What Michigan State football coaches saw in scrimmage, and what it all means
EAST LANSING — With new defensive coordinator Joe Rossi teaching Michigan State football’s new schemes and responsibilities, Jalen Thompson believes the complete install of the new system is only about an eighth of the way complete.
The rest will roll out over the final five workouts, culminating in the Spartan “Spring Showcase” on April 20, and throughout preseason camp in August. But new coach Jonathan Smith’s team took its first major step toward that with Saturday’s first scrimmage of his tenure.
“I feel like everybody's playing fast, everybody's playing hard,” Thompson, the sophomore defensive end, said Tuesday after the 10th of MSU’s 15 spring practices. “The defense was getting at it. Yea, we had a good day.”
No details of the first scrimmage were released other than a few selected video highlights the program released on social media. However, new defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa said the Spartans got in “80-plus plays,” the most work they’ve had to this point in the spring.
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“I really, really, really liked that we got to scrimmage,” Suiaunoa said with a chuckle. “Obviously, we had some bodies that we were down in the early part of the scrimmage, banged up a little bit. Just getting out there and just playing football and seeing what these guys can do when it's live, when there's not a coach, there’s not a script, that these guys are just playing — I liked that that part a lot.
“Our job is to hopefully (see if) their natural reactions, the way they play, is the way we want them to play. So the scrimmage helps identify some of those things that we need to continue to work on or we need to address.”
MSU likely will have at least one more closed scrimmage over the final two weeks. The “Showcase” event at Spartan Stadium, according to a team news release, will be the final practice of the spring. That makes every scrimmage opportunity important for guys trying to impress their new coaches.
“I think it puts a little bit more quote unquote, pressure on the players,” Rossi said. “You have practice and it's play to play — it's first down, it's second down, it's all scripted, right? You get into a scrimmage, it's more of a true game-like feel, where you're putting the ball down and you're playing. It's not quite a game, but sometimes you take for granted as a player, you get in that situation, and now maybe you forget or overlook some of the fundamentals that maybe were there when it was in a more controlled environment. So the more we can kind of put them in those types of situations, the better.”
Rossi drew a few initial impressions of what he saw Saturday from his defense, saying he felt players ran to the ball and were physical. But he also reminded them it was just a start of a long journey to the Aug. 31 season opener against Florida Atlantic.
“I saw some good individual plays, but also saw plays that need to be improved and need to be corrected,” Rossi said. “For us, kind of our process is, 'Hey, let's look at that scrimmage and what can I learn from it? If I made a mistake, where can I improve? How can I get better?' Take all that information that you can get from that particular scrimmage, and then go apply it today at practice. That's what we talked about before we went out. What are the things you need to improve on based on what you saw on film?”
Thompson said he feels the defense — and team as a whole — have “lots of little details” that need to be addressed before the next time his coaches hold a true scrimmage.
“But we're all working towards it,” Thompson said. “That was our first time as a team playing that defense. So there was definitely a lot of little things we have to fix. But everybody's playing with a high level of effort, so it fixed some of the things, too.”
Minimizing risk
One of the other reasons why scrimmages are vital is because college football has moved away from tackling all the time during practice.
Thompson said everything was live Saturday, other than not being able to tackles quarterbacks. Most programs have shied away from tackling during practices as much as possible to avoid injuries — either guys being dragged to the ground hard, players getting rolled into as collateral action or other problems. That often is replaced with a technique called “thud,” or making contact with the opponent and releasing after the initial hit.
Which makes scrimmaging with tackling in as close to a game-like setting as teams get even more important. Especially in the spring. And especially when there has been a coaching change and there are a volume of changes being made.
“I think you can get tons done in 'thud,' because everything up front is live. There's a good physical finish to the tackle, you just don't go to the ground,” said Rossi, who Smith hired away from Big Ten foe Minnesota. “It's being able to walk that fine line between being physical but also being able to keep people healthy. The reality is the more you're on the ground, the more people get hurt. It's not just the guy getting the tackle, it's the lineman who's standing there in the pile that ends up getting tackled into.
“So (Smith) does a really good job of walking that line of here's the physical, live periods where we're tackling the ground, and then also here's the 'thud' periods where we can get good work and hopefully keep each other up.”
‘Showcase’ details
It will be a busy Saturday on MSU’s campus April 20.
The Izzo Legacy 5k Run/Walk/Roll will begin at 8:45 a.m., with the starting line at Breslin Center and the finish line at Spartan Stadium. Proceeds go to a number of MSU and mid-Michigan organizations and charities. To register and for additional details, visit https://www.izzolegacy.com.
That will be followed at 11 a.m. by MSU’s women’s tennis team facing Nebraska at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Center. Admission is free.
The "Spring Showcase" begins at 2 p.m., with a tape-delayed broadcast airing on BTN-Plus at 4 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
Gates to Spartan Stadium gates open at 12:15 p.m., with Smith and players taking pictures and signing autographs for fans on posters that also will be distributed free to those in attendance (no other items are permitted).
Free parking areas are designated in Lots 79, 63 and 126, along with Ramp 7. Lot 62 is reserved for accessible parking.
The Spartans’ softball team hosts Illinois at 1 p.m., and the baseball team hosts Penn State at 3:35 p.m. Tickets are $3-5 for each.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football 'playing fast ... hard' in first scrimmage
