Michigan State football’s defense was its weakness early last season. Then it was its strength. Now, expect it to be the centerpiece of Pat Fitzgerald’s program as the new head coach takes the helm in East Lansing.
Fitzgerald kept Joe Rossi on staff as defensive coordinator and added program legend Max Bullough as co-DC. He added young, energetic assistants. In personnel, he filled his linebacker room with experience, including returning captain Jordan Hall and impact transfers Caleb Wheatland and Dion Crawford.
It’s Hall who says this defense can take a major step this season:
“I think a big difference I believe that’s going to jump out on the tape is our ability to finish games, finish drives,” Hall told Big Ten Network during its fall training camp tour Thursday. “We came up last year a few games short, and some of those were games that were close — one-score games, or even we had the lead in the fourth quarter — where we just weren’t able to finish.
“That’s been something not only Coach Rossi and the defense has been preaching, but Coach Fitz as well. So I think that’s something that we’ve been harping on going through workouts, and now leading into football and during practice it’s just finishing: finishing plays, finishing drives, finishing quarters and finishing games.”
Michigan State went 4-8 last season, 1-8 in Big Ten play. Two of those losses down the stretch were stingers: an overtime loss at Minnesota in quarterback Alessio Milivojevic’s first start, and a walk-off loss to Iowa. Win those and Michigan State would’ve made a bowl game for the first time since 2021’s Peach Bowl.
Defense was the calling card of Mark Dantonio’s best teams, especially during the playing career of Max Bullough from 2010 to 2013. Bullough is back on staff, and back on the practice field. He’s wearing padded blocking aids and leading his linebackers through drills.
“Well, it’s been great,” Rossi said. “Obviously he’s a Spartan legend, and not only him but his whole family. So to have him come home and be able to mentor our young backers, someone who is closer to them in age, and someone who did it at a really high level and did it with great intensity — it’s been awesome.”
In Rossi, there’s a lot of experience dating back to his first job in 2001 coaching the defensive line at Division III Thiel College. Rossi came in with Jonathan Smith in 2024 after spending six years as the defensive coordinator at Minnesota. He’s someone Fitzgerald has had an eye on long before he took the MSU job — all the way back during his 17-year stint at Northwestern.
“I wanted to hire Joe when I had a coaching opening,” Fitzgerald said. “I just couldn’t afford him, and to get Joe Rossi in place first was really important.”
So was getting some playmakers in position. Rossi also had high praise for Hall, who returns for his fourth season after a team-leading 88 tackles a year ago.
“I’ve been fortunate to coach some really high football IQ guys, and he’s in the top 1% of guys that I’ve coached,” Rossi said.
More from the BTN stop in East Lansing:
▶ Pat Fitzgerald bears gifts: Fitzgerald gave the BTN crew Melting Moments ice cream sandwiches, the chocolate-chip treats beloved on campus for decades. “A Michigan State staple,” said Fitzgerald, who made sure to remind commentator Dave Revsine to eat them before they melted like their namesake.
▶ Fitzgerald on new Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham: “First of all, I’ve got great respect for Coach Whit. I’ve known him for a long time. We sat down at the Big Ten head coaches meetings next to each other, and I think Coach said to me, 'I think we’re not supposed to like each other anymore.' And I said, 'For sure one day. But the rest, we’re going to respect the heck out of each other,' knowing Coach the way I know him. But yeah, every game is important, but one game just means that much more here. And we talk about it. It’s on the front and the back and all over our minds every day.”
▶ Kenny Soares Jr. on Pat Fitzgerald’s changes since Northwestern: “Honestly nothing, and that’s the reason why I’m here. It’s the same guy, and he always preaches that he’s going to be the same guy whenever he walks in this building, and that’s the kind of way that I want my head coach to be. Because you know exactly what you’re going to get every single time. So, Coach is the same guy he’s always been. He’s just trying to carry this team to where we need to be.”
▶ QB Alessio Milivojevic on offensive line improvement: “That’s a group that you see them together 24/7. All those guys. We got some veteran guys. We got young guys. They’ve meshed like glue. So I think just overall the work they’ve put in, the job they’ve done, it’s been amazing. I’m excited to play behind them.”
▶ Offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan on watching father, Bill, coach at MSU (1998-2000): “It was my first exposure to Big Ten football. My dad had been coaching at Army, at West Point, prior and I thought that was awesome. I didn’t even know that a higher level of football existed. And so I can remember being 10 years old and going into Spartan Stadium and seeing Plaxico Burress and Sedrick Irvin and Amp Campbell, Sorie Kanu. I remember the guys like it was yesterday.”
More: What will Michigan State offense look like under Nick Sheridan? Think F.A.S.T.
▶ Fitzgerald on special teams: “I believe it’s the character of your football team, how you play on special teams. It’s what we value. It’s at the core of what we value, and it’s not just what you saw today. It has been every day.”
@ConnorEaregood
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan State defense focused on ‘finishing games’ in 2026