The 2025-26 Spartan Defense
Continuing the speculation series about the Spartan Football season ahead… this time we’re looking at the Defense
As mentioned in Friday’s piece , we’ll break this into three levels:
1. Solid expectations
2. Decent guesses, and
3. WAGs
For defense there will be a few more of these WAGs than we saw for offense. Partly because of the absent spring game, partly due to the transfer portal, partly due to so many players competing to break into the lineup of DBs (there are currently 19 DBs listed on the roster – by our calculations, not all of them will start. After additional intense long division, we’ve also determined that less than 10.01 of those 19 will even make the two-deep). Note, for the scheme we’re going with a base 4-3 (though maybe 3-4 would make some of the guessing easier) and haven’t added the specific Nickel role which has been often used the past few seasons.
Let’s dig into the Defense, shall we.
Solid Expectations (Likely 1st-stringers):
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S1: Malik Spencer – Started 9 games for the Spartans in 2024 before getting injured for the last three. You may recall Bleacher Report Staffer tweeting preseason about Malik being a potential first-rounder in this year’s draft.
The defense doesn’t have many players we’ve previously seen in Green & White who stand out as locks. That said there are several transfers who appear to be upgrades at spots who may likely get some good run – at the very least there should be some good battles for positions and decent rotations throughout games. So that leads us to some…
Decent Guesses (and not just Lorenzo)
Edge1: David Santiago – The Air Force RS-Soph Transfer played in 10 games with 10 starts in 2024 – finishing with 38 tackles, 5 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 3 PBUs, and 1 Forced Fumble.
DL1: Grady Kelly – A RS-Senior Transfer from Florida State, collected 19 tackles, including 2.5 for Loss and one sack in ‘24. In 2023, he was all-conference 2nd team at Colorado State and graded out as the No. 2 interior DL in the league by Pro Football Focus. As a RS-Freshman for the Rams he started 10 games and earned Freshman All-American from College Football News.
LB1: Wayne Matthews III – Playing in 9 of the 12 games last season before an injury, Wayne is well positioned to take the starting role. Even behind Turner and Halladay Matthews finished eighth on team with 33 tackles in ‘24.
LB1: Jordan Hall – Picking up from his phenom Freshman season in ‘23, Jordan played in 11 games with a start against Indiana in ‘24 and grabbed 24 tackles, including 1 TFL, and swatted two balls for PBUs.
Photo by Roger Wimmer/ISI Photos/Getty Images
LB1: Darius Snow – It’s been a long road back from a leg destroying injury in the opening game three seasons ago and Redshirt year after. Snow found the field every game last season though, including two starts for 29 tackles (1 for Loss) and 1 QBH.
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S1: Nikai Martinez – started all 12 games last season for MSU, collecting the third most tackles on the team – 51.
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CB1: 6’2” Joshua Eaton, transfers into State, rated slightly higher in the portal than the outgoing Charles Brantley. The 4-star transfer was originally a 4-star CB prospect out of high school (ESPN No. 25, Rivals No. 32, 247 No. 34) who went to Oklahoma where he earned some respectable PT his first two years before transferring back to his home in Texas (State U.).
LB2: Brady Pretzlaff is a name we keep hearing as a thumper. The RS-F played 4 games last season. RS-S Semaj Bridgeman was a top 10/20 linebacker in the nation when recruited to the corn ‘n blah as a true freshman. He saw the light and we should benefit. Junior Marcellius Pulliam joined the Spartans prior to last season from Miami and saw the field in all 12 games last season. Those three seem like the guys, though BYU transfer, RS-Junior Aisea Moa played in 12 games for the cougars last season and should see some PT with the Spartans this year as well. (Pulliam, below)
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A little more uncertainty
DL1: This is uncertain because the two candidates are so evenly matched. 6’3” Junior Jalen Thompson started all 12 games last season with 17 tackles (2 for Loss) with 1 PBU. His linemate last season, 6’3” R-Junior Alex VanSumeren, also started all 12 games in ‘24 with 17 tackles (2.5 for Loss with 1.5 sacks). That said, another site labeled Jalen as DE, putting him opposite Santiago and keeping Alex and Grady in the middle. Whatever works.
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CB1: Chance Rucker seems to be the lead contender – last year’s week 1 starter was taken out for the season in game 2 at Maryland. He also had eight starts at CB in ‘23 to close out the season. Being back to the week one starter might depend on how his recovery has progressed. Malcolm Bell is a 6’2” incoming RS-Senior Transfer and multi-year starter from UConn – his line from 2024: 26 tackles (22 solo) with 3 PBUs seems like the solid alternative, though Rucker’s familiarity with the scheme might give him the edge.
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
WAGs
EDGE1/2: There’s a few guys looking to grab this second spot and among the leading candidates are a couple of transfers: Cam WIlliams from Georgia State, Issac Smith from Texas Tech, and Tyler Gillison who sat out all last season with an injury. Williams collected 19 total tackles (4 for Loss with a sack) in 10 games in 2024. Smith had 31 tackles with 2.5 sacks in his 10 games played last season as an OLB for the Red Raiders, coming back from missing all of 2023. This spot is listed down here as it’s a coin-toss for who lands at 1 vs 2. We note, Anelu Lafaele also transferred in, from Wisconsin – though he’s never seen the field and not expected to outperform the first 4 in his first year here.
DL2: These two spots are anyone’s call from outside the room. There are a lot of familiar names who all earned solid PT last season and prior. Quindarius Dunnigan played in 11 games in 2024, with 17 tackles (4 for Loss with 1 sack) and a Forced Fumble. Ru’Quan Buckley played in all 12 games and had 9 tackles (2 for Loss) with a blocked kick. “Big Worm” Ben Roberts saw the field in all 12 games last season, grabbed 8 tackles (with 2 for Loss and a sack). Jalen Satchell’s line – 11 games, 5 tackles (1.5 for Loss with half a sack) and a PBU. The room is experienced – only Big Worm is not in his last season in college – and expect to see a good amount of rotation again, not just on passing downs.
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CB2: Dontavius Nash – A 4-star out of high school, Nash is a 6’2” Transfer from East Carolina where he headed after 2 years at UNC. He’s committed as of last week but not yet enrolled. 6’1” Senior Ade Willie started 2 games out of his 10 played last season. NiJhay Burt joins the Spartans from Eastern Illinois. His line last season: 12 Starts, 64 tackles (52 solo, 3 TFL), 3 INTs – he’s also had a couple of kicks blocked in his career. He should be quick, we’ll see how he adjusts to the B1G, so he might be a half step behind the other two in the chart at least early on.
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The Defense has more unknowns on this side of the ball, it seems, and also a lot of younger guys and transfers looking to make their shot. What say you? We know some of you have already written off the season, the coach, and the incoming transfers from this No. 20/21 class. Realistically where do you see one or two bright spots?
Go Green.