Michigan State Football: Report card for first month of 2018 season

Though the linebackers don’t have quite the same grade as the defensive linemen, but they have had a big helping hand in the nation’s best run defense. They’ve helped put together the best run defense in the land, holding opponents to just about 40 yards per game on the ground.

Joe Bachie has been the top performer in the linebacking corps, to no one’s surprise. He’s had a great first month, recording 33 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. He may be in line to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors, but he’ll need to keep this consistency. His aggressiveness needs to trickle down to the rest of his backers.

Gaining momentum, Andrew Dowell has been a nice surprise as well. He’s second on the team with 27 tackles with four for loss and two sacks. He’s been more aggressive this season and his sideline-to-sideline speed has improved. He’s in on nearly every tackle.

The other linebacker spot has seen split snaps between Tyriq Thompson and Brandon Randle while Antjuan Simmons has gotten some time in the corps.

Thompson has fallen behind Randle for the starting job as the sophomore has been a breakout star, of sorts. He’s an excellent pass-rusher at linebacker and his athleticism is often making quarterbacks get off passes before they’d like to. He has three tackles for loss and two sacks to go along with his 11 takedowns.

Simmons has 13 tackles and an interception, having a strong sophomore campaign and putting himself in line to earn the starting Star spot when Dowell graduates.

This group could be better against the short passes, leading to just a ‘B’ rating.