Linebackers get the tackles and defensive ends rack up the sacks, but the two most important players to the MSU rush defense might be the ones who don’t put up gaudy numbers.
Defensive tackle Justin Kershaw, a 6-foot-5, 273-pound senior, and nose tackle Oren Wilson, a 6-foot-3, 288-pound sophomore, rarely show up on the stats sheet, but it’s beyond the numbers where their contributions shine.
The two players have combined for just 38 tackles through 11 games (Kershaw has 25 while Wilson has 13), but Wilson said the name of the game for defensive tackles is simple: clog up the middle.
“(Our job is) mostly just staying on our blocks so our linebackers can make plays,” Wilson said.
MSU linebackers have made plenty of plays this season — sophomore Greg Jones has racked up a team-leading 100 tackles, while sophomore Eric Gordon is second with 75.
The play of Kershaw, a three-year starter on the defensive line, was expected coming into the season. But Wilson came out of fall camp as the winner in a two-man battle for the starting nose tackle position with sophomore Antonio Jeremiah.
“Oren has more experience but they push each other,” Kershaw said. “They both can play, but Oren’s the dead-end starter and he’s been playing real well for us.”
Wilson came to MSU following a year at Harmony Community School, a prep school in Cincinnati, where he was ranked as one of the top 50 prep school prospects in the nation, according to recruiting Web site Rivals.com.
A Teaneck, N.J., native, Wilson originally signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Cincinnati under current MSU head coach Mark Dantonio, but was let out of his commitment to follow Dantonio to East Lansing.
“(I came here) basically (because of) the coaches and this was also the best school for me,” said Wilson, whose uncle, Bernard Wilson, played at MSU from 1985-88 as a wide receiver. “When I came on my visit I liked it a lot. My uncle went here too and that was a major part, so I had family here so that really helped out.”
Aside from starting all 11 games so far this season, Wilson also saw action in every game last year.
Wilson said he wasn’t surprised that he came in and played right away for the Spartans, noting that was what he expected after spending a year a prep school.
Although his first two years at MSU have been successful so far, Wilson said he still has to work on “everything” and is “not where I want to be.”
Because of that mind-set and almost two years of experience under his belt, Kershaw said Wilson could potentially be a force on the MSU defense.
“I think he needs to get stronger and work on small things, but he’s a totally different player from when he first got here to how he is now,” Kershaw said.
“Oren knows the game almost better than anyone else on defense. He knows what’s going on … he just needs to keep playing well.”
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