MSU head coach Bobby Williams played musical chairs with his lineup after both of his starting cornerbacks suffered injuries in the bye week.
Both senior DeMario Suggs and freshman Jason Harmon broke an ankle and are out eight to10 weeks.
As a result, Williams shuffled his players and even dipped into his offensive resources.
“We’ve had to look at some players on offense,” Williams said.
“We’ve had to change players on defense. We’re looking at every possible combination that we can.”
The MSU coaches aren’t ruling out the option of playing sophomore wide receiver Charles Rogers at defensive back, Williams said.
“I don’t want to jump the gun by saying this is what we are going to do,” he said. “We have to look at our best players on the football team and try to get them in a position where they can help us. Who those guys are, we’ll find out.”
The Spartans have made only modest moves so far. Freshman wide receiver Roderick Maples was the only player moved to the defense. He’ll play cornerback, his original position.
But moving any other offensive players to the defense will be the final resort, defensive coordinator Bill Miller said.
“We’ve talked about a lot of guys (on the offense),” Miller said. “We’re going to try to exhaust what we’ve got and who knows what we’ll do in a couple weeks. They’ve got several guys over there, but you can’t disrupt what they have going on.”
The only position change on defense was senior Duron Bryan, who was moved from free safety to cornerback.
“We think Duron will rally,” Miller said. “It wasn’t as hard of a transition for him as it was for some guys.”
Freshman Robert Flagg will take Bryan’s spot, and said he still needs to brush up on his assignments
“I need to get better mentally,” Flagg said. “I’m not 100 percent sure what I’m doing. I just have to get acquainted and situated. I got a pretty good grasp (on the plays), but I’m still young, and I’m just here with my mind wide open, ready to learn.”
Junior cornerback Broderick Nelson will also get a chance to start. He competed for the starting job when senior cornerback Cedric Henry was declared academically ineligible in August.
Williams also expects freshman cornerback Damien Fortson to compete for playing time in the secondary.
Suggs and Harmon will most likely miss the entire season. In Suggs’ case, that could mean the end of his career - this is his last year of eligibility.
“It hurt really bad to see someone I came here with, (who was) having a good season, taken away that quick,” Bryan said.
“It has sunk in, but it’s still unbelievable to have two players go down with that injury.”
But the secondary isn’t out of vocal veterans. Senior free safety Lorenzo Guess will come off the bench to give MSU a jolt in its secondary.
“He’s a big help,” Flagg said. “He knows everything. Sometimes he corrects the coaches. He’s like a coach in the secondary. He really is a booster, he’s always hype, he never gets tired, he stays energized.”
