Wiley looking to bring physical brand of defense to MSU

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With 148 days until the MSU football team’s season opener against California, there’s one guy making plays as if the Spartans take the field tomorrow afternoon — senior saftey Otis Wiley.

“He’s taken much more command of everybody else out there,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said.

“He’s playing with a lot of attention to detail. He’s playing very, very technically sound — he’s been very productive thus far in practice.”

Wiley, a prime candidate for one of the team’s captain positions, played in all 13 games last season, recording 30 solo and 19 assisted tackles with five breakups, one forced fumble and four interceptions.

And the senior will be set at the strong safety position — a spot Wiley described as busier than the free safety side. He shared the position, flopping back and forth with Travis Key and Nehemiah Warrick.

“I was more relaxed at free safety,” Wiley said. “For strong safety, from the past with (John L. Smith’s) defense — that’s my position. So for me to come down more and get tackles and be more aggressive, I like it. I love it; it’s better for me, better for our team.”

With that type of confidence and comfort, Wiley will be looked at as a top defender in the conference — possibly even throughout the nation.

“He would’ve played well even if he was on the other side,” secondary coach Harlon Barnett said.

“He’s been in the system for about a year now so he has an understanding of what we want. He’s been having a great spring.”

And although Wiley’s teammate Andrew Hawken, a junior fullback, doesn’t run plays on the same side of the ball with him, he said his presence is more than well-known throughout the practice facilities.

“Otis is a great guy and a great player,” Hawken said. “He’s back there doing his thing — making tackles and breaking up balls. He’s flying around, just doing what he does. We need a guy like him on this team.”

And just a short time into the spring, he’s shown truckloads of improvement since the Champs Sports Bowl at the end of December.

“He’s gotten better and better each day from his freshman year,” Hawken said. “He needs to keep getting better and I know that’s the No. 1 thing on his mind. He’s very enthusiastic.”

And for Hawken, spectating Wiley in practice is a treat.

“I just think he can do everything,” he said.

“He can drop back in pass coverage or he can come up and smack you. He’s very versatile and I love watching him play.”

This upcoming season, Wiley said it’s all about being physical — not giving up an uncontested or easy touchdown pass.

“I feel like we are the most physical in the Big Ten because we always got pass interference called on us,” he said, laughing.

“We’d see the same play happen on the other teams and they wouldn’t get a call. We need to attack the receivers and slow their speed down, (slow down) their routes — be physical (and) scare ‘em to catch the ball, to have short arms.”

For now, Wiley said he’ll focus on covering sophomore wide receiver Mark Dell — the teammate he said is toughest to lock down.

“It’s hard to cover Mark Dell because he always runs a dig route,” he said. “I always have to be right with my eyes.”

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