MSU defensive coordinator Joe Rossi seeks consistency for his defensive unit as the Spartans move into conference play

Michigan State’s defensive coordinator, Joe Rossi, is not interested in excuses for his unit. Even with three straight wins for the Spartans, the defensive side of the ball has taken on scrutiny and skepticism from fans moving into Big Ten play on the road. Rossi remains confident in his group, but his biggest concern for league competition is consistency.

“I want to see consistent execution,” Rossi said. “Because I think that’s been a little bit lacking. So that's been the message this week in practice, and that’s been the goal moving into the next week.”

The Spartans’ defense has shown flashes of progress and positive work with emerging young talent, leadership from veterans, and dependable depth. Rossi, however, is looking for them to take the next step as a unit by correcting the small mistakes, getting better techniques, and turning good game performances into a season of high-level play. 

In the first three weeks, Rossi was able to put the defensive depth to the test, mixing in a heavy rotation of guys from veterans to underclassmen. Even many of the backups saw extended minutes as no position group stayed static throughout the games. This rotation was by design to see how players react to in-game situations and competition. 

“We kind of had a plan to be able to play multiple people and play a lot of different guys,” Rossi said. “I think as we transition from the non-conference schedule into the conference schedule, I think we talk about ‘hey, we got three games of information now in terms of our players.’ And so with that information, you’re going to see the rotations changed slightly. What we want to be able to do is have some consistency with the guys playing together.” 

The evaluations, however, are ongoing. Rossi made it clear that with depth comes internal competition between players, knowing they are fighting for their spot on the field.

“You get an opportunity to go play in games,” Rossi said. “And then there’s performance, and some guys are going to earn more reps based on their performance, and some are going to earn less based on their performance. It’s never static.”

Another opportunity for young defensive players to prove themselves was through injuries, most notably, the injury of senior defensive back Nikai Martinez. Martinez, who Rossi called one of the Spartans’ better leaders, missed the first two weeks of the season, but returned for some plays in Week Three against Youngstown State.