Count Noah Harvey among the players who have changed the most since the last time we saw a Michigan State football team take the field.
He feels like a legit first-stringer now, not a replacement.
And he’s gained a dozen pounds, up to a sturdy 240.
The redshirt junior is even talking like a veteran.
“We’re all locked in, we’re all bought in, we’re all looking forward to next week,” he said after practice on Thursday.
And he didn’t bite when pressed for details about MSU’s new defense during a Zoom press conference on Thursday evening.
“We’re bouncing around everywhere,” he said. “What comes next Saturday, you guys will see.”
We’ll see a bigger, stronger Harvey than the player who serviceably replaced Joe Bachie in the starting lineup for the final five games of the 2019 season after Bachie was ruled ineligible after failing a random drug test.
“It was very unfortunate what happened to Joe,” Harvey said. “We were all unhappy about it. I had my opportunity, I finally got it and I went full-stride with it. I was playing next to guys that had to count on me.”
Harvey posted 42 tackles in the last five games and had three sacks. He led Michigan State with 14 tackles (one solo, 13 assists) in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl victory over Wake Forest.
“I’m lucky enough to have that game experience,” Harvey said. “Now, coming into this season, I’m able to have a little bit of that and I’m able to lead guys that haven’t had that much game experience into this season.”
When Harvey arrived at Michigan State in 2017 as a two-star recruit from Hartland, Wis., he was the slimmest linebacker seen around here in several years. Then he grew another inch.
in 2017, and earning a regular role on special teams in 2018, he broke into the playing group last year.
Now, he has finally filled out the frame the way he wanted to, and he feels the difference on the field.