Michigan State defensive line alterations help generate more pressure on QBs
EAST LANSING – It’s only two games against two Mid-American Conference teams, but Michigan State’s defensive line has shown the ability to get after opposing quarterbacks.
Rotating players adds to the freshness. A shift to a three-man front on third down is paying off. But coach Mark Dantonio admits more will be known about the Spartans’ ability to maintain that improved pressure in the next few weeks.
“New challenges are coming,” Dantonio said Tuesday, “so they need to continue to be consistent.”
The first of a three-game gauntlet against bigger, stronger offensive lines comes Sept. 23 against Notre Dame (8 p.m./Fox). MSU then hosts Iowa before facing Michigan in Ann Arbor.
All three of those teams play a more smash-mouth brand of football, which will be a change from the two hurry-up teams the 2-0 Spartans have beaten so far.
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“They’re definitely going to come downhill a lot more, especially Iowa and Michigan,” sophomore defensive end Kenny Willekes said. “They have really good tackles and really good offensive lines. It’s gonna be another challenge to us change from trying to get after the quarterback to stopping the run. Which I like.”
Getting into the backfield has been a constant quest since the start of last season, when the Spartans managed just 11 sacks all year and finished tied for 124th out of 128 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. They finished 3-9, and that lack of a pass rush became a trickle-down effect to the rest of the defense.
In the first two games of 2016, against Furman and Notre Dame, MSU had three sacks and 10 QB hurries. Andrew Dowell and Raequan Williams sacked Irish quarterback Deshone Kizer, and linebacker Chris Frey got four of those hurries, including three against Kizer.
So far this season, those three returnees have helped the push up front. MSU hurried Bowling Green quarterback James Morgan eight times, and Frey sacked him once.
Then in Saturday’s 28-14 win over Western Michigan, the Spartans’ front seven pressured Jon Wassink all afternoon, sacking him four times, including one each for Williams and defensive end Brandon Randle. The Spartans, which added four more QB hurries, also got a sack from Dowell, and Frey teamed with cornerback Josh Butler for another.
“We just mixed up the schemes a lot more so we can bring different looks with different guys so the offense doesn’t really know what’s coming,” said Willekes, who has two of his five tackles for lost yardage. “Guys have really just bought into that we need to attack the quarterback and get after them this year.
Up the middle, sophomores Williams and Mike Panasiuk have been the anchors, but the Spartans have been able to rotate in groups. Naquan Jones and Gerald Owens, along with Kyonta Stallworth, all have seen time in the first two games.
Off the edge, Willekes and junior Dillon Alexander have started both games at defensive end. However, Dantonio said MSU has essentially gone three-deep on both sides, bringing Brandon Randle, Demetrius Cooper, Robert Bowers and Jacub Panasiuk into the game in waves against the Falcons’ and Broncos’ up-tempo offenses.
“We have a whole bunch of depth, and some guys that haven’t even gone in yet that can make plays, too,” said Panasiuk, who has five tackles as a true freshman. “I can’t wait to see what we do next week against Notre Dame.”
That also has added to the Spartans’ ability to stop the run so far. They allowed 67 yards on the ground against Bowling Green and 116 against a WMU team that ran for 263 a week earlier at then-No. 4 USC.
“We have guys that are interchangeable parts and can play multiple positions and do multiple things,” Willekes said. “But we have certain guys like Cooper and Brandon that are more built to rush the passer – we like to get them after the quarterback. I play more of a run-stopper. But we like to be able to do both.”
Redshirt freshman Randle and senior Cooper have become the Spartans’ third-down rush ends in a three-man front, with interchangeable nose tackle between them. MSU has limited its two opponents to just 3 of 28 third-down conversions so far this season, a 10.7% clip. Last season, the Spartans allowed opponents to convert 42% of their third-down attempts.
“We’ve changed some things up there schematically a little bit, but I think we also are pretty fresh,” Dantonio said of the improved pressure. “We’re playing a lot of people. I think we have some special guys on the edge a little bit. We've done some different things, and you know, remains to be seen how we play the next opportunities we have.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.