Michigan State football wants aggressive, not reckless defense
EAST LANSING – Kenny Soares Jr. admits he’s an emotional person and football player.
And Michigan State football‘s new defensive end – and one of the team’s captains this season – felt the anticipation begin to crescendo before his debut during his first Spartan Walk on Friday, Sept. 4.
“There’s tears rolling down my eyes. And nobody could really tell because my glasses are a little tinted,” Soares recalled Wednesday.
When the Spartans emerged from the tunnel before their eventual 30-20 victory over Toledo, emotions across the board heightened. To the point where defensive coordinator Joe Rossi felt his players were straddling a dangerous line.
It was crossed during breakdowns that led to two momentum-swinging touchdowns for the Rockets, with four plays accounting for 70% of the 273 yards MSU’s defense allowed. And Rossi’s main concern is for the Spartans to minimize explosive plays like those they allowed in their opener.
“The big thing for me, when I look at them, we were overaggressive,” Rossi said Wednesday. “We were overaggressive on the double move. We were overaggressive shedding out of our gap. We were overaggressive on a screen with the corner, and then we give up the screen and it goes behind us. So the big thing was like, hey, I appreciate the aggressiveness, we want aggressiveness. But you gotta be in position where it’s not reckless.
“We have a term that’s aggression versus recklessness. At times, it was reckless. So when you’re reckless, you give up plays. Aggressive, you’re still able to keep a cap on things.”
It’s a natural part of the learning curve for a defense that featured six transfer starters and upgraded roles for a number of younger players. Those are the primary lessons Rossi wants them to correct and work on heading into MSU’s game against Eastern Michigan on Saturday (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).
“When you get the pads back on for the first time, you’re just ready to go,” said Soares, who Rossi said coach Pat Fitzgerald booted from a practice earlier in camp for getting too close to quarterbacks during a non-live drill. “In my opinion … if you’re a defensive player and you’re not a guy that you need to be held back during practice, then you’re not giving what you need. I tell the guys all the time, the coaches shouldn’t have to pull you to the standard, the coaches should be having to pull you back during practice because you’re going so hard every single rep.”
Soares, who played mainly linebacker last year at North Carolina State, forced the game’s only turnover with an athletic tipped-to-himself interception while dropping into coverage from his edge rush spot. Tre Bell, an Iowa State transfer, delivered the Spartans’ first sack of the season on a second-quarter cornerback blitz, while defensive end Eli Coenen, an Illinois transfer, got MSU’s other sack early in the third period.
“I think we all get amped and ready to go for the games,” Coenen said Wednesday. “You’ve worked all winter, all spring, all summer to get to these points. So it’s really exciting to get out and with all your brothers and go and play a ballgame. We’re not hitting each other anymore, we get to hit other people.”
But after both sacks, the Spartans ultimately gave up touchdowns.
Cornerback Charles Brantley, returned after a one-year transfer to Miami (Florida), gave up a 60-yard touchdown pass right after Bell’s sack and two plays after the former MSU starter got flagged for defensive holding.
On the next play after Coenen’s sack, Toledo’s QB split Bell and safety Devin Vaught for a 21-yard pass to Daryl Barnett Jr. Two plays later, he scorched the secondary for 31 more yards on a throw to Bryson Hammer – after Brantley charged up fast to defend a potential quick-hit along the line of scrimmage – to set up another touchdown pass two plays after that.
Then came the breakdown in the run defense, with Connor Walendzak racing to the go-ahead touchdown. Linebackers Brady Pretzlaff, a third-year sophomore making his first start, and Caleb Wheatland, a transfer who replaced veteran Jordan Hall temporarily, were blocked to Walendzak’s left; Vaught and Soares were blocked to the right to create the crease. Walendzak raced 71 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Spartans found themselves trailing by a point with 13:47 to play. But they also remained undaunted on the sideline.
“I think the whole idea of response has been so built into the DNA of this program that’s been built back up with the new staff,” Pretzlaff said. “It’s just natural at this point. We drive in response every single day. So when it comes to a point where it’s a big moment or a big situation, it’s just habit at that point.”
After MSU reclaimed the lead, the Rockets were marching again. Cornerback Tyran Chappel got called for a bang-bang pass interference call on an apparent pass breakup two plays later. But the Spartans recalibrated quickly and stuffed Walendzak for a 5-yard loss on the next play, then stopped Toledo at the MSU 24 and forced a missed field goal attempt.
The Spartans closed things out from there, getting pass breakups from both Bell and Chappel on the Rockets’ final possession.
“I would prefer us to be flying around, playing with our hair on fire or playing downhill,” Rossi said. “But I also want us to be disciplined and execute our fundamentals.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football wants aggressive, not reckless defense