Michigan State Spartans Football Preview: Defensive Line
The position by position preview heads over to the defensive side of the ball and makes its first stop at the defensive line.
2012 Season
Once again defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi led his Spartandawgs to another top 10 defense in the country. After losing All-American defensive tackle Jerel Worthy to the NFL Draft, the only question heading into the season was who was going to take his spot. Every other starter from the 2011 season was back including defensive ends William Gholston and Marcus Rush; ultimately the starting position vacated by Worthy went to Micajah Reynolds. Expectations for the defensive line was high, and a budding star was in the making. William Gholston came to Michigan State out of Detroit Southeastern High School and was a consensus 5 star recruit with scholarship offers from the likes of Alabama, Florida, USC, Tennessee and Ohio State. A shoulder injury hampered his freshman season but coming into the 2011 season fully healthy Gholston was ready to break out and did so on a national stage in the outback bowl against Georgia recording 2 sacks while seemingly being in the backfield the entire game. Heading into 2012 expectations were high and Gholston was tabbed as a potential first round draft pick in 2013, but he failed to live up to the hype. Gholston still did have a good season and recorded 59 tackles, 13 of which were for loss and 4.5 of those being a sack. Gholston declared for the 2013 NFL Draft after the 2012 season and was taken in the 4th round by Tampa Bay. Sophomore defensive end Marcus Rush will be the featured end this upcoming season. Rush has started at defensive end from day one of his freshman season and will be a future NFL player.
2013 Season
The 2013 version of the defensive line should still be strong for the Michigan State Spartans even after losing two starters, William Gholston and Anthony Rashad-White. The Spartans return two starters as well as Tyler Hoover who is coming back from injury after being granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. Shilique Calhoun is a guy to keep an eye on during the 2013 season. Calhoun is a Redshirt sophomore defensive end out of New Jersey who backed up William Gholston during the 2012 season. Calhoun will start opposite of Marcus Rush and should be a force.
Lawrence Thomas is another guy to keep an eye on during the 2013 season. After spending most of the 2012 season as a fullback, Thomas will move to the defensive side of the ball permanently. Thomas was also a highly touted recruit coming out of Detroit but injuries forced him to redshirt his freshman season. Coming out of high school Thomas was predominately a linebacker, but many scouts believed that Thomas would wind up at defensive end at the college level. Scouts were wrong and Thomas will be battling for a starting job at defensive tackle in a few weeks during summer camp.
As a whole the defensive line is loaded with talent led by Marcus Rush. A few other names to keep an eye out for is Joel Heath, James Kitteredge, Jamal Lyles who can also play linebacker, and Damon Knox.
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