EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State junior linebacker Jordan Hall has made his case as arguably the best player on the Spartans' defense after a standout Week 1 performance against Western Michigan.
Hall led the unit with eight tackles, 2.5 for loss, and a sack. Coming off one of the best games of his career, the veteran linebacker and the rest of the Michigan State defense will now look to build off their success in Week 1 when they host a more challenging opponent in Boston College.
Hall reflected on last week's contest while looking ahead to the Eagles when he met with the media on Wednesday.
Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith addressed the media on Monday.
Below is a partial transcript of his presser:
Q: How much do you want to put on tape on not put on tape when it comes to the non-conference schedule?
Smith: "We don't put a ton of stock into it, to be honest with you. We're trying to play as well as we can. And to me, if you can do that, what you practiced in training camp, getting ready for, that's what you're putting on display in the first few weeks.
"Now, each week, you're playing a different opponent, there's some schematics that go into that, strategy of new schemes or we're showing some different looks. But there's not a ton of -- especially, offensively, defensively, like, 'Hey, we're not going to call it this week so that we can use it next week.' There's a little bit of that, but not much."
Q: What did you learn from last year's loss to Boston College that you can use on Saturday?
Smith: "You got to play for four quarters. These games are won in the fourth quarter. It came down to that, execution at the end of the game. That particular one, yes, but there's multiple other ones throughout the season when we had opportunities to finish the thing (in) different ways -- offense, defense, special teams even.
"That particular one, both sides. We could have got a stop last year but didn't do it. Had the ball at the end of the game, couldn't finish it And so, yeah, that's a learning lesson that happens multiple times, but I knew we'll be watching some of that tape because of the continuity staff-wise, schematics. We'll be watching some of that."
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