MSU football’s pass rush has been next to non-existent, only garnering a total of five sacks throughout their first five games. Players like junior Malik McDowell, a preseason All-American, and senior Demetrius Cooper, whose five and a half sacks last season were supposed to translate to more production, have failed to get to the quarterback.
Defensive end Evan Jones has gotten there once, statistically, but has had a number of opportunities and failed to make the tackle. The one defensive lineman who has been disruptive is redshirt-freshman Raequan Williams, but he remains out with injury.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio made it known that it is something that needs work.
“Well, we've got some guys with ability,” Dantonio said. “We've got to get home. We've had the guy in our grasps a number of times and he's gotten out. That's something that's got to get fixed, and there's got to be more production, period.”
One fixed would be getting guys healthy. MSU is currently missing, arguably, their two best blitzing linebackers in Jon Reschke and Riley Bullough and their leading sack man in Williams.
As for a fix right now, sixth-year senior Ed Davis is getting more reps, and last week he saw a season-high 20 snaps and played most of the fourth quarter. Having been on recent MSU defenses that have gotten sacks, this season is a bit of a shock to him.
“It surprises me a lot, you know, we are really not used to that,” Davis said. “We are really used to getting home to the quarterback and once you’re in the game, it’s the little things. There could be anything on one play that could slow down the blitz or not get that time and the quarterback will be able to get the ball away so it’s just the little inches.”
Davis said that along with those “inches," the defensive front seven need to work more on their individual assignments, winning one-on-ones and forming a better structure to find the correct gaps when they bring blitzes from the linebackers or the secondary.
Junior linebacker Chris Frey, along with Shane Jones, have been the vocal leaders of the defense in place of Bullough and Evan Jones, and have echoed a similar sentiment. Frey realizes some of the guys up front are young and still learning, but five games in, it’s time for them and the upperclassmen to step it up.
“You look at our roster, you look at the talented guys that we have on our team, any of these guys that are on this team could play anywhere in the country,” Frey said. “We just need to come together as a team and put all of our talents together and do what we know to do, and that’s just play hard and win games and we haven’t been doing it.”
The Spartans play again this upcoming Saturday at home against Northwestern University for homecoming. The Wildcats get about 350 yards of total offense per game, and it’ll be up to the defense to stop guys like dual-threat quarterback Clayton Thorson and one of the Big Ten’s best wide receivers in Austin Carr.
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