Michigan State football: Let’s talk about the tackle situation

On Saturday, Michigan State football fell to Nebraska, 38-27. The Spartans fought from an early 14-0 deficit to grab a 21-14 lead late in the third quarter, but that was evaporated less than two minutes of game clock later.

After the game, and during it, social media was ugly. One position, in particular, that got criticized, was the play of Ashton Lepo at right tackle and Conner Moore at left tackle. Starting left tackle Stanton Ramil got injured early against USC, and his injury timetable was a month. Moore slid to Ramil’s spot, and Lepo, who started all 12 games of the 2024 season at right tackle, took over Moore’s spot for the longtime Spartan’s first 2025 start.

The fuel on the fire was Jonathan Smith’s comments, where he implied that he did not believe that the offensive tackle play of Ashton Lepo, Conner Moore, and Rustin Young was all that bad. For clarity, here is the full quote.

Question from Stephen Brooks of 247Sports: “We’ve seen all kinds of line rotation all year, and you guys were pretty static at tackle today, and then you mentioned Rustin (Young), thought that he had played good last weeks. Just wondering, where you were at with the offensive line rotation today?”

Jonathan Smith: “I think with the crowd noise, getting the five guys, I have to point-blank ask Jim (Michalczik, the offensive line coach) on that. I did think that, at the tackle position, it didn’t seem like it was glaringly (where) we were having issues.”

So, to recap. It appears Coach Michalczik made the call to start Moore on the left and Lepo on the right. The main concern was that crowd noise, which implies there was some fear about starting Rustin Young or Rakeem Johnson in a hostile environment for the first time in their career. With Memorial Stadium celebrating their 407^th consecutive sellout, dating back to 1962, it makes sense, somewhat. Until you look at the numbers.

Time for some myth busting.

Myth: The redshirt freshman do not have experience, or have played in hostile environments

Both players have experience with snaps in hostile environments, as Young was coming off a 51-snap outing against USC, taking place in Los Angeles. Young also had home game experience against Youngstown State and snaps against Ohio State in 2024. Additionally, he had worked on the field goal unit all season, including the road game against USC.

Johnson rotated in during the 2024 contest against Illinois in Champaign-Urbana on their Senior Day, alongside starting a home game at left tackle for the Spartans against Ohio State. Additionally, Johnson played on punt coverage and the field goal unit against the Trojans in Los Angeles.

Admittedly, this is not a lot of experience for the two Spartans, but Johnson was the first guy off the bench for the Spartans even as a true freshman, and Young was trusted with Ramil out the last two outings. At some point, the band-aid will have to be ripped off.

Myth: Then experience outweighed the fear of the unknown

Ashton Lepo started every game for Michigan State football in 2024. However, this offseason, he was seemingly recruited over, with the Spartans grabbing two players with tackle experience (Caleb Carter and Conner Moore) in the portal. Lepo, already missing spring ball for an undisclosed injury, buckled down, and got ready for fall camp.

Lepo lost the job outright to Conner Moore, but rotated in during the season opening games against Western Michigan and Boston College. The Grand Haven (MI.) native performed alright, but was on the injury report before the Youngstown State game. He traveled to USC, but did not play.

That is right. On that night, the Spartans did not slide their line around, opting for Moore to remain at right tackle, where he played every snap against the Trojans. Young did not sub out of the game after he entered, despite Lepo having prior left tackle experience in 2023. The Hawaiian performed well, with his PFF grade being rated higher than Carter’s, alongside beating out some of Ramil’s left tackle performances as a redshirt freshman last year.

Myth: Moore and Lepo rose to the occasion on Saturday

Against the Cornhuskers, it was a tough go for the tackle pairing. Jonathan Smith said that nothing looked off at the time, but film proves him wrong. Connor Earegood of the Detroit News rewatched the film on Sunday, and manually counted 11 missed assignments or failed blocks by Ashton Lepo at right tackle. He was responsible for the sack that sent Aidan Chiles to the injury tent, along with a 15-yard penalty for a blindside block, in the first quarter alone.

PFF concurs that Lepo was not great on Saturday, giving him a 41.9 grade. That is the worst single game outing by any offensive player who has played 10-or-more snaps, regardless of position, for the Spartans in 2025.

Moore was not as “off” as Lepo, but his first FBS start at left tackle was not great. He had a few plays he would want to get back, and also got beat on the sack that sent Aidan Chiles out of the game in fourth quarter. It was later revealed that this was precautionary, with the staff electing to give Milivojevic some reps with Chiles nursing an injury in a 17-point deficit.

