Michigan State DT’s no longer playing on cruise control thanks to upgrade in depth, talent
East Lansing, Mich. – With real depth on the interior defensive line ahead of the 2023 season, Michigan State defensive tackles are giddy with excitement at the prospect of playing the game with maximum effort. Gone are the days of holding a little bit back in reserve for fear of wearing down in the fourth quarter.
“It allows us to play free,” said senior defensive tackle Maverick Hansen. “With the guys behind us, we can go in there and get our three or four plays in and go as hard as we can. We can come off the field and let the guys go in there and there is not really a big drop-off. The big thing we are working on this year is making sure our first string down to our third-rotation guys are all starters. If you’re in the game, at the end of the day you are a starter.”
At 6-4, 300, Hansen is one of four proven defensive tackles at Michigan State, along with Simeon Barrow (6-3, 290), Derrick Harmon (6-5, 320), and Colorado transfer Jalen Sami (6-6, 330). Each member of that quartet has the size and athleticism to compete for substantial roles at most Power Five programs. Behind that group, the Spartans feature a trio of big-bodied reserves with varying degrees of experience in Jarrett Jackson (6-6, 300), Dre Butler (6-5, 300), and Alex Vansumeren (6-3, 300).
“It’s a big plus for us, knowing you have somebody who can do exactly what you can do, or probably even better,” said Harmon, a 12-game starter in 2022 as a sophomore. “You can put your belief in him that if I come off this field, he is going to make a play for this team. That is a big deal.”
‘Play as hard as you can’
With so many capable bodies at defensive tackle, Michigan State coaches are exhorting their players to hold nothing back when they’re on the field.
“Difference makers like Sim or Derrick Harmon, guys who can really change a game … can play on the edge of being out of control,” defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton said. “He can play like that, and it’s like, ‘holy cow.’ Those guys can change games. When a guy feels like he’s got a governor on because, ‘listen, I’ve got to do my job for so long,’ they don’t play with the same intensity. Now, that you have some depth, you can keep rolling guys in and say, ‘play as hard as you can.’”
As a sophomore last season, Barrow set career marks for tackles (40), tackles for loss (9.0), and sacks (4.0) while playing 537 defensive snaps. He ranked fourth among Big Ten interior defensive linemen with 28 quarterback pressures. Although he averaged 44 defensive snaps per game in 2022, Barrow played more than 60 snaps in games against Washington and Illinois, and exceeded 50 snaps in games against Ohio State, Maryland, and Rutgers.
If Hazelton is correct in his assertion that Michigan State defensive tackles played with a governor due to an unavoidably high snap count, it follows that Barrow may have been able to turn more of his team-high quarterback pressures into sacks a manageable workload.
Although he cannot speak for Barrow, Hansen believes playing too many reps in both practice and games prevented him from performing at peak efficiency last season. Although he had his best year in terms of production in 2022, recording 41 tackles as a part-time starter, Hansen admits there were times when he was forced to dial down the intensity in order to make it to the finish line in games where he played an excessive number of snaps.
“I pride myself on going hard, running to the ball and being a big motor guy,” said Hansen, “but last year, I had to preserve myself. There were situations where I was like, ‘man, I am going to be out here for seven plays, so I can’t sprint to the ball every single time as hard as I want to because I am not going to get out, and on the next play, I have to hold my point of attack.”
Less is more for Michigan State DT’s
Lack of depth at defensive tackle was felt in practice as well as games throughout the 2022 season.
“Last year, we were running three-deep in the defensive tackle room, just me, Mav, and Sim,” Harmon said.
With a skeleton crew of three defensive tackles available to practice for much of last season, players saw the quality of their practice reps decrease as the volume of those reps increased. To this point in training camp, the opposite has been true. With a manageable volume of work in practice, veteran defensive tackles see the quality of their practice reps improving.
“We don’t have to die every single practice because there is three of us,” Hansen said. “We’ve got an actual rotation now and it’s nice. It takes a lot of the strain off us. We can work on our technique and fundamentals instead of our conditioning every day. Last year, I felt like I was in a race constantly with my conditioning.”
Sami can commiserate with Michigan State defensive tackles who were overworked to the point of diminishing returns last season. He experienced the same thing during much of his time at Colorado where he played more the 1500 snaps in four seasons as a starting defensive tackle.
“Being able to have that rotation, we could have three-deep rotation on the defensive line and that was something that I never had,” Sami said. “It was always me as a starter at Colorado. I had a back-up, but I took most of the reps at Colorado. You can’t play your best ball playing 60 snaps a game, even 50 snaps a game. I feel like this season we could average 30 plays each, and that is 30 great plays instead of 50 plays of just trying to stay in and survive. Just doing your job as much as you can.”
Michigan State’s depth at defensive tackle was a major selling point for Sami during the recruiting process after he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal following his fourth season at Colorado.
“It was the feeling when I came on my visit, meeting the players on the d-line especially, the group that they have,” Sami said. “I’ve never had that kind of depth or that kind of competition in Colorado. I felt it was a better push to get me to the next level, as it is the ultimate goal to go to the League.”
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