Michigan State football stock watch: Cal Haladay continues strong second half

EAST LANSING — Here are the Michigan State football players who helped or hurt their stock in the Spartans’ 27-21 win Saturday over Rutgers.

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LB Cal Haladay: The reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week put together another impressive performance, operating sideline to sideline and finishing with a career-high 19 tackles — the most by a Spartan since Eric Smith had that many in 2004 against the Scarlet Knights. The sophomore leads the Spartans with 99 tackles — 50 of them in the past four games — to surpass his team-high 96 from a year ago when he was a FWAA Freshman All-American. He has 8.5 for a loss with 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery on the season.

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K Ben Patton: How quickly the winds can change for a kicker in a week, both figuratively and literally. After Patton missed an extra-point try and a 31-yard fourth-quarter field goal attempt in strong winds at Illinois, which led to an open kicking competition during practice, he returned to a less gusty Spartan Stadium on Saturday and delivered two critically important field goals. He hit from 34 and 48 yards in the final 6:28 out to improve to 3-for-5 on the season, showing leg strength and accuracy for the first time in a game since his transfer from Auburn.

RB Jarek Broussard: Jalen Berger put up his second straight solid game with 85 yards on 16 attempts, but it was fellow transfer Broussard who helped MSU to its best Big Ten running performance of the season. Broussard flashed his speed to the edge and cutback ability in creases to average 7.3 yards on his 11 attempts, with the senior’s 80 yards his most since rushing for 81 against Akron in Week 2. After falling out of favor for Elijah Collins as the No. 2 back the past few weeks, Broussard took back the role against the Scarlet Knights, with Collins coming in as the third-down back for pass protection.

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TE Tyler Hunt: The sixth-year senior started the season as quarterback Payton Thorne’s security blanket, getting 87 yards on 11 catches through the first five games. On Saturday, he was targeted three times and didn’t catch any of them — the first a high throw on fourth-and-1 from Thorne that went off the open 6-foot-3 Hunt’s hand that potentially 6-5 Maliq Carr or 6-4 Daniel Barker may have pulled in. The other two were broken up, including the final one on a deep route knocked away late by the 6-1, 205-pound Avery Young. With Barker and Carr gradually emerging again as targets, Hunt could see fewer balls coming his way over the final two weeks.

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OL Geno VanDeMark: The redshirt freshman and New Jersey native missed the game against his home state team due to an injury suffered in the fourth quarter at Illinois, which is not why he’s here. It is more about an opportunity lost. VanDeMark looked good since joining the rotation against Michigan and the Illini with Matt Carrick and Brian Greene battling injuries themselves. Starting right guard Carrick sat out Saturday, and VanDeMark could have received perhaps his most snaps vs. Rutgers. Instead with him out, sixth-year grad transfer Greene ended up playing the entire game at right guard.

LB Ma’a Gaoteote: Mel Tucker’s first four-star recruit, Gaoteote entered the transfer portal but withdrew his name in the spring to return for his second season. The sophomore has been a strong force in MSU’s goal-line package, with seven tackles in nine games, but he has been behind Haladay, Ben VanSumeren, Aaron Brule and suspended Jacoby Windmon on the depth chart, even with the Spartans deploying more three-linebacker looks. Coordinator Scottie Hazelton’s increased usage of nickel and dime packages also have limited Gaoteote’s chances, and MSU landed a second linebacker commitment for 2023 on Sunday in Jayvant Brown to go with fellow four-star Jordan Hall.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football stock watch: Cal Haladay adds to late surge