Grady Kelly highlights the depth and competition within Michigan State’s defensive line room

On Monday, Michigan State football head coach Jonathan Smith talked about this week of practice being a “week of separation” for the Spartans as the team looks to figure out its depth chart ahead of its 2025 season opener against Western Michigan on Aug. 29.

However, for redshirt senior defensive tackle Grady Kelly, every day is about elevating and separating himself from the competition —while still keeping a team mindset first and foremost.

Kelly enrolled at Michigan State in January after transferring in from Florida State and participated in spring ball for the Spartans. He also played for Colorado State from 2021 through 2023. Now going through his first fall camp in East Lansing, Kelly hopes to help MSU find success in 2025, which is his final year of collegiate eligibility.

“You have to come every single day from day one of camp, when it’s not separation week, working as hard as you absolutely can because you’re trying to separate constantly,” Kelly said regarding Smith’s comments about it being a separation week for the Spartans. “But there’s definitely that added level, in the back of your mind, this is the week that I really need to strive to pull apart, but obviously still pull apart as a group. As one of us is trying to strive to pull apart, we want us all to be together, moving in that same direction.”

While starting positions and exact roles are still being figured out, the Michigan State defensive tackles room has a lot of bodies in it and a lot of player who are likely to rotate in throughout games. While Kelly is a newcomer in 2025, MSU returns Alex VanSumeren, Ben Roberts, Ru’Quan Buckley, Jalen Satchell, Ben Nelson and Mikeshun Beeler from the 2024 roster. The Spartans also brought in four-star true freshman Derrick Simmons, who has already been impressing Smith and the coaching staff.

In fact, Kelly noted that Simmons is “probably one of the highest-motored freshmen” that he has seen. He believes Simmons could potentially earn playing time as a true freshman.

While the mindset within the program this week is “separating” and earning your role ahead of Week One, playing time is not guaranteed for the duration of the 2025 campaign as things can and will change. Kelly preached the importance of not getting complacent and continuing to strive for excellence.

“I think that it really just comes down to, you know, when you have that implemented process … yes, this isn’t an ‘end all, be all,’ we know what we’re working toward, and what we’re working toward is greater, and we’re making a big push here, but we can continue as a group to make a big push the whole way through,” Kelly explained. “And that just starts with being competitive with guys in the room. I mean, there can just be no complacency in the room at all. One week, (Ru’Quan Buckley) might be really feeling it at practice and rolling and going, but that needs to push and motivate me to go and get after it even more. We just need to continue to have that constant competitive battle with each other.”

The aforementioned depth of the room is going to give the Spartans a big advantage during the 2025 season, according to Kelly.

“I mean, we’re rolling depth-wise,” Kelly said about the defensive tackles group. “We’ve got people to roll. This is probably the deepest room I’ve ever been a part of. We could roll six (players) deep, and I don’t think there’s a drop-off on the field. This is by far the deepest room I’ve ever been a part of.

“And the way that we wanna play up front — just 100 percent full, get off the ball and roll every play, no snaps off — I think that the depth of the room is gonna really let us just roll … When you have guys in the room that have the full capacity to take your job every single day of the week, you have no choice except for to strive to be great every single day.”

An interesting note Kelly brought up about his background is that his father was his coach growing up. His dad trained him as a defensive lineman and Kelly fell in love with the position. Obviously it was the right call, as Kelly put in the work and had the talent to play college football at the highest level.

“Real football’s played in the trenches, and I just love it,” Kelly said.

Speaking of coaches, the 6-foot-2, 295-pound Kelly has suited up for several staffs throughout his college career. He played under head coaches Steve Addazio (2021) and Jay Norvell (2022 and 2023) during his time with the Rams. In 2024, he played for head coach Mike Norvell and the Seminoles. In 2025, he will learn under Smith and defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa.

Kelly has been on Michigan State’s campus for several months now, and he has built a strong bond with his position coach. Kelly appreciates that Suiaunoa is family-centric, and connects with the way that Suiaunoa teaches each of his players.

“Well, one, he’s just a family-oriented guy,” Kelly said about Suiaunoa. “He’s really just genuinely a great person. And as far as coaching-wise, he’s just so detailed, and he won’t skip over anyone. Everyone’s getting that same detailed, high-energy, loving coach — every single practice, every rep, constantly. And when we get into the film room, he just breaks it down. He’s very meticulous about how he breaks stuff down — stuff that I may not have seen in the past, he gets to open my eyes up to that, and he’s just very detailed in it.”

Some specific things Suiaunoa has helped Kelly with are his ability to recognize passing sets and formations, and being able to diagnose and break down plays before they even happen. Kelly also mentioned Suiaunoa has helped him improve his hands and his ability to get off of the snap, among many other areas.

A big focal point for Michigan State’s defense this year is generating a pass rush. It has been talked about at length throughout the offseason and throughout fall camp, but this was an area where the Spartans severely struggled in during the 2024 season. Last season, MSU only recorded 19 sacks (ranking 16th out of 18 Big Ten teams) and, remarkably, recorded zero sacks during a six-game stretch from Week Five through Week 10.

However, Michigan State’s defense was quite stout against the run last season. The Spartans only allowed 125.1 yards per game on the ground in 2024, which ranked 32nd nationally. Kelly believes MSU will be strong against the run once again in 2025, and now the emphasis is on getting to the quarterback and bringing both elements together against the run and the pass.

Another area where Michigan State defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Joe Rossi wants to see his unit get better at is third-down defense. Michigan State allowed opponents to convert on third down 44.3% of the time in 2024, which ranked 109th in the country. Kelly believes the Spartans have made a lot of progress in that regard as well.

“There’s been a huge emphasis on pass(ing) down(s), third down, just pass rush,” Kelly said about MSU’s defense. “We’re really just trying to mold our defense for it. We know last year, (Michigan State) could stop the run. That was a huge thing they could do. But this year, it’s more than just stop the run. We’re gonna stop the run because we’re excited to get to third down because we’re gonna shut everyone down on third down. And they’ve been hammering that, we’ve been running it home, and … I don’t know if you guys (the media) have been out to (watch) practice, but the third-down defense is really good.”

On the other side of the ball, Kelly had a lot of praise for MSU’s offensive line. He believes the group has even taken a significant jump since the spring and he expects the players in the offensive trenches to