Mark Snyder

Detroit Free Press

EAST LANSING – Kevin Williams chose Nebraska over Michigan State in 2011. The 6-foot-2, 281-pound defensive tackle out of Springfield (Ohio) High School always remembered that.

Michigan State and Nebraska had memorable battles, playing three games within five points in the five years since Williams' decision.

Now that Williams transferred to MSU for his final season of eligibility, he has the inside look on how the Spartans tick.

“The perception from the outside is pretty much the reality from the inside – they’re tough SOBs and that’s what we’re about," he said today after morning practice. “That’s what we always expected, come game week, come Michigan State week, it was alright, we know it’s going to be a grind up front, it’s going to be physical, pound the rock, we’re going to have to come with it.

“(Former Nebraska) coach Bo Pelini would always say, this game’s going to be won up front, the offensive line/defensive line, in the trenches. And that’s what it is here.”

That only reinforced his decision where to spend his sixth year of eligibility.

Williams and fellow defensive lineman Gabe Sherrod, a graduate transfer from Delaware State of the Football Championship Subdivision, saw an opportunity with openings on the Spartans’ defensive line.

Sherrod was committed to Syracuse for a few months, planning to spend his fifth year with a major program when the Orange’s staff withdrew the offer. Suddenly, he was a major commodity, and Michigan State and Alabama were both in on him.

The openings at MSU helped him envision a quick trip to the field, but he’s still learning.

“Up here, it’s a different speed,” Sherrod said. “It’s been an adjustment on part, getting my mind in gear and focusing on the things I need to focus on. But I should be fine going forward ... I could push over people at Del State. I have to actually work to get off blocks and things like that.”

He found that out last week, when MSU tight end Josiah Price dragged him out of a play.

“It just woke me up, that tight ends here can actually block,” Sherrod said. “Us going back and forth a little bit, that’s been a very interesting dynamic going forward. Just learning to compete with guys that size and stature on that side of the ball, not just big O-linemen.”

Part of that is understanding how to play with players who have similar ability on his side of the ball. That means learning the scheme and the direction on each play.

“At Del State, I was the defense,” Sherrod said. “I could basically do whatever I wanted, make any type of plays that I wanted being a football player. … Here there’s a lot of guys who can play, there’s good players everywhere. So learning where my help is coming from, where leverage needs to be at, what technique I need to be in whether I’m spilling or boxing. Coach is harping on me to get everything down.

“They told me everybody’s goal is to get 3% better each day and they want me to get 5% better.”

Aside from the new pair, it’s a younger group in the defensive line room. Three players graduated and three others did not return.

Defensive tackle Malik McDowell is the only returning starter and he’s only a junior.

That gives the transfers a chance to help in the room, not just compete. That experience and maturity is something that MSU defensive line coach Ron Burton appreciates, helping the other D-linemen.

“They’re coming along, right now they’re into Week 2 and understanding what we’re asking them to do,” Burton said. “It’s really verbiage for them, coming from where they played at. But they’re fully engaged and like coaches, they are smart. They can tell you what needs to be said and they’re a work in progress.”

Williams and Sherrod came to MSU through different circumstances.

Williams has that rare sixth year because he missed both the 2011 and 2013 seasons with knee injuries, already with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. Now he’s just taking some kinesiology courses.

Sherrod’s path has grown over the years, from his time as a 200-pound Wing-T quarterback at Perryville (Md.) High School to a receiver, then tight end at Delaware State and eventually to defensive end, now at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds.

With only one year to prove themselves, both understand the urgency, with Williams calling it “do-or-die.”

Choosing MSU was about playing time, but also style. Sherrod saw it on TV, on the long bus rides home from Delaware State and Williams in person.

“Even though it didn’t go Michigan State’s way last year against Nebraska,” Williams said about the game the Cornhuskers squeezed out on a controversial call late, “we came off the field like, those guys come with it. Every time we’ve come off the field for the past five years, we knew that was a real team right there.

“I always knew that was a team I’d want to play for.”

Finley at left tackle: Dennis Finley, whose broke leg ended his season early last year, worked today with the second-string at left tackle.

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@mark__snyder.

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