EAST LANSING – Jordan Hall knew he could leave Michigan State Football after Mel Tucker was fired. A highly coveted freshman linebacker was already making an impact in the Big Ten and would have no shortage of suitors.
But in one of his first meetings with new defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, Hall quickly discovered that his new linebackers coach already had his eye on him.
“I think I had a pretty decent first year. And he kind of neglected that and focused on more things that I needed to work on,” Hall recalled recently. “And the way I saw things – because transferring was an option – I felt like staying here would basically be like me being transferred with a whole new team coming in.”
So far so good.
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“I thought it was better and this is a very good situation,” Hall said. “I feel like it’s working well.”
The linebacker depth last season behind Hall, Cal Haladay and Aaron Brule, however, was thin. Especially after Jacoby Windmon was injured and lost that season and Darius Snow was sidelined for the second consecutive season after four games.
Brule’s eligibility expired and Windmon opted to enter the NFL draft rather than return for his COVID-waiver season. But Rossi and new coach Jonathan Smith moved quickly to fill the void, bringing in veteran linebackers Jordan Turner from Wisconsin and Wayne Matthews III from Old Dominion and squeezing prospect Brady Pretzlaff out of a commitment to Minnesota to build more depth in the middle of the defense.
“I was very lucky. The linebackers room is great, with great people, and they work really, really hard and invest a lot in it,” Rossi said Tuesday. “So I was blessed from that point of view. … The room question right now, for me, is all guys that can contribute this year. What has been – I’ll be honest with you – throughout my career hasn’t always been the case, where you think, each of these guys can contribute, you know? So that’s really good.”
Haladay is the venerable senior, entering his fifth season after an honorable mention All-Big Ten season in which he led MSU for the third consecutive year with 91 tackles, while ranking second with 644 snaps as the only defensive player to start all 12 games. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Haladay could thrive with Rossi moving to a more 4-3 defense from the two-linebacker scheme that Tucker and former defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton used, considering he was recruited by Mark Dantonio to play in their three-linebacker system.
“It just makes you more aggressive in the run game,” Haladay said of Rossi’s scheme, “and the Big Ten can be a very intense conference. … He has had success as a D coordinator. He knows he knows the game very well and is very meticulous and detail-oriented. And that’s what he holds us to. He wants us to have very high standards and holds the entire defense – especially the linebackers – to a very high standard.”
Hall, at 6-3 and 235 pounds, emerged to start half of 12 games as a true freshman, finishing fourth with 67 tackles and second with 4.5 sacks. His sack totals and 7.5 tackles for loss were the highest among all Big Ten freshmen.
However, even as the coaches who recruited him were let go, Hall believes the Spartans feel “more connected” this spring.
“We meet every day, making sure everyone has the same understanding,” Hall said. “No discredit to the last team, but it feels like we are more connected this year that way, with everyone understanding their role and the role of other people.”
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Turner and Matthews arrive with plenty of experience elsewhere.
A graduate of Farmington High School, the 6-1, 235-pound Turner was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection and the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bowl MVP, a season in which he had 68 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. Last season, Turner played in 11 of Wisconsin’s 12 games and finished with 61 tackles, 6.5 of them for loss, as well as three sacks and a forced fumble.
Turner said MSU was “the first school to recruit me … but the last school to offer me” a scholarship when he was in high school. Still, he felt the need to become a Spartan after entering the transfer portal last season.
“I always wanted to come home, closer to family,” Turner said. “Coach Smith came in and I heard great things about him. Then Coach Rossi came and I heard great things about him. (Wisconsin) played its defense (at Minnesota) every year. When they both decided to come here, I thought, it’s a green light, let’s go. …
“(Rossi) has different blitzes, so I like how he changes looks and stuff and how detailed he is. So I felt like I could agree with his defense.”
Rossi said he saw Turner playing in a crossover film when the Gophers were scouting the Badgers, which was one reason the new MSU team went after him more aggressively the second time around.
“The first thing is that he is a great person. He’s excellent, he loves the coach and the kid,” Rossi said of Turner. “Two, he works hard. And three, he’s talented. So when you have a guy who is a really good person, who works really hard and is really talented, those guys are really fun to coach. And he’s been amazing, he’s been great for the room.”
While Turner brings Big Ten experience back to his home state, Matthews arrives after earning third-team All-Sun Belt honors as a sophomore with 135 tackles in 13 games. The 6-2, 227-pound Largo, Maryland native had 3.5 sacks among his 9.5 tackles for a loss, while forcing three fumbles and breaking up three passes.
“Coach Rossi has a great defensive mind. He’s going to put guys in the right place at the right time to make those plays,” said Matthews, who also visited Mississippi State before committing to the Spartans. “It’s just a matter of guys making that play.”
Rossi also managed to convince Pretzlaff, a Gaylord native who committed to play for him with the Gophers before the Spartans signed him, to stay home. The 6-3, 227-pounder enrolled in January at MSU and has received rave reviews from his older teammates as well as Rossi.
“I was impressed with him. He’s smart, he cares. He’s got length, he’s athletic,” Rossi said of Pretzlaff. “He is in transition. He should be in high school class right now and he’s here doing a lot of reps for us in the Big Ten. And then he is on the right track. He has a lot of work to do, but he is certainly on the right path and has a very good future.”
MSU also returns Snow as a redshirt junior after he withdrew his name from the transfer portal in December, along with sophomore Aaron Alexander returns for his second season with the Spartans after arriving as a transfer from Massachusetts ahead of the 2023 season. Smith also signed three-star prospect Brady Pretzlaff from Gaylord last month for 2024.
As for the Spartans’ future this fall, Matthews hinted at what fans should expect from Rossi’s moves.
“You’re going to see a tight defense,” he said. “You’ll see aggressive guys flying around and making plays. That’s what you’ll see this fall.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @crissolari.
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This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football: Joe Rossi reloads LB corps with more depth
