3 most important Michigan State football players vs. Michigan in Week 9

1. Jacoby Windmon

Jacoby Windmon made a huge move back to his natural linebacker position against Wisconsin and how did he respond? Oh, just by leading the team in tackles and picking Graham Mertz off inside of his own 20-yard-line, setting up the Spartans’ first score of the day.

Michigan State needs Windmon to play one of his best games because he may be the best defender that the Spartans have and when he’s comfortable, he’s dang good.

We saw him playing on the defensive line earlier in the year which just isn’t his natural spot and he did well when everyone was healthy, but when his fellow linemen went down, he was keyed on and struggled to really get going. Now the Spartans are running more of a 4-3 look and Windmon is comfortable.

The defense is going to be the key on Saturday and if they can get the stops against Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards in the run game, things will look much better.

Windmon is the key to victory on this side of the ball.