, climaxed by a euphoric 19 total tackles against Rutgers last season.

Haladay also mentioned that he doesn’t listen to music or anything pre-game, adding, “I would say that I’m very low-key. I’ve never thought of myself as very ‘flashy.’"

Tucker said that Michigan State’s three core values are “tough, discipline and selfless.” That was mentioned several times throughout Tucker’s press conference, and Haladay exemplifies it the most in his tough nature as a linebacker. He says it’s his mentality and how he defines his character as a player.

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