Myth: Ashton Lepo performs well on the road in Big Ten play

With crowd environment being the first mentioned aspect of a decision, it was time to do some digging. Ashton Lepo started all five road games for the Spartans in 2024, and he dealt with crazy environments. The Spartans played at Autzen Stadium in Oregon, the Big House down the road, and the Red Bandanna Game in Chestnut Hill last year alone.

Since the start of the Jonathan Smith era, Ashton Lepo has recorded five of the seven worst offensive performances by a starter, regardless of position. In all five of those performances, Michigan State football was on the road.

The seven worst performances by a starting player on offense, based on PFF grades (Jonathan Smith era):

1. RT Ashton Lepo, Week 2, 2024 (at Maryland): 28.2
2. RT Ashton Lepo, Week 6, 2024 (at Oregon): 40.1
3. RT Ashton Lepo, Week 12, 2024 (at Illinois): 41.7
4. RT Ashton Lepo, Week 6, 2025 (at Nebraska): 41.9
5. LT Stanton Ramil, Week 9, 2024 (at Michigan): 45.5
6. LT Stanton Ramil, Week 4, 2024 (at Boston College): 45.6
7. RT Ashton Lepo, Week 9, 2024 (at Michigan): 45.8

All five of Lepo’s worst career performances came on the road against a Big Ten squad, including Saturday against Nebraska. Lepo has looked much better in limited action this year, but Boston College and Western Michigan do not compare to Nebraska. Based on his track record, this was a head scratcher.

It is also worth noting, Ashton Lepo graded out as the sixth-worst Power Four tackle in pass protection in 2024 among players with over 300 snaps in pass pro. Evan Link of Michigan was the only Big Ten tackle to grade out lower than him after 300 snaps.

Additionally, Lepo’s grades this year are not much better. He ranks among the bottom 10 in the Power Four again for grades on players with 75 snaps of pass protection.

All of that said, there are a few facts to get out of the way, too.

Fact: Ashton Lepo has rust to knock off

Lepo was called upon to start in a brutal situation. The right tackle had gone nearly a month without game action, last checking into a game on September 6 before the October 4 contest against Nebraska.

It is also a fact that Lepo has been injured. The tackle was declared out for the Youngstown State game, which implies he has also missed practice time while dealing with an undisclosed ailment. The lack of news about Lepo’s injury also makes it hard to tell if he has missed additional time, despite travelling to USC.

Furthermore, Lepo missed all of spring practice with an injury. While the Spartans did not add any new staff on the offensive line side of things, Lepo missed an installation period for new offensive elements. That also denied him additional time to practice and work with newcomers Caleb Carter and Matt Gulbin on the offensive line. Lepo’s on-field experience started from scratch with the two seniors during summer camp.

That does place Lepo behind the eight ball, despite starting all of 2024.

Fact: Jonathan Smith spoke to the media before seeing the film

Jonathan Smith’s post-game schedule has him always in motion, talking to the opposing coach, the occasional opposing player, and then his own team in the locker room once the clock hits zeros.

If necessary, Smith gets a briefing on a player’s medical status, and usually gets sent over to media. In that time, he does not have once second to watch film. The average viewer has more access to game replays than Jonathan Smith does before he sticks to media.

Fact: Jonathan Smith will not call out players to media

Even if Smith had the foreknowledge of every single missed assignment during a game prior to seeing media, he will not call out anyone to the media. The coach’s job is to put his players in a position to succeed, and any failure by the players falls on the coach. Smith will own up to his faults and mistakes.

That said, he will not put the personnel on blast. That is the sign of an ugly culture, and that would be much worse for the Spartans in the long run. How would it impact team morale if Smith started listing player mistakes to the media? Here’s a clue, the transfer portal season would be a lot more depressing as a Spartan fan.

Fact: Hindsight is 20/20

Looking at film and reviewing things from the press box, it is easy to play “coulda, woulda, shoulda.” At the end of the day, I am an armchair quarterback that knows less than a drop of what Smith, Michalczik, and the players in the offensive line room know. The staff gets paid to win football games, and they played what they believed was their best hand. It did not work out.

Fact: Jonathan Smith walked back the comments on line play on Monday

Jonathan Smith went and addressed the line play on Monday, and walked back his comments about the tackle play. While he did not confirm changes for next week, it is clear the film showed Smith the error of his field view.

Life goes on, and the Spartans host UCLA this Saturday, October 11. We will see who starts, particularly at the tackle positions, then.