Michigan football presented a challenge. Can Michigan State football meet it?
EAST LANSING — At that school down the road, which is never mentioned by name inside the Michigan State football sanctum, a sly, cheeky smile spread across Zak Zinter’s face. A reporter at Schembechler Hall just asked him to react to claims made by rival programs elsewhere — and MSU in particular — that they had beefed up their defensive fronts.
The implied motive for doing so, which seems obvious, was matching Michigan football’s might in the trenches after the Wolverines spent each of the past two seasons steamrolling the Big Ten with the most fearsome rushing attack in the conference.
“They’re playing catchup now,” Zinter, U-M’s right guard, responded earlier this week. “So, we’re going to keep doing what we do.”
Whether it was meant as one, Zinter’s remark could be interpreted as a challenge — a dare that made its way all the way back to East Lansing, where the Spartans have spent the beginning of fall camp focused on one mission.
“Everything,” defensive line coach Diron Reynolds said, “is set around stopping the run.”
Mel Tucker made that clear as soon as Reynolds joined his staff in January. It’s since been the primary thrust of the preseason as Reynolds has tasked his players with “building a wall at the line of scrimmage” brick by brick through block recognition, improved footwork, explosive movements and leverage.
It’s not sexy by any means.
MORE FROM SABIN: Future of Michigan State hinges on Scottie Hazelton solving defensive puzzle
But after the failed season of 2022, the Spartans revised their thinking and focus.
At this time last year, before disappointment set in and a 5-7 record began to be sowed, they had become consumed with developing a more forceful and consistent pass rush. To reach that goal, Tucker hired Brandon Jordan, a private trainer for some of the NFL’s most noteworthy sack artists. It was an unorthodox move but also one that made a lot of sense considering the prevailing assumption was that MSU’s main bogeyman, Ohio State, would shake off their shocking defeat to Michigan in 2021 and reestablish its longstanding control of the Big Ten. The Buckeyes had looked indomitable against Tucker’s first two MSU teams, beating them by a combined score of 108-19. The 49-point loss to Ohio State two years ago was particularly humiliating, considering Tucker’s massive contract extension had just become public.
On that miserable November day in Columbus, C.J. Stroud threw six touchdown passes before halftime and was sacked only twice.
Trying to find an antidote to neutralize the Ohio State and other throw-first, throw-second offenses became MSU’s calling the following offseason. But as the Spartans concentrated on finding more avenues to attack the opponent’s quarterback, they became less resistant to the ball carriers lined up across from them. A year after surrendering 3.39 yards per carry and finishing 15th in run defense, that average last fall ballooned by almost a yard as MSU plummeted to 102nd in the same category. Injuries along the defensive line and suspensions stemming from the Michigan Stadium tunnel melee impaired the depth of the unit, taxing the players who were available. Interior tackles Derrick Harmon and Maverick Hansen admitted that, at times, they were on the cusp of exhaustion.
“We were out there tired,” Hansen said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been super tired while you’re trying to fight 700 pounds, but it wears you down pretty bad.”
By the time the Spartans played Michigan last October, they already looked whipped. Then the Wolverines showed them no mercy, dragging them up and down the field as they piled up 276 rushing yards in a 29-7 conquest. About a month later, Michigan affirmed its supremacy in the Big Ten and left Tucker with some uncomfortable questions: Was the high-flying passing attack attached to Ohio State the biggest problem for MSU or the rugged ground game that restored its in-state rival as a national power? And could Tucker conceivably find a way to stop both?
The answers aren’t easy, and coordinator Scottie Hazelton has struggled to conjure any in the past as he has spent the majority of his tenure plugging one leak only to see another open elsewhere. For more evidence of that, see the program’s average final ranking in scoring defense, which has been 76 in the first three years of Tucker’s regime.
But Hazelton seems encouraged by the reinforcements that have joined the program in the past eight months — from 6-foot-4, 290-pound transfer Tumise Adeyele to 6-foot-4 freshman end Bai Jobe, a gifted athlete.
HOW THEY'LL TRY TO DO IT: You can't teach size: Michigan State DT Jalen Sami helping lead group after transfer
“We have the bodies,” Adeyele said. “We have the Jimmys and Joes. But you gotta know your X’s and O’s. Everything has to come together.”
Naturally, Hazelton said, “I think it all starts with the guys up front. Let’s be real. If they can condense gaps, if they can set edges, if they can keep running lanes down, if we can put in people to be able to do that, I think it will be just fine. I think that’s one of the games we always want to work to and beat those guys down the road. … It all starts up front. That takes the pressure off everything behind it, whether it’s the run game or pass game.”
The Spartans, who have been deficient in both areas, won’t be able to make any headway against the Big Ten’s best competition if those struggles continue. It reveals why Zinter was confident enough to say the Spartans — and yes, even the Buckeyes — are playing catchup as they try to subdue Michigan’s vaunted rushing attack.
It also explains why MSU doesn’t deny that point, which has fed its determination to erect that wall at the line of scrimmage that Reynolds described.
“We’re stopping that run this year,” Harmon vowed. “No doubt about it.”
BEST BETS: Here are the top college football betting apps in 2023
Contact Rainer Sabin: rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football is focused on stopping what Michigan does best
