Tag: Cal Haladay

2023 Buckeyes Wire Preseason All-Big Ten team: Linebackers

Only one Ohio State Buckeye made out All-Big Ten team #GoBucks #B1G

The 2023 college football season is right around the corner, and the Big Ten is loaded with top-notch talent. Predicting who will end up on the All-Big Ten has proven challenging. Not only was it hard to choose one player over another, but it was hard to admit some of Ohio State’s most prominent rivals have some serious dogs on their squad.

This list dives into the linebackers — and as expected — the Big Ten has dominant linebackers that make it very hard to narrow it down to just four. This list has some fairly obvious selections, but I tried to include an underrated flyer making his Big Ten debut in 2023.

In the age of the transfer portal, it is possible for a complete dark horse to rise as a front-runner, but we do our best to provide the most educated guess based on previous performances and situations.

247Sports puts MSU LB Cal Haladay among candidates for Big Ten Defensive Player of Year

Michigan State linebacker Cal Haladay is on a short list of candidates to win the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, according to 247Sports

Michigan State linebacker Cal Haladay is on a short list of candidates to win Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, according to 247Sports.

Haladay returns for his third year at Michigan State this fall,  and is expected to make a third straight season of starting at linebacker for the Spartans. His high level of production the past two seasons has 247Sports putting him as one of their five preseason candidates for Defensive Player of the Year in the league.

Here’s a little bit of what Raymond Lucas Jr. had to say about Haladay:

“It’s been a tough offseason for Michigan State, but Cal Haladay is back, meaning things could be worse. The Spartan defense received a boost from Haladay, who made 120 tackles (42 solo) with a forced fumble and recovery.”

If Michigan State’s defense is able to take a big step forward in 2023, Haladay certainly would be a big part of that. I personally don’t think Haladay will win this award by the end of the year, but it’s nice to see him get some well-deserved preseason recognition.

Click on the link in the tweet below to read more about Haladay and the other four candidates Lucas included in his list:

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

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Wisconsin linebacker ranked in top 50 by Big Game Boomer

Big Game Boomer ranked the top 50 linebackers heading into the 2023 college football season, one Badger was listed in the top 25 overall. 

Big Game Boomer ranked the top 50 linebackers heading into the 2023 college football season, one Badger was listed in the top 25 overall.

The Wisconsin football team will be operating without some of their top defensive assets from 2022, losing linebacker Nick Herbig, defensive lineman Keeanu Benton and safety John Torchio to the NFL.

Maema Njongmeta lead the Badgers in tackles in 2022 and he came in at 22nd overall on Big Game Boomer’s list. After notching 95 tackles, including 3.5 sacks, while intercepting a pass and deflecting another over 13 games last season, the linebacker enters his final year with Wisconsin as arguably their best defensive player.

Looking across the Big Ten, Njongmeta comes in as the eighth highest ranked linebacker, sitting behind the likes of Tommy Eichenberg (Ohio State), Cal Haladay (Michigan State) and Junior Colson (Michigan) amongst others.

Athlon Sports names 5 Michigan State football players to preseason all-conference team

Check out which five Spartans are being predicted by Athlon Sports to go all-conference:

Michigan State is looking to bounce back from a pitiful 5-7 campaign a year ago that saw the Spartans finish with a 3-6 record in Big Ten play. There is hope going into the 2023 campaign, as the Spartans bring back a host of talent that has experience winning at this level.

Athlon Sports has come out with their predictions for the 2023 Big Ten season, releasing their all-conference team.

Check out which five Spartans made the cut, and are being predicted by Athlon to go all-conference:

Michigan State football LB Cal Haladay named second team All-Big Ten by the Associated Press

Cal Haladay named second team All-Big Ten by the Associated Press

After a sophomore season that saw him rack up 120 total tackles, Michigan State football linebacker Cal Haladay has been named second team All-Big Ten by the Associated Press.

Haladay joins Bryce Baringer as the only Spartans to be named to one of the two AP All-Big Ten squads.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.

