Podcast: What We Want to Know About MSU’s First Scrimmage
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Michigan State football held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday.
Scrimmages, of course, are crucial because they're a product of everything the Spartans have worked on in camp and can determine where players stand battles for starting jobs and reps.
Scrimmages are when players start to separate themselves.
On this latest episode of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, our Aidan Champion discusses what the important questions are regarding the Spartans' first scrimmage, which should all be answered on Monday.
You can watch the episode below:
Michigan State defensive coordinator Joe Rossi addressed the media last week. Below is a partial transcript from his availability:
Joe Rossi
Q: Why did you practice in the stadium for first day of pads and what did you get done?
Rossi: "It was good work. We got an opportunity to do some tackling. So, we had some different periods -- we had some pass emphasis periods, we got some run emphasis periods, first and second down. So I think, really, the decision from coach (Jonathan Smith) was just to get the guys experience in the stadium.
"We have some new people that were additions to the roster, we're going to be scrimmaging later in the week, so it was, 'Hey, get them over there in the practice, let them see what it's like, and when we go over there for the scrimmage, create the most game-like situation as possible.'"
Q: How are you juggling the tackling throughout camp?
Rossi: "The reality is there's a limited amount of times you can practice now. Coach Smith kind of goes through and picks the days and then talks to the staff about, 'Hey, what are the days going to be?' I think there's different ways to practice tackling, whether it's individual, whether it's on bags, whether it's just tagging off, but then also, you have your live days.
"So, I think the thing we do as a defense is, ' What is the day, what is the emphasis? Is it an emphasis on tagging, is it an emphasis on thudding, is it an emphasis on bringing guys down?' So, I thought yesterday was great to get some live hits. We got the ball out on the perimeter on some 'now' screens, which are the hardest tackles in football, and put our guys in those situations, so it was good work."
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