The group will receive its first opportunity to live up to pundit expectations Friday against Furman, prodding Reschke to note he wasn’t concerned with the Paladins’ offense.

“It’s a simple offense,” Reschke said. “I think we need to come together as a team. It’s going to be a big team game, a stepping stone for the next one.”

Reschke, either confessing pure confidence in the team or providing an extra motivational tool for his team Tuesday or both, later proclaimed the team was capable of holding Furman to no first downs.

“We have to set our goals high,” Reschke said. “I think our goal, not to sound cocky or anything but I think we can hold this team to no first downs, we can beat them that badly and that’s what we need to do to make a statement as a defense if want to be the best defense in the country we need to start fast.”

The national rankings have cast a favorable aurora over the Spartan linebackers, a group that includes fifth-year senior and captain Riley Bullough, junior Chris Frey and sophomore Andrew Dowell. The group is still incomplete however, as linebacker Ed Davis awaits the granting of a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA after sitting out the 2015 season with a torn ACL.

Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman ranked MSU second in his top 10 linebacker rankings, adding that the “big plus with this group is that the players are so interchangeable, having the ability to play multiple linebacking spots.”

Athlon Sports ranked the Spartan group fourth and said it shouldn’t be a problem for the linebackers to be relied on heavily this season. MSU’s front seven — which includes the linebackers — was ranked fifth by ESPN.

Phil Steele, the broadly read and well-regarded prognosticator, gave the Spartans a No. 3 ranking behind Louisville at No. 2 and Alabama at No. 3.

The high praise comes after a year in which Reschke and Bullough recorded 75 tackles and 106 tackles, respectively. Frey chipped in a career high 23 tackles for a group that’s depth and experience will be actively engaged upon with an inexperienced front four along the defensive line.

Reschke, however, believes in the youthful defensive line and said, “They’ve come along so much since the first day of camp and we’ve developed some great D-ends (defensive ends), some great D-tackles (defensive tackles).”

Feldman’s mention of interchangeability is correct, as Reschke has spent time at the Mike position during 2015 camp and started all 14 games in 2015 at the Sam spot and Bullough is slim enough to play at all three positions. Frey was expected to play at the Sam slot, but moved over to the Star position.

Frey and Dowell have competed all spring for the Star position with neither emerging as the starter as of Wednesday night.

Again using the word interchangeable, co-defensive coordinator said things had to play out before a decision would be made on who will start at the Star.

“We have no problem putting either one of them in there,” co-defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett said. “They have been practicing well and looking well. They had good practices yesterday. We will see how it plays out. They are very interchangeable, those linebackers are. All of them."