Michigan Football: 3 Michigan State players to watch against Wolverines

Jacub Panasiuk

There is a lot of talk surrounding Michigan football’s Aidan Hutchinson this week and this season because let’s face it: Hutchinson has been spectacular.

But Michigan State has a very good defensive line too and it’s led by Jacub Panasiuk, who comes into Saturday’s game with 5.5 sacks, as well as 8.5 tackles for loss.

Obviously, both teams want to run the football and whichever team can successfully do that is going to have a big advantage.

Yet, another key factor is going to be the quarterback play. It’s always huge in these kinds of games. Thorne and Cade McNamara are each making their first start in a Michigan-Michigan State and how they play will be absolutely critical in deciding the outcome.

For Michigan, that means guys like Hutchinson and David Ojabo need to pressure Thorne and force him into mistakes. McNamara has been exceptional at avoiding those things, only getting sacked twice and being credited with just one turnover in seven games.

Panasiuk is the Spartans best pass rusher and he needs to wreak some havoc in the backfield. Hitting the quarterback and applying pressure is the best way to force takeaways and the defense that forces the opposing QB into more mistakes is probably going to leave with Paul Bunyan.