MaxSpartan1
New Member
DC Pat Narduzzi - One of the best in the country. His name has been thrown around for HC vacancies the last few years. Texas A&M tried to throw a bunch of money at him last year to be a DC there. He got a raise at MSU and stayed put. Very fiery guy, passes it to his defense. Runs a base cover 4 with a 4-3 front 7 that utilizes a 3-tech DT and a NT. 3rd and long package is a 3-3-5 "Delta" formation with 3 pure pass rushers at the line. Very blitz-heavy scheme although I feel like we have blitzed less this year and had much less pass-rushing presence in general.
DEs:
William Gholston (6'7 280lbs) - Athletic freak, projected by some as a 1st round pick this year. Has had a very underwhelming year though, as he has been the focal point on the DL without someone like Jerel Worthy next to him. Not terrible, but hasn't lived up to expectations. However, he has the length and power to be dominant. Does a very good job at knocking down passes.
Marcus Rush (6'2 250lbs) - Underrated DE. Good pass rusher and also pretty good in run D. He had a breakout year as RS-FR last year but like the rest of our pass rush has not been great this year. Not the same kind of athletic freak that Gholston is, but probably more sound technique-wise. Both he and Gholston can also drop into coverage from time to time, since both of our DEs have somewhat of a 3-4 OLB build.
Backups: Shilique Calhoun, Denzel Drone - Drone is a junior, Calhoun is a RS-FR. Both are pretty solid, nothing special. Not a huge dropoff when they come in, which is pretty often. Drone sometimes will also play the nose in the 3-3-5 Delta package.
DTs
---
Anthony Rashad White (6'2 330lbs) - The boulder of our D-line. Extremely unsung throughout the year. He had big shoes to fill, replacing 2nd round pick Jerel Worthy who was a pass rushing phenom and extremely disruptive at the center of the line. White, however, isn't much of a pass rusher. He's a wall against the run. So far this year, nobody has done much up the gut against this front 7, and White is a big reason why. He ties up blockers to keep the LBs clean and does a damn good job of it. However, doesn't get much push to collapse the pocket.
James Kittredge (6'4 272lbs) - Transfer from Vanderbilt, first year playing at MSU. Probably the best pass rusher of the group but that's not saying much considering our DTs haven't been too disruptive. Kittredge is also quite solid against the run. Needs to add more bulk but he's been pretty effective this year.
Micajah Reynolds (6'5 318lbs) - He's been flipped between DT, OG, and OT more times than I can count. Stayed at DT this whole year though. Better pass rusher than White, but he's also good at knocking down passes at the line. Stout against the run as always.
Tyler Hoover (6'7 310lbs) - Used to play DE in 2010, injured early in 2011 and didn't play the season. He's also more of a pass rush DT but again hasn't made a huge impact. Long arms which are useful for batting down passes. Strangely enough, the long arm swim move hasn't really worked, but at the same time he hasn't gotten dominated by the shorter OGs either.
We rotate all of our DL very frequently so you'll see different matchups. They generally tend to be fairly fresh considering there's a full 2-deep for nearly every spot on the DL.
Will have linebackers/secondary up soon.
DEs:
William Gholston (6'7 280lbs) - Athletic freak, projected by some as a 1st round pick this year. Has had a very underwhelming year though, as he has been the focal point on the DL without someone like Jerel Worthy next to him. Not terrible, but hasn't lived up to expectations. However, he has the length and power to be dominant. Does a very good job at knocking down passes.
Marcus Rush (6'2 250lbs) - Underrated DE. Good pass rusher and also pretty good in run D. He had a breakout year as RS-FR last year but like the rest of our pass rush has not been great this year. Not the same kind of athletic freak that Gholston is, but probably more sound technique-wise. Both he and Gholston can also drop into coverage from time to time, since both of our DEs have somewhat of a 3-4 OLB build.
Backups: Shilique Calhoun, Denzel Drone - Drone is a junior, Calhoun is a RS-FR. Both are pretty solid, nothing special. Not a huge dropoff when they come in, which is pretty often. Drone sometimes will also play the nose in the 3-3-5 Delta package.
DTs
---
Anthony Rashad White (6'2 330lbs) - The boulder of our D-line. Extremely unsung throughout the year. He had big shoes to fill, replacing 2nd round pick Jerel Worthy who was a pass rushing phenom and extremely disruptive at the center of the line. White, however, isn't much of a pass rusher. He's a wall against the run. So far this year, nobody has done much up the gut against this front 7, and White is a big reason why. He ties up blockers to keep the LBs clean and does a damn good job of it. However, doesn't get much push to collapse the pocket.
James Kittredge (6'4 272lbs) - Transfer from Vanderbilt, first year playing at MSU. Probably the best pass rusher of the group but that's not saying much considering our DTs haven't been too disruptive. Kittredge is also quite solid against the run. Needs to add more bulk but he's been pretty effective this year.
Micajah Reynolds (6'5 318lbs) - He's been flipped between DT, OG, and OT more times than I can count. Stayed at DT this whole year though. Better pass rusher than White, but he's also good at knocking down passes at the line. Stout against the run as always.
Tyler Hoover (6'7 310lbs) - Used to play DE in 2010, injured early in 2011 and didn't play the season. He's also more of a pass rush DT but again hasn't made a huge impact. Long arms which are useful for batting down passes. Strangely enough, the long arm swim move hasn't really worked, but at the same time he hasn't gotten dominated by the shorter OGs either.
We rotate all of our DL very frequently so you'll see different matchups. They generally tend to be fairly fresh considering there's a full 2-deep for nearly every spot on the DL.
Will have linebackers/secondary up soon.
