Michigan State football: Breaking down defensive PFF grades against Nebraska

On Saturday, there was a glimpse of Michigan State football defense. The Spartans recorded five sacks, but a mixture of bad field position and a few chunk plays, alongside special teams miscues, resulted in the Spartans giving up 38 points in a loss. That said, it was the best the defense has looked in a long while against Big Ten competition.

Who graded out well for the Spartans? Here are the top five and bottom five MSU players on defense from Saturday’s contest.

For the offensive grades, please look here.

Top Five Defensive Players against Nebraska, via PFF

• LB Jordan Hall: 73.3
• LB Wayne Matthews III: 70.9
• EDGE Anelu Lafaele: 70.4
• EDGE David Santiago: 68.3
• EDGE Cam Williams: 67.9

In a day where the defense has pressure, three of the four “edge rush by committee” members of the Spartan squad have great days. Santiago got his first sack as a Spartan, Williams batted a ball down, and Lafaele forced a stop in his six snaps.

Unfortunately, that is likely Lafaele’s final six snaps of the season, with the edge undergoing surgery this week from an injury. Williams has had two quiet, but good, performances recently. With those three shining and Isaac Smith languishing (58.0 PFF grade), could there be a change at EDGE soon?

On the linebacker front, Hall’s presence was apparent. He played all 55 snaps on defense and came away with his first career interception, along with being the driving cause for a dominant first three quarters. Matthews III had his own comeback from injury, and played quite well for being on his own “pitch count,” as revealed by Hall and Jonathan Smith post-game.

Bottom Five Defensive Players against Nebraska, via PFF

• DT Ben Roberts: 52.0
• S Devynn Cromwell: 50.0
• CB Aydan West: 48.0
• DT Alex VanSumeren: 46.0
• DT Ru’Quan Buckley: 45.3

Well, this was defensive-tackle heavy. The Spartans struggled against the Nebraska interior offensive line. Roberts, in his first action off the bench this season, could not get it into gear. In spite of a sack, Alex VanSumeren was bullied by the interior line as well. Ru’Quan Buckley played both interior offensive lineman and defensive tackle for Nebraska, but that foreknowledge did not help in his homecoming game.

Devynn Cromwell and Aydan West each saw extensive action for the first time in weeks, and knocking off that rust did not go well. West burned his redshirt with this game, and showed flashes. He was called upon more than expected, as Joshua Eaton missed extended time with injury.

Cromwell started with Armorion Smith bumping to nickel with Ade Willie out. With Nikai Martinez also out, the Texas Tech transfer started. However, he struggled. It was a head-scratching move to head this way, as opposed to giving any responsibility to the underclassmen of Jeremiah Hughes (nickel) or Justin Denson Jr. (safety). The seniority in the hostile environment did not pay off.

With UCLA up next, the hope is a higher number of rotation and a healthy team after Saturday’s contest.