EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State junior defensive end Jalen Thompson and the rest of the defensive line did a solid job pressuring up front in the Spartans’ 23-6 win over Western Michigan last week.
Michigan State will still need to get to the quarterback more, but last week was a good start. Thompson is the leader of those on the edge, and that effort is going to start with him.
The veteran defensive lineman met with the media on Wednesday, reflecting on the Spartans’ Week 1 contest against while looking ahead to Boston College.
Q: How much do you want to put on tape on not put on tape when it comes to the non-conference schedule?
Smith: “We don’t put a ton of stock into it, to be honest with you. We’re trying to play as well as we can. And to me, if you can do that, what you practiced in training camp, getting ready for, that’s what you’re putting on display in the first few weeks.
“Now, each week, you’re playing a different opponent, there’s some schematics that go into that, strategy of new schemes or we’re showing some different looks. But there’s not a ton of — especially, offensively, defensively, like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to call it this week so that we can use it next week.’ There’s a little bit of that, but not much.”
Q: What did you learn from last year’s loss to Boston College that you can use on Saturday?
Smith: “You got to play for four quarters. These games are won in the fourth quarter. It came down to that, execution at the end of the game. That particular one, yes, but there’s multiple other ones throughout the season when we had opportunities to finish the thing (in) different ways — offense, defense, special teams even.
“That particular one, both sides. We could have got a stop last year but didn’t do it. Had the ball at the end of the game, couldn’t finish it And so, yeah, that’s a learning lesson that happens multiple times, but I knew we’ll be watching some of that tape because of the continuity staff-wise, schematics. We’ll be watching some of that.”
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