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Big Ten Football All-Conference Awards and Teams revealed; multiple Spartans honored

See which Spartans were honored by the Big Ten for their play on the gridiron this year

The Big Ten has released all of their postseason awards and all-Big Ten teams, with a handful of Spartans earning honors.

Michigan State football had selections across the board, with one of their players winning an individual award as well. See which Spartans were honored by the Big Ten for their play on the gridiron this year and the rest of the Big Ten awards below:

Michigan State football LB Cal Haladay earns all-conference honors

Cal Haladay has been honored as an all-conference player

Cal Haladay has been a mainstay on Michigan State’s defense the past two years, being a consistent force in the run game while providing the toughness a defense needs at linebacker.

After leading the Spartans in tackles in 2022, Haladay has been rewarded for his strong play. Haladay concluded the 2022 season with 120 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Haladay was honored as a member of the All-Big Ten second team.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner.

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Dynamic Ohio State duo leads Big Ten’s top performers in Week 11

CJ Stroud and Marvin Harrison Jr continue putting up big numbers.

The Big Ten was back in action during Week 11 with seven conference matchups. Some are more competitive than others. Michigan and Minnesota both held the opposition to just three points while they scored 34 and 31 respectively.

The Buckeyes throttled the Hoosiers 56-14 thanks to CJ Stroud’s five-touchdown performance. Just one minute into the fourth quarterback saw Ohio State build their lead to 49-7. Penn State blanked Maryland 30-0 with running back Nicholas Singleton leading the way.

Purdue was able to tighten up the Big Ten West race as they defeated Illinois 31-24. Michigan State took care of Rutgers 27-21 and Iowa dropped Wisconsin 24-10. We could be in for a whacky final two weeks in the West division. All eyes will be on the East next week when Ohio State and Michigan tangle in the Shoe.

Prior to Week 12’s action, we take one look back at the top performers of the week voted on by our Big Ten editorial team.

The Voters:

Without further ado, let’s dive into the selections made by our editorial team

Michigan State football LB Cal Haladay named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for second straight week

Cal Haladay named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for second straight week

For the second straight week, Michigan State football linebacker Cal Haladay has been named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week as the Spartans continue to dominate this category. This is the fifth time a Spartan has earned this honor, with Jacoby Windmon receiving it three times in his own right.

Haladay had an insane 19 tackles against Rutgers on Saturday, the most by a Spartan since 2004.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.

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Cal Haladay praises Rutgers football’s Kyle Monangai: ‘He’s a very good running back’

Kyle Monangai earns praises from Michigan State.

Kyle Monangai got some quality praise from Michigan State linebacker Cal Haladay, this as the Rutgers football running back had a career day carrying the ball.

The praise is especially meaningful considering the strong performance from Haladay in the Michigan State win.

A sophomore running back, Monangai had 168 rushing yards on 24 carries as Rutgers very nearly upended Michigan State on the road.

Monangai not only set a personal rushing record on Saturday afternoon, but he also broke the Rutgers rushing record in Big Ten play. It was an impressive showing from Monangai, who took over the starting running back role following a season-ending injury to Samuel Brown V.

It was some physical running from Monangai, in particular in a first half where he ran through tackles and consistently got to the second level. Monangai ran hard, carrying multiple Michigan State defenders with him on nearly every rushing attempt.

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Following the game, Haladay had this to say about Monangai:

“He’s a very good running back,” Haladay told reporters about Monangai.

“He is a hard runner that will attack you downhill. He was getting gaps and hitting creases, there’s things we need to tighten up on with tackles, wrapping up and squeezing, those are things we do every day that we need to focus on next week. We need to focus on that because that is something we can’t let happen again, we can’t let them get leaky yards from missing tackles.”

It was certainly no slouch of a performance from Haladay. The sophomore linebacker had 19 tackles in keying the Michigan State defense to victory.

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Coming out of Southern Columbia High School (Catawissa, PA), Haladay was a three-star recruit who held Power Five offers from Michigan and Nebraska and Pittsburgh as well as Michigan State.

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