Defense Defeats Offense in First Preseason Jersey Scrimmage, 30-14

Aug. 15, 2015

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The defense topped the offense, 30-14, in the first jersey scrimmage of preseason camp Saturday in Spartan Stadium. The scrimmage, which utilized a modified scoring system, was 180 plays long (including special teams) and lasted nearly three hours under sunny skies and temperatures near 80.

"We got about 135 live snaps in today as well as some in the kicking game, so we got some things done," said MSU head coach Mark Dantonio. "We can establish who's who on our depth chart as we move forward (in preseason camp). We have a lot of good football players here, and they need to have an opportunity to show what they've got, especially our freshmen. So we tried to work those guys in today. Some of the guys who've played a lot for us, we held them out a little bit in this scrimmage. It was a great scrimmage, and we saw some great things out there. We just need to review the film and evaluate it.

"Offensively, we need to finish drives, and we had too many unforced errors, which is usually the way it is in the first scrimmage. I thought we did some good things offensively and defensively. We're going to evaluate the film, but a lot of guys had opportunities to make plays on both sides of the ball.

"All four tailbacks got some work. We saw some great things out of LJ Scott, Madre London and Gerald Holmes. Nick Tompkins had opportunities to carry the ball as well. Delton Williams will be back tomorrow in shells, so we have four or five different tailbacks that can do some things for us. It's becoming a deep position.

"Both (punter) Jake Hartbarger and (placekicker) Michael Geiger did outstanding. Jake was real today, and that was impressive to see.

"As we head into our second week of preseason camp, we've got to keep working on the different situations that we're going to see in a game. We've got a lot of things in, but we need to continue building toward next week's big scrimmage. We're going to hit those dog days right now, where it's a grind. We've been in pads for four days, but we've got to move to the next level. We've got to see who's got a little staying power."

Michigan State will return to practice Sunday afternoon for its 10th workout of preseason camp.