Defensive Snap Counts from Michigan State football’s win over YSU

On Saturday, Michigan State football finished their out-of-conference slate with a closer than expected win over the Youngstown State Penguins. While MSU still won by three possessions over the FCS squad, it did not enable the Spartans to let a ton of players record their first action. However, the Spartans had a season-high 36 players record defensive playing time on Saturday.

Here’s how many snaps each of the 36 players participated in. In total, the defense was on field for 61 snaps. As always, starters are italicized. For last week’s counts against Boston College, please click here.

Defensive Line

Grady Kelly: (30) 49%

Jalen Thompson: (28) 46%

Alex VanSumeren: (28) 46%

Quindarius Dunnigan: (26) 43%

Ben Roberts: (20) 33%

Ru’Quan Buckley: (16) 26%

Derrick Simmons: (12) 20%

Kekai Burnett: (7) 11.5%

Mikeshun Beeler: (4) 6.5%

Michigan State football trotted out a season-high nine players in their three defensive line spots, including the season debut for Mikeshun Beeler. With all that rotation, not even one Spartan played in more than half of the snaps on Saturday. For the bottom four players in playing time, Buckley, Simmons, Burnett, and Beeler, I am not expecting much more than a handful of snaps once the season starts.

Despite all of the bodies, this position group has yet to record a sack since Thompson got home during the season opener. Dunnigan got close multiple times during the game, but did not finish the job.

EDGE Rusher

Isaac Smith: (15) 24.5%

Cam Williams: (15) 24.5%

Anelu Lafaele: (14) 21%

David Santiago: (13) 21%

Tyler Gillison: (4) 6.5%

This was, by far, the most even rotation seen during Saturday’s contest, with the four players vying for the EDGE role in Joe Rossi’s system splitting their reps. Tyler Gillison made his defensive debut, alongside his official Spartan debut, with his debut against BC being wiped out by a 12 men on field penalty. Anelu Lafaele has been a pleasant surprise during the conference slate, as he is tied for the team lead in sacks, with two. Overall, the Spartans have no separation in their top four edge rushers currently, so keep your eyes peeled (if you’re still awake) during Saturday’s contest.

Linebackers

Wayne Matthews III: (54) 88.5%

Jordan Hall: (32) 52.5%

Aisea Moa: (16) 26%

Brady Pretzlaff: (15) 24.5%

Marcellius Pulliam: (14) 23%

Semaj Bridgeman: (5) 8%

Darius Snow: (3) 5%

Finally, a player with more than half of the snaps played! Matthews III and Hall ate the majority of reps on Saturday, but it appeared the main focus was working backup linebackers with the starting duo. As early as the second drive, the Spartans made their rotations to get guys playing time at the linebacker position. The results for the primary backups, Pretzlaff and Pulliam, were mixed. Worse yet, Pretzlaff went down with an injury in the fourth quarter.

Cornerbacks

Malcolm Bell: (42) 69%

Joshua Eaton: (35) 57%

Ade Willie: (33) 54%

Jeremiah Hughes: (16) 26%

Aydan West: (16) 26%

NiJhay Burt: (10) 16%

Chance Rucker: (9) 15%

Dorian Davis: (7) 11.5%

Anthony Pinnace III: (3) 5%

Similarly to the linebacker room, Michigan State football made a concentrated effort to get the backup corners reps with conference play next week. Hughes started taking reps during the second drive, West played most of the final quarter, and Davis, Burt, and Pinnace swapped in during the last few series.

Davis made his season debut, and West tied his career high with 16 defensive snaps played. However, the group has yet to record an interception.

Safeties

Malik Spencer: (37) 61%

Nikai Martinez: (31) 51%

Justin Denson Jr.: (21) 34%

Devynn Cromwell: (19) 31%

Armorion Smith: (14) 23%

Khalil Majeed: (7) 11.5%

Nikai Martinez is back! That is the primary takeaway here. After the game, Smith revealed the defensive back was on a “pitch count,” and he was still on field for over half the game. That is a great sign moving forwards. Armorion Smith’s playing time took a step back, but he recorded an interception against the Penguins to fire the crowd up. The clear pecking order for the safeties is Spencer and Martinez, then Smith, then Denson with the slight nod over Cromwell. Majeed played seven snaps to end the game, but that all occurred as the third-string nickel, behind Willie and Hughes.

Overall, the Spartans elected to roll with a heavy rotation, mixing their starters and backups for every series after the first few. The strategy of mixing led to a few miscommunications, and a lot of concern, with Michigan State football heading out west to USC this weekend.