“Before (Worthy) left, he told me this is my team now,” White said.

“He told me to take over, lead the team and get every individual along the D-Line to be a leader themselves.”

White said he has been taking some reps at defensive tackle and noticed an immediate difference from playing nose tackle.

“It’s hard, you have to be able to read more and have quicker moves,” he said. “It’s going to take until at least after spring to learn the position, but if I put in the work I should be able to hold it down (well).”

Special treatment
With the departure of wide receiver Keshawn Martin, it seemed the burden of punt returns would fall on the shoulders of sophomore running back Nick Hill.

Hill was MSU’s main kick returner last year, running back 38 kicks for 999 yards while also returning five punts for 17 yards.

However, the Spartans also are trying out junior cornerback Darqueze Dennard at the position, and Hill has been supportive in helping his teammate transition.

“Even though we’re each competing for a starting job and trying to keep it, I’m definitely going to help him out just in case something happens and I’m not back there,” Hill said. “I’ve just told him he needs to track the ball, know where it’s coming off the foot and if there’s some arc to it — if it goes right or left — to be under there and set your feet. So far, he’s done pretty well.”

As far as kick returning, Hill hopes to improve on last season’s effort, when he did not score a single touchdown off of a kickoff.

However, Hill isn’t happy with adding just one score to his résumé.

“My goal is to get at least three to take back this year,” he said. “But I’m trying to get the offense into good field position and beat the stats that we did last year.”

Safety first
One position battle that has been under watch since the beginning of practice — and with the parting of former MSU safety Trenton Robinson — has been the battle for a starting spot at free safety between redshirt freshman R.J. Williamson and sophomore Kurtis Drummond.

Williamson said he and Drummond are learning, but both will have to spend more time in the film room to get better.

“If you don’t know what to do, you can’t play,” he said. “You can be as good as you want to be but if you don’t know what play they’re running (or) what to do in certain situations, you’ll get burnt and you’ll hurt your team.”