EAST LANSING, Mich. — Jacoby Windmon was back home on Saturday afternoon, and his return couldn’t have come at a better time for Michigan State.
Home, of course, is at linebacker, the position Windmon thrived at last season for UNLV and the one he expected to play when he transferred in the offseason to Michigan State. However, with his ability to rush the passer and, at the time some frustration with the overall pass rush, the Spartans coaches made the move late in preseason camp to shift Windmon full-time to defensive end, a position he’d played earlier in his career at UNLV.
It paid off in the early going as Windmon had 5½ sacks through the first two games, earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors back-to-back weeks.
But as defensive ends started to drop — Jeff Pietrowski, Khris Bogle and Avery Dunn have all been injured — and Michigan State’s secondary struggled, opponents were double-teaming Windmon, limiting his impact on games.
So, as the Spartans’ skid hit four games, it was time to make a change. With interior defensive linemen like Jacob Slade and Jalen Hunt back against Wisconsin, it allowed for some versatility with Dashaun Mallory and Michael Fletcher kicking out to end along with Brandon Wright and freshman Zion Young.
And what better spot for Windmon to settle in at than linebacker?
“He was big in the game,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said. “We’re trying to get the best guys on the field and he’s unselfish when he made that move (in camp). Obviously, he's got really good pass-rush ability and we started to get some guys back who can play that end position, so we decided to move him back to linebacker on run downs. He still was rushing on third down, obviously, in our rush package. Having more depth at end allowed us to do that and he’s very, very unselfish, which has helped our football team.”
It helped to the tune of 11 tackles, including two for loss, an interception and a forced fumble. The interception led to a first-quarter touchdown and the forced fumble came on the first play of the second overtime, leading to the Spartans’ winning score.
Windmon, who leads the nation with six forced fumbles, was rewarded with his third conference player of the week award, becoming the first Michigan State defensive player to be honored three times in one season.
“It felt good, man, to be back home,” Windmon said of the shift back to linebacker. “It was just kind of natural for me because I played linebacker for a long time. It was just one of those deals where I practiced it a lot and then I was able to get a lot of those reps in. It just translated from the practice to the game field. I'm a firm believer in that you practice how you play. I had a good week of practice and I feel like we had a good week of practice as a defense. We came in did what had to do.”
Windmon’s production helped the defense have arguably its best game of the season. After getting torched for the better part of the previous four games, the Spartans (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten) held Wisconsin to 283 total yards, recorded three sacks and turned the ball over twice.
Both turnovers, of course, were caused by Windmon, who on Tuesday was named the Nagurski Trophy national defensive player of the week.
It was all thanks to the move of playing primarily at linebacker.
“Honestly, man, linebacker, I just feel a lot more comfortable because it’s more natural,” Windmon said. “But defensive end, it’s pretty fun. It’s always fun to get after the quarterback and rush the passer. I still like defensive end. It was still good to be able to play first, second down as linebacker, but to go down on the ball on third down and rush the passer, I think that was a great advantage to have, being able to change personnel without having to take too many people off the field.”
Windmon’s shift wasn’t the only change in personnel.
After playing almost exclusively in a 4-2-5 since he arrived with Tucker, defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton had the Spartans in a 4-3 most of the game with Windmon, Cal Haladay and Aaron Brule at linebacker.
It’s clear the Spartans miss linebacker Darius Snow, who was lost for the season in Week 1, but the moving of linebackers combined with the return of safety Xavier Henderson and Slade gave the defense a confidence it hasn’t seen this season.
But the added twist of Windmon being in a position where he can make plays on the ball, clearly was one that had an affect on the entire team.
“Jacoby, when he got in here from UNLV, he was always vocal,” Henderson explained. “Just practicing with Jacoby this week, it felt good hearing him. ‘I’m here. I'm here. I'm here, X.’ Things like that. It’s just little stuff that is reassuring and he's definitely a playmaker. The (interception) was really nice and…he got the fumble, too. He’s always talking to us, ‘You got to get the ball. We got to get the ball.’ He thinks about it and he goes out there and do does it. It’s really impressive to see.”
Honor roll
In addition to Windmon’s honor Tuesday as the Nagurski Trophy national player of the week, Michigan State punter Bryce Baringer was honored as a midseason All-American by the Associated Press.
The sixth-year senior from Waterford leads the FBS in punting with a 51.4-yard average and leads the Big Ten with 16 punts of 50 yards or more, including five of 60 yards or more. Baringer ranks fourth in the conference with 12 punts downed inside the 20-yard line and he recorded a season-long 70-yard punt against Western Michigan in Week 1, tied for the ninth-longest punt in the FBS this season.
Baringer was named the Ray Guy Award National Punter of the Week after averaging 48.9 yards per punt against Ohio State on Oct. 8. He also tied a career high with five punts placed inside the 20 against the Buckeyes.
