Michigan State Football: Positional grades for Youngstown State win

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Michigan State’s Michael Fletcher pursues the Youngstown State quarterback during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.210911 Msu Youngstown Fb 270a /

Defensive Line: C

I still want to see more from this defensive line in terms of pressuring the quarterback because having linebackers and defensive backs account for all the sacks this season just isn’t sustainable.

Scottie Hazelton has some new pieces to work with, but not having Drew Jordan, Tank Brown, and Drew Beesley did hurt the defensive line against Youngstown State. There just wasn’t a ton of pressure up front, but the Penguins also didn’t pass the ball that much.

The Penguins did finish with 32 passes and the Spartans had two sacks (both came from non-defensive linemen) but most of those throws came in the second half. The Penguins had 45 rushing plays compared to those 32 passes.

The line needs to plug up some more holes and help the linebackers out on third and fourth-down plays. The Spartans’ third and fourth-down defense has been awful this year, and it all starts up front.

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