Michigan State Football: 5 breakout candidates for 2019 season

LINCOLN, NE - NOVEMBER 17: Head coach Mark Dantonio of the Michigan State Spartans leads the team on the field before the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on November 17, 2018 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /

5 of 6

STATE COLLEGE, PA – OCTOBER 13: Antjuan Simmons #34 of the Michigan State Spartans tackles Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions on October 13, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Antjuan Simmons is a guy who I’ve been high on since he committed to Michigan State. He’s an impressive athlete and hits as hard as anyone on the team — he really takes pride in the crack of the pads.

Although he’s never going to be the biggest guy on the field, he makes up for that with his aggressive play and now he’s finally getting his chance to start. With Andrew Dowell off to the NFL, Simmons’ long wait for extended playing time is seemingly over as he’ll slide into the starting role along with Tyriq Thompson on the outside and Joe Bachie in the middle.

Simmons had a strong sophomore season, playing just under 300 total snaps and he was ninth on the team with 32 total tackles to go along with an interception and 0.5 tackles for loss. When he was on the field, it was hard to miss him because he was in on most plays.

If he starts and plays most of the snaps for Michigan State this season, he could approach that 100-tackle mark and even be used in blitz packages to rack up some tackles for loss.

Home/Spartans Football