By John Raffel

East Lansing, MI

Jerel Worthy is gaining attention as a defensive tackle this season for the Michigan State Spartans.

But the 6-foot-3, 310-pound junior is trying to have that attention focused solely on his team as the Spartans pursue another Big Ten Conference title.

Worthy, who blocked an extra point attempt in Michigan State's 28-6 win over Youngstown State in Friday's season opener, is in his third season as the starting defensive tackle.

"You just have to read your keys and play better," said the native of Huber Heights, Ohio. "You can take a lot from this game. You can always improve. If we play to the best of our abilites, we probably could have won this game by a lot more.

"If you read your keys and take your time, you have 11 guys running to the ball, you can have a lot of success."

He was named to the preseason watch lists for the Bednarik, Lombardi and Nagurski awards along with the Outland and Lott IMPACT trophies.

He was also on the watch list by College Football Performance awards for the Defensive Lineman of the Year trophy. Other publications have him ranked among the nation's top draft-eligible defensive tackles.

"For his first game Friday night, I thought I did pretty well," Worthy said. "There were a lot of plays when they were running away from me a lot. But that's to be expected. We need to work together as a unit and make sure we have four guys working as a unit. The defensive double teams shouldn't be aproblem. It just gives another guy a chance to make a play."

Coming into this season, Worthy had played in 26 career games with 24 starts at defensive tackle. He had 77 total tackles, including 33 solo, plus 17 tackles for loss and 76 yards and 8.5 sacks for 50 yards.

As a sophomore, Worthy led all MSU defensive linemen with 40 tackles including eight for losses and a team-high 4.0 sacks.

"We can improve," Worthy said after the victory against Youngstown. "We won by 22 points but at the same time, we could have won by 40 points. The offense has to improve. We have to work together and work hard to get better."

Worthy said his team needs to improve significantly in upcoming weeks.

"We have a ways to go," he said. "The first game is about trying to get in and evaluate players. As the season goes on, we'll get a lot better. We have to swing to the ball better. They were doing a lot of trap plays and a lot of misdirection plays. As we go along, we'll improve and figure out the things we've done wrong."

The Spartan defensive line, Worthy said, "is doing well. As far as the inside running game, (Youngstown State) didn't get a lot of things inside the tackles. A lot of plays were outside. We have to pursue better."

Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi agrees.

"Tackling just wasn't as crisp as you'd like it," he said. "I think we got better as a team as the game went on tackling wise. It's our first look at a spread offense and since we don't see that from our offense, it's a little harder to get our scout team to do something like that."

 

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Michigan State Lineman Sets Ambitious Goals in Pursuit Of Big Ten Title