Michigan State football DE Jalen Thompson showing he's 'not a freshman no more'

EAST LANSING — Jalen Thompson knew his time had arrived.

Michigan State football starting defensive end Zion Young fell sick before Saturday’s game at Minnesota. The sophomore sat out the first half and needed an IV just to play in the second half.

Thompson looked the part, already having three games under his pads going into the eventual 27-12 loss to the Gophers. A total of 29 snaps against Central Michigan and Richmond in the first two weeks and not again until the Michigan loss the week before facing Minnesota.

He filled in well in the first half, joining veterans Khris Bogle, Brandon Wright and Avery Dunn coming off the edge. Thompson even blew up a jet-motion flip pass to Chris Autman-Bell for a 1-yard loss, showing both the eye discipline to recognize the play and the body discipline to remain in the running lane and square up to make a big hit.

The second half arrived, and Young returned. Yet the snaps kept coming for Thompson, who finished with three tackles (two for a loss) and nearly doubling his reps.

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“It kind of did surprise me,” Thompson said Tuesday. “But coach told me, ‘You're not a freshman no more, it's time to play.’ And I just went out there ready to play.”

Thompson has nine tackles in four games, seven in the past two games, and anticipates continuing to play heading into Saturday’s final home finale at Spartan Stadium for MSU (2-6, 0-5 Big Ten) against Nebraska (5-3, 3-2). Kickoff is noon on FS1.

“He's on the rise,” defensive line coach Diron Reynolds said Tuesday. “I'm really excited about his development.”

Classmates and fellow defensive ends Bai Jobe and Andrew Depaepe got more acclaim going into the fall than Thompson. All three were four-star prospects, but Jobe (seventh-best defensive end) and Depaepe (17th) were higher-ranked according to the 247Sports Composite system.

It’s however been Thompson, a Detroit Cass Tech product rated the 38th-best prospect nationally but the state’s top edge rusher, who has emerged in the past two weeks among the true freshmen in the 2023 recruiting haul at a premium pass-rushing position.

Unlike Jobe and Depaepe, Thompson did not enroll early at MSU in January. NCAA rules with MSU having hired his former coach Thomas Wilcher, who is no longer with the program, prohibited that from happening. So instead, Thompson moved to mid-Michigan, hired a personal trainer and took classes at Lansing Community College while being on the periphery of the program until the summer.

“I feel like it helped and it didn't. I was still up here with a personal trainer, and I got more of a one-on-one and that kind of helped me perfecting my craft and my technique. So it kind of helped me. But at the same time, I wasn't able to play spring ball, so there was pros and cons.”

There was a freshman mistake for Thompson, who grabbed a handful of Gophers tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford’s jersey and drew a 10-yard holding penalty in the fourth quarter. But the 6-foot-3, 260-pounder followed that up by chasing running back Jordan Nubin from behind for a 1-yard loss all the way across the formation to the opposite side of the field.

“He took it to heart in developing his body, getting himself physically ready to play the game,” Reynolds said of Thompson. “He's an unbelievably bright kid. Him picking up the defense, the defense easy to him. The biggest thing for him is I gotta get him playing a lot faster, not trying to diagnose stuff. But he's really strong at a point, he gives us a pass-rush ability inside and out.”

Jobe, whose only action this season came against Washington in Week 3, and Depaepe, who has yet to play, both were on MSU’s injured list Saturday. Reynolds said both have been working with the scout team defense against the Spartans’ first-team offense.

“They're coming along, just still trying to find when and where that they can fit,” Reynolds said. “But that's a long line at the defensive end position. I like their development. … We'll just see what holds down the line. They have a lot more games to go, so you might get a chance to see them.”

Until then, expect to see more of Thompson over the final month of the season. Especially as MSU begins working toward its uncertain future.

“Every opportunity I was given and that I will be given,” he said, “I'm gonna try to capitalize on every opportunity.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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Next up: Cornhuskers

Matchup: Michigan State (2-6, 0-5 Big Ten) vs. Nebraska (5-3, 3-2).

Kickoff: Noon, Saturday; Spartan Stadium, East Lansing.

TV/radio: FS1, WJR-AM (760).

Line: Cornhuskers by 3.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Michigan State DE Jalen Thompson makes impression as freshman