Recently redshirt freshman cornerback Vayante Copeland was lost for the year with a neck injury. Copeland looked prepared for a big season, but a fractured vertebra suffered in the Spartans 31-28 victory against Oregon will leave him out for the year.

"We lost Ed early on in the process, a good player," MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said. "I think our linebackers have picked up the slack there ... losing Vayante, another guy that was just beginning to play as a redshirt freshman. Another good player, but we've got other players that are fully capable."

Dantonio said he believes his team has depth and he won't let injuries be an excuse for the Spartans.

"We've got some young players that we've got to take a look at to see what we do," Dantonio said. "But we've got good players in the program and we've got guys that played a lot of football back for us. So my feeling is that we've got depth on this football team and that won't be an excuse not to play well."

The Spartans will start Saturday's game against the Chippewas without two of their three projected starting linebackers going into the season.

Davis being one, and junior linebacker Riley Bullough being the other. Bullough will miss the first half of the game against CMU due to a targeting penalty called against him late in MSU's 35-21 win over Air Force. Senior linebacker Darien Harris will be the only projected starter remaining when the game begins.

Sophomore linebacker Jon Reschke will continue to start in place of Davis with fellow sophomore Chris Frey also getting a large portion of the reps. Redshirt sophomore Shane Jones will start at middle in place of Bullough.

"Shane's in his fourth year playing for us so he's a good player. He understands what to do," Dantonio said. 

"He'll have to — he'll start for us this week with Riley Bullough's situation, so that will be a good move for him, that will be a very exciting time for him. He's a contact guy, he's a downhill player, he understands our defense and can make the needed adjustments."

Dantonio said he could also start Reschke at middle but he likes what Reschke and Frey are doing where they are at. He also spoke a bit about the experience true freshman linebacker Andrew Dowell gained last week when Dowell saw increased reps behind a hobbled Harris.

"I think we've got depth playing, you know," Dantonio said. "Andrew Dowell played 49 plays so that was tremendous for him to have that experience even though Darien (Harris) was down a little bit with an injury, but it was good to have him out there and get his experiences because he'll only get better.

"Those are six guys we're talking about right there. I feel good about our linebacker position."