Brothers Mike and Jacub Panasiuk grew up playing together and are now lining up alongside each other on Michigan State's defensive line.

Mike is a junior starting defensive tackle and Jacub a sophomore starting defensive end. And, the two have a secret weapon to confuse the opponents.

"We speak Polish, so we go out there and I'll say something in Polish and offensive linemen will look at us and be like 'what the heck did they just say?'" Mike said during coach Mark Dantonio's weekly radio show Thursday night on the Spartan Sports Network. "It's a cool kind of secret trick we have up our sleeves. I guess it just gives us an advantage out on the field."

The brothers, whose parents were both born in Poland before moving to America, used their knowledge of Polish to make a call that led to Michigan State's first interception of the year in a season-opening 38-31 win against Utah State on Aug. 31. Mike said he recognized what was coming from Utah State, called a stunt and that led to Jacub getting in for a hit on quarterback Jordan Love, resulting in an underthrown ball intercepted by safety Khari Willis.

"It was a cool experience to actually be able to do that and have that ability and speak Polish out there," Mike said, "so hopefully we can do a couple more of those things and get after the quarterback."

Jacub made his first career start against Utah State but suffered a shoulder injury and didn't play in a Sept. 8 loss at Arizona State. He didn't start in last week's 35-21 win at Indiana but played and is listed as a co-starter with redshirt freshman Jack Camper in this week's depth chart.

"There's no doubt about it - he's a great football player," Michigan State defensive coordinator Mike Tressel said of Jacub, while filling in on the radio show for Dantonio, who attended the university's athletics hall of fame and varsity jacket presentation Thursday night. "He got banged up a little bit in the first game and was out and was back this past game but definitely not 100 percent. I do expect him to be 100 percent this weekend and he's a difference-maker."