Michigan State Spring Football Kickoff: Observations on the defense

Michigan State football had its grand finale to spring ball with the "Spartan Football Kickoff" on Saturday. The event consisted of 15 practice periods with some position-specific drills and some live scrimmaging. While it is difficult to draw conclusions about how the team looks, observations can still be made on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

Here, we will focus on the defense and what each position group showed Spartan nation on Saturday. Again, it is important to note that a lot will change between now and the fall, but below is a recap of what was evident as of now.

Michigan State’s injuries along the defensive line were noticeable on Saturday. That allowed many different faces to get some time along the defensive line during the scrimmage periods.

– The “ones” on Saturday, with several players out with injuries, looked to be redshirt junior Avery Dunn and redshirt senior Brandon Wright at defensive end, and redshirt junior Simeon Barrow and redshirt senior Maverick Hansen at defensive tackle. Texas A&M transfer Tunmise Adeleye also saw a fair amount of playing time with the first-string during 11-on-11 drills. This group certainly isn’t set in stone due to the injuries and it only being April, but it’s safe to say all four guys will receive a healthy amount of playing time this fall, barring injury.

– So, who is injured? Redshirt senior Khris Bogle, Florida State transfer Jarrett Jackson (sixth-year senior) and sophomore Zion Young were all in uniform but didn’t participate in drills. Tackle Dre Butler was not in uniform. Other players that didn’t play in the live scrimmage (11-on-11) portion of the event were redshirt freshman Derrick Harmon and true freshmen Andrew Depaepe and Bai Jobe.

– The final period of Saturday’s event, the two-minute drill, looked like the best gauge as to what the rotation looks like as of now. During the first two-minute drill, which was led by quarterback Payton Thorne, Barrow and Dunn played all six snaps. Adeleye and Wright split three snaps a piece at defensive end. What was interesting was that linebacker Jacoby Windmon, who also played defensive end last season, played as a stand-up edge rusher the whole series, despite being expected to play a more traditional linebacker role this fall. Although Hansen played with the “ones” during earlier 11-on-11 drills, he didn’t see any snaps with the top group in the two-minute drills.

– The second two-minute drill, led by Noah Kim at quarterback, featured four true down linemen. Redshirt freshmen James Schott and Ken Talley played the edge positions for all five snaps of the series. At tackle, redshirt freshman Jay Coyne played five snaps as well. He’s a converted linebacker. Redshirt freshman Alex VanSumeren played the other tackle spot for two snaps. He suffered a minor injury and walked off the field under his own power. Hansen came in for VanSumeren as he played the final three snaps of the series. Converted offensive lineman and preferred walk-on Ben Nelson received reps as well, but not during the two-minute drills.

– Again, conclusions are impossible and unrealistic to make after a spring “game.” However, the defensive line was pretty average, based on the eye test. There wasn’t a whole lot of pressure put on the quarterbacks. There were no "sacks" from the stats that I gathered during the 11-on-11 periods, but that could be by design. Certain pieces are there, Windmon played well at edge rusher and Hansen got good push on some plays, but there was no true disruptor or standout performer on Saturday. It’s also hard to gauge how hard the players were going because the quarterbacks were wearing the no-contact red jerseys. With that being said, getting healthy and finding someone besides Windmon who can harass the quarterback will be the key this summer and fall camp.