WATCH: Michigan State DL Jalen Thompson Talks Spring Ball, More
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State rising defensive lineman Jalen Thompson is preparing for his third year with the Spartans and is looking to help lead his unit to dominance.
Thompson was a full-time starter for the squad last season but, like the rest of his fellow defensive linemen, struggled to get to the quarterback.
He looked at what he needed to do to fix that this offseason and his putting himself in a position to have a much better third year.
On another note, Thompson was recently named one of Michigan State's two nominees for the Big Ten Jackie Robinson and Impact Award. The other was gymnast Skyla Schulte.
Thompson addressed the media following the Spartans' 10th spring practice on Tuesday. You can watch below:
Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith spoke to the media on Thursday. Below is a partial transcript from his availability:
Smith: "Finished Practice 8. Feel good with what the first eight practices have looked like. Not perfect, but a lot of guys getting reps. You can see steady improvement. The install is getting to the point where it's about peaked.
"We're not going to double up the second half of the spring, so the more reps and the same stuff in the back-half of the spring. And looking for that steady improvement. I think the energy, enthusiasm for eight days has been there. And so, kind of like a lot of what I've seen so far."
Q: How do you monitor installation with the transfer portal in mind?
Smith: "Yeah, it's not a huge consideration in my mind. I mean, I think, again, we're invested in these guys. We're not going to hold things until by chance we lose a guy or two. We understand the landscape and guys are going to have opportunities here for us the last two weeks of April.
"But we feel pretty good in regards to what we're putting in and doing, and we want to get better at those schemes, and so, yeah, we want reps out in April, re-digest it through the summer and August."
Q: Brian Lindgren said you're ahead on offense compared to where you were last year, would you agree with that?
Smith: "Yeah, I think we're ahead just because we do got a majority of guys going into Year 2. Some of the guys that we added came here in January and dove right into it, and again, yeah, they're getting more reps, but I think the competition at the receiver position is healthy and we've got some additions there that have shown they can help us.
"Offensive line, competition. We're healthier there, I think we're stronger there and we got more competition at the line."
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