Michigan State Football's Chad Wilt Explains the Rush End

Michigan State rush ends coach Chad Wilt detailed what exactly the purpose is of his position group.

Michigan State football is implementing a unique position group within its defense: the rush end.

It is nothing new in football, but it's a classification you don't hear too often. The Spartans will have a specific coach teaching this group: former Indiana defensive coordinator Chad Wilt.

"This rush end position -- we were talking earlier -- it's it's a hybrid outside backer/D-end thing," Wilt told reporters after Michigan State's spring practice on Tuesday. "So sometimes, he’s going to have D-end jobs -- play over tight end, right? Play in the C-gap, be strong and sturdy and sometimes it might be ‘Hey, you're gonna be over this tight end man-to-man.

Wilt explained the origin and purpose of the rush end position.

"It goes back to ... the jobs that they're going to be asked are very different," Wilt said. "And some of those jobs you can't do from a three-point stance -- or, I shouldn't say can't -- extremely difficult to do from a three-point stance. So now we can do that from a two-point, and you don't know offensively that, 'Okay, hey, we're gonna be in our pressure package or we're gonna be in our base package here -- base calls.' So I think just allow those guys the freedom and flexibility, but then it also gives us, I think, another set of eyes that can see, right? Instead of having four guys down -- and those guys, once they put their hand in the stance, you can see a whole lot.

"And then, those guys for the rush ends, it that allows them to take a little bit of stress and pressure off the backers. 'Hey, what's the backfield set that they're in? Where are the tight ends' alignment? What are the details of the tight ends' alignment? Hey, the back moved, the back flipped sides.' Now, our rush ends can make some of those calls, and now, the backers don't have to."

Wilt said the use of the rush end is a response to modern offenses.

"We can take those guys that we have in our package -- I mean, there's a lot of things we can do with those guys. And our check systems -- 'How do we want to play this formation? How do we want to play this set? How do we want to play open pictures? How do we play empty pictures?' We have variety within the scheme and system and they're standing up, it becomes a little bit easier to get in and out of things."

The Michigan State Spartan Football "Spring Showcase" will be held at the High Cathedral of the Spartan Nation, Spartan Stadium, on April 20, 2024, at 2 p.m.

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