Tunmise Adeleye seeking major impact at Michigan State, and early impressions are positive
East Lansing, Mich. – When Michigan State defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton said the defensive line meeting room has more players in it that look like Big Ten-sized guys, Tunmise Adeleye is one of the dudes Hazelton was talking about.
Adeleye is big (6-4, 290), muscular, imposing. This spring, after transferring from Texas A&M, he is in the process of proving himself to be quick, versatile and explosive – all things that the Spartans need on their defensive front in order to capture much-needed improvement in 2023.
Adeleye (pronounced Toon-ME-shay Ah-duh-lay-yuh) could rise up as a noisy play-maker during Saturday’s spring scrimmage at Spartan Stadium at 2 p.m. He is a former national Top 50 recruit out of Katy (Texas) Tompkins High. He was rated as a five-star prospect by Rivals.com and was ranked No. 41 in the nation in the On3 Industry Rankings.
He originally committed to Ohio State, and then signed with Texas A&M as part of the Aggies’ No. 8-ranked recruiting class in 2021.
He redshirted in ’21, had a huge spring game 12 months ago at Texas A&M with seven tackles and multiple pressures – making Adeleye a common pick to be one of the top redshirt freshmen in America last year.
However, he played only two games in 2022 before being lost for the season to an ankle sprain. After a quiet game in his college debut last year, he had a breakout game with five tackles (four solos), three QB hurries and .5 tackles for loss during the Aggies’ 17-14 upset loss to Appalachian State.
He was viewed as one of the lone bright spots for Texas A&M in a dreadful defeat, but it turned out to be the last time he played in an Aggies uniform. He stunned A&M fans by entering the transfer portal in early December. Michigan State immediately hit him up.
Adeleye had a relationship with former Michigan State pass rush coach BT Jordan, dating back to Jordan’s days in the Houston area. Adeleye heard good things about Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker from Samayra Smith, the mother of one Adeleye’s teammates at Texas A&M.
“Coach Tuck has a very good relationship with a lady that was very influential to me back at A&M – Ainias Smith’s mother,” Adeleye said. “He coached her oldest son, Maurice Smith, when he was at Georgia and Alabama.
“Mrs. Smith told me, ‘He is a very straight-forward, genuine guy. He is going to hold you accountable and bring the best out of you and help you get where you want to get to.’
“She was very confident and other people that I knew were very confident in Coach Tuck so I took that leap of faith and everything I’ve seen so far has been true.”
Count Michigan State offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic among those who are impressed with Adeleye thus far.
“He is a talented pass rusher,” Kapilovic said. “He has as good of hands as anybody I’ve seen up front in terms of being able to use his hands and capture offensive linemen. It’s like sneaky good. I’ve been really happy to see that.”
Hazelton is eager to make use of his quickness, power and versatility.
“A big dude like that against a tight end – it gives you matchup issues,” Hazelton said. “It’s a great thing. And as you get into pass rush, you can move Jacoby Windmon inside and then you have two guys (Windmon and Adeleye) who are very good athletes, physical dudes and you are putting them in mismatches.”
MICHIGAN STATE WANTS AN ‘IMPACT PLAYER’
Adeleye has been repping at all four positions along the defensive line this spring – from three-technique defensive tackle all the way out to a wide nine. He’s done those things in the past for Texas A&M. Michigan State has also asked him play the zero technique nose guard.
“Zero is kind of new to me,” he said. “That has been a big adjustment but I’m a guy that is always going to go with the flow.
“They want me to be an impact player and make an impact as much as I can, and be an every-down guy, pass rush, stop the run, set the edges. They want me to do everything.”
That’s what he plans to do.
“I think I hit the ground running strong,” he said. “The first day we were in pads, guys were kind of like, ‘Okay, this is who’s here and we understand why he’s here.’ But getting adjusted to the playbook and terminology, there’s a lot of former NFL coaches here, and there’s a wide use of terms for things. Getting acclimated to that has been an adjustment but I believe I’m doing well.”
What are his impressions of the program thus far?
“Underdog mentality,” Adeleye said with a hungry look in his eye.
As a former blue chip recruit, wooed in the past by college football super powers, an underdog mentality is new territory for Adeleye.
“I think it’s a breath of fresh air,” he said. “I’ve been around places where there were a lot of guys that were highly-ranked with me. There were some guys that were there that had that same mentality but it wasn’t throughout the entire team. I believe throughout this team – every single person – from the scout team, to guys that are with the ones, twos and threes, they have that exact same mentality.”
Last year’s 5-7 record has spurred those emotions.
“There are a lot of guys that know that they have to earn their respect,” he said. “There is not as much respect for Michigan State as there was in the past when the guys went 11-2 and went to the Peach Bowl. There was a lot of respect that was earned, beating Pitt, being a top program. So we are just trying to get back on that level and remind the world what Michigan State has to offer.”
CHIP ON SHOULDER INSTALLED
Adeleye left one powerful conference, the SEC, to join another. He said the opportunity to test himself against Ohio State, Penn State and “the team down the road” appealed to him.
It hasn’t taken him long to learn that apparently no one at the Skandalaris Football Building refers to Michigan as Michigan.
“There were a lot of things that occurred last season that I don’t really want to get into but I’ve been caught up to speed in the locker room and it’s very much a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality,” Adeleye said. “And these guys, they’re ready to go to war.”
Adeleye has no personal beef with Michigan.
“I know some guys over there personally just through high school and through recruiting,” Adeleye said. “Over there, they have – I’m not going to say arrogance, but confidence in themselves, which they earned. And it’s deserved. You achieve confidence from winning and showing people what you can do. But everybody watches film and everybody has holes and people get exposed at times and I feel like we have the guys that are ready to go and do that.”
He is eager to be a part of it.
“I know that Coach Tuck is going to give me the opportunity to show the world what I had shown other people previously,” Adeleye said. “He is at practice, he watches film, he knows what’s going on, so hopefully I can show the world and prove to myself that I am who I say I am.”
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