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Published Jul 29, 2019
State of the Program: Defensive Line
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Jim Comparoni  •  Spartans Illustrated
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EAST LANSING - This is the fourth in a series of articles analyzing Michigan State's football program on a position-by-position basis in advance of the 2019 season. Today, SpartanMag takes a look at the state of the Michigan State defensive line:

MICHIGAN STATE DEFENSIVE LINE

Returning Starters: DE Kenny Willekes, DE Jacub Panasiuk, DT Mike Panasiuk, DT Raequan Williams.

Returning Regulars: DT Naquan Jones, DE Drew Beesley, DE Jack Camper.

Projected Contributors: DT Jacob Slade.

Depth Players: DE Zach Slade, DT Deshaun Mallory, DE Brent Mossburg, DE DeAri Todd, DE Jack Saylor, DE Parks Gissinger, DL Jonathan Brys.

Who’s Gone: Second-string DT Gerald Owens.

What’s New: Willekes, the best pass-rushing defensive end in the Big Ten last year, has added to his pass rush repertoire after attending the Von Miller Pass Rush Summit. Second-year defensive ends coach Chuck Bullough helped Willekes become the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year last year, and Willekes will continue his development into August and the fall.

Who’s New: DE Adam Berghorst, DE Michael Fletcher, DT Maverick Hansen, DT J.D. Duplain.

“(Berghorst) is legitimately 6-6, 255,” Dantonio said. “When I watch his explosiveness in drills out there and his intentions and how he goes about his business, he will be an outstanding football player.

“Both of our two freshmen, Berghorst and Michael Fletcher, I don’t know if you will see them or not but they are 6-foot-6, 250-pound athletes that could be on the edge for us. So we’ll see how that all shakes out.

“Maverick is a tough, athletic guy. He reminds me of (former Spartan defensive tackle) Kevin Pickelman, a high motor guy, also similar to Kenny Willekes. I just felt like he was one of those type of guys that was going to bring it. He was in camp for us and ran really well.”

Key Battles: Berghorst, Fletcher and redshirt freshman Zach Slade will compete with walk-on Drew Beesley for a role in the playing group as the No. 4 defensive end. Beesley was a contributor and spot starter last year. The rookies will need to be quite good to edge him out.

What’s Next: Spartan defensive linemen are aiming for more sacks. They feel they didn’t get enough last year, didn’t force enough turnovers, didn’t create defensive touchdowns.

Last year, Michigan State ranked No. 5 in the Big Ten in sacks with 28 (Ohio State led with 47). During the Rose Bowl championship season of 2013, Michigan State ranked third in the Big Ten in sacks with 32. Last year’s pass rush productivity was pretty good. Pretty great is the goal this year.

Spartan defensive linemen accounted for 17 of MSU’s 28 sacks last year. Willekes had 8.5 a year ago. It’s likely that he could match or exceed that this year. Williams (2 sacks), Jacub Panasiuk (2), Mike Panasiuk (1.5) and Camper (.5) are capable of exceeding their totals from a year ago as well.

QB sacks have become harder to gain in the era of the quick pass game, RPOs and the spread option. Washington State attempted more passes than any team in the country last year (677) but allowed only 13 sacks. The Cougars get the ball off so quickly that the sack has become less of a factor than QB hurries or batted passes against some air raid systems.

Stopping the run on first and/or second down has always been a great way to clear the path to a productive pass rush. Michigan State was very good in that area last year and it translated to good pass rush productivity. Now, the Spartans expect to be very good in run defense again, and they want something better than merely a good pass rush.

On The Rise: Naquan Jones. The 6-foot-4, 338-pound junior from Evanston, Ill., isn’t just good enough to start pretty much anywhere else in America, he’s probably good enough to be all-conference at many other places in the country. He’s a terrific third-wheel behind Raequan Williams and Mike Panasiuk. Jones might not get much more run than last year’s 295 snaps (compared to 607 for Williams and 489 for Panasiuk), but his day as a standout will come at some point, maybe next year as a fifth-year senior.

On The Spot: Parks Gissinger. He’s still young as a redshirt freshman, but he needs to make more noise if he is going to hold off true freshmen Adam Berghorst and Michael Fletcher, or else risk falling to the fifth string. Walk-ons Drew Beesley and Brent Mossburg are ahead of Gissinger heading into fall camp. There was talk of moving Gissinger to tight end last spring, but a permanent move wasn’t made. Gissinger is listed as a scholarship defensive end heading into fall camp.

STATE OF THE DEFENSIVE LINE:

Credit assistant coach Ron Burton with high level evaluation, recruiting and player development in assembling this group. He is focusing on coaching defensive tackles for a second year, after spending his first five years at Michigan State as the overall defensive line coach. Specialized coaching along the d-line, with Chuck Bullough arriving last year as the new defensive ends coach, seems to be helping the Spartans remain elite in the defensive trenches.

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