“He’s a huge weapon special teams-wise, because if there’s anything you can say about that kid is his effort is 100 percent all of the time,” Tressel said of the 5-foot-11, 222-pound Ypsilanti native. “His motor’s unbelievable, then you combine that with his physical skills and that’s what you have if you design a special teams guy.”

Denson, who has shifted from running back, to safety, to linebacker during his four years at MSU, came into the 2008 season hoping to become the starting strongside linebacker. However, junior Adam Decker earned the starting middle linebacker position in fall camp, which moved sophomore Greg Jones from the middle to the strongside and sophomore Eric Gordon over to the weakside.

Although Denson didn’t earn a starting position, he still sees time at linebacker, mainly in dime coverage on third down where his speed becomes an asset.

Denson, a former walk-on who earned a scholarship after last season, acknowledged that he’s not getting as much time at linebacker as he hoped he would entering the season.

Still, he said he’s not too disappointed in being a special teams specialist.

“I think special teams are very underrated in a sense,” Denson said. “You have to think about it — if you were to block a punt, that would put your team back in the game. If you pin somebody down in their territory then stop them on defense, you could put your team in their territory to score. Special teams are a very, very big aspect of football.”

MSU head coach Mark Dantonio and his team have made special teams a priority this season.

Last week, MSU’s special teams stopped a fake field goal attempt, punted the ball inside the Eastern Michigan 5-yard line twice and accounted for 202 return yards between punt and kickoff returns.

Special teams is a part of the game in which both Dantonio and Tressel want to excel, and if the special teams units perform like they did against the Eagles, Denson will be a big reason why.

“He’ll block a punt before the season’s done and he’ll make a few more big hits on the punt team,” Tressel said. “He’s a weapon and we’re trying to take advantage of that speed and toughness on defense too by blitzing him a little bit more and getting him more reps every week.”