Joe Rossi's familiarity with Rutgers is crucial

EAST LANSING – Michigan State football experienced heartbreak against Rutgers a year ago. It also lost to Athan Kaliakmanis.

The two are now one, as Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota in the offseason and is leading the Scarlet Knights to a bowl berth. They have a chance to derail the Spartans’ attempt at one on Saturday.

But MSU has a secret weapon that has seen the Rutgers quarterback perhaps more than anyone else in the country, and not just on game film or on Saturdays. Spartans first-year defensive coordinator Joe Rossi has faced Kaliakmanis in practice with the Gophers every day for the past three years.

“I probably know him better than the other quarterbacks we played this year,” Rossi said Tuesday.

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Stopping Kaliakmanis with a depleted and reconfigured secondary will be Rossi’s main task Saturday when the Spartans (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) host the Scarlet Knights (6-5, 3-5), who need a win to achieve bowl eligibility. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium (Big Ten Network).

MSU will be without its two starting cornerbacks that opened the season, Charles Brantley and Chance Rucker, as well as starting safety Malik Spencer. Also missing are the versatile Dillon Tatum and backup Khalil Majeed, and the Spartans also had three other defensive backs – Armorion Smith, Caleb Coley and Jeremiah Hughes – missing from last Friday’s 24-17 win over Purdue.

That leaves senior Angelo Grose as the only holdover who has experience against both Kaliakmanis and Rutgers. The Spartans could potentially face three true freshmen in the second round on Saturday, although coach Jonathan Smith said safety Jaylen Thompson injured his ankle in the win over Purdue last Friday and will be evaluated later this week. The other two rookies who played with Thompson are Justin Denson and Andrew Brinson.

“It was fun last week. At one point in the secondary we had three true freshmen on the field. And you know, that’s not good for my ulcers,” Rossi said. “But it was good. I thought they went out, they did their job. There are things they need to be better at. But especially for the future, I think this is a really good experience.”

Kaliakmanis, a redshirt junior, transferred to Rutgers in the offseason after spending his first three seasons at Minnesota and redshirted in 2021. A year ago, he started all 12 games for the Gophers, led them to a 27-12 victory over MSU and was 14-for-22 for 200 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

This season for the Scarlet Knights, who once again play for former Minnesota offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, Kaliakmanis has thrown for 2,302 yards and completed 55% of his passes with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. Rossi said even though he’s in a new home, the traits he saw in Kaliakmanis training in Minnesota were shown on the field for Rutgers this season.

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“There is a certain familiarity. I think he’s a really good player,” Rossi said. “I think back to 2021 and he was the quarterback of the scout team. We had a really good defense that year, I think it was a top ten scoring defense. And I joked with him, “You give us more problems than the quarterbacks we play during the week.” So I saw him up close.

“He’s got a really good arm. He’s athletic, he’s faster than you’d give him credit for, he’s got good speed. … They score a lot of points. They’re doing a good job.”

Rutgers is well known to Rossi. He worked there from 2012 to 2015 under Greg Schiano’s protégé Kyle Flood, who took over after Schiano’s first tenure at the helm of the Scarlet Knights ended (in 2011, when he moved to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers). From there, Rossi joined PJ Fleck’s staff at Minnesota, where he served as coach beginning in 2017 and was promoted to defensive coordinator before Smith hired him away last year to join the MSU staff.

Rossi also knows Ciarrocca, who was the Gophers’ offensive coordinator from 2017 to 2019 and again in 2022.

“Coach Rossi, who we all know well, is in our family tree, he’s an excellent football coach and you can see that he gets them to play that defense really well,” Schiano said Monday. “It’s a testament to the fact that he accomplished this in his first year.”

On the other hand, Schiano coached Kay’ron Lynch-Adams in 2020 before the current MSU running back transferred to Massachusetts and then landed in East Lansing this season. Lynch-Adams leads MSU with 580 yards on 124 carries.

“I really respect him,” Schiano said of Lynch-Adams. “He is a hard-working boy. He’s a really tough football player and I love the way he plays.”

Schiano is also well acquainted with MSU, a former Big Ten East Division rival. The Scarlet Knights stunned the Spartans last season with a 21-point fourth-quarter comeback and a devastating 27-24 loss that ultimately was one of two defeats — one to Iowa a week earlier, the other — that cost MSU a chance at a bowl berth due to special teams mistakes.

This led to a change in regime and Smith was hired after the season. A bowl bid and a chance at a winning record in his debut season now depend on beating Rutgers, although Cal Haladay said he believes Smith and Rossi are once again pointing MSU in a positive direction.

“This year we had some ups and downs. But I think we have a lot of potential and a lot of growth that can happen in a short period of time,” the senior linebacker said Tuesday. “I think in the next few years we will be a very good team and have a culture that people want to play for and be around. I think it will just be the brand of football. And I think that’s what coach Smith is trying to do and that’s what will become more prevalent as the years go by.”

However, their mission now is to continue this season for another month of practice and one more game if they can stop the Scarlet Knights.

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Joe Rossi’s familiarity with Rutgers is crucial

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