Understanding the Structure of New Spartan Football Defensive Staff

Scottie Hazelton the Michigan State Spartan football defensive coordinator talked about how he structured his new staff.

East Lansing, MI— For decades, the Michigan State football program has prided itself on its defense. It is a staple of who they are and what the fans expect. New defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton talked about the structure of his new staff and how it all came together.

“Well, you know, as we go through, as a staff, we had a long talk about this. We kind of went through it. Some, when I went up and interviewed, and some when I got back and kind of just took everybody’s skills and what their jobs were, what does everybody feel comfortable coaching, what everybody has coached in the past, you know.”

Hazelton added, “And I think that we came up with a plan to make it good. (Mike) Tressel has got a ton of experience all over the place, he’s been a coordinator, he’s been a walk around guy (going to different position rooms and coaching), he’s been a linebacker coach, and he’s coached safeties in the past. Some of it was, him and Harlon (Barnett) have a very good working relationship. And those two guys, you know, taking the back-end together. We, as a staff, felt that was a good transition for everybody. Then you’ve got two full-time guys in the back end, plus a GA, they can get things that they need to be coached, coach. Ross (Els), you know, is with the special teams, so for him, we kind of felt like it was, it was good to get him in a position that he knew and he could coach, and he’s been around this style of defense before. So there’s not much transition there, and he’s going to have some hats to wear with a special teams game. Ron (Burton) is able to coach the whole D-line like he has before is great, and you know, most of the time I’ve been spending up in the in the defensive line room with him, working with the defensive ends and he can take the defensive tackles, we can move it around; however, we need to that way wise too. And then, we’ve got an experienced GA up there that’s going to work upfront with him too. So, there’ll be three of us, really working with the front. Ross (Els) will have the backers, and they’ll be three guys in the back-end, so we think it works out pretty good.”

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