Michigan State DC Joe Rossi on Evaluating the Defense

New Michigan State defensive coordinator Joe Rossi has big plans for Michigan State's defense. He has begun evaluating the Spartans defense from top to bottom.

Michigan State's defensive coordinator Joe Rossi gives instructions while working with linebackers during camp on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, at the indoor practice facility in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Michigan State enters the upcoming season with new faces at critical positions on the roster and the coaching staff. Defensive Coordinator Joe Rossi noted that he and the rest of Michigan State’s coaching staff are still evaluating the team’s roster after the roster saw many players depart the program earlier this offseason. 

The mass exodus of players to the transfer portal severely impacted Michigan State’s offseason development plans. Smith was forced to focus most of his attention on replenishing the talent Michigan State lost. Eventually, Smith and Michigan State would secure one of the top-ranked transfer portal classes in the country to make up for their early misfortune in the transfer portal.

Coach Rossi said while the coaching staff is grateful for Michigan State’s returning starters, Michigan State is an entirely new football program. Each player will be evaluated on what they have shown this offseason and not what they did previously under Michigan State’s prior coaching staff.

“We’re in the process of evaluating people,” Rossi said. “There were guys that were starters here last year. That's great, but this is a new program. This is new coaches. There is a new culture that we have brought in and obviously, there are coaching techniques. I respect everything that the guys that started last year were able to do, obviously, but they’re being evaluated on now in comparison with the other players on the team. 

“So, we’re so early with that right now that we’re still kind of figuring out that, and we’ll work different rotations. We’ll have guys that are in the ones, and the next day [they will be] in with the threes, and we’re just going to evaluate. Then, as we get towards the end of camp, we’ll have a better feel for that.”

Michigan State may still be working on the ins and outs of its starting lineup heading into the season. As the Spartans inch closer to the first game of the season, Michigan State’s coaching staff will undoubtedly need to wrap up the team’s loose ends before the start of the season. 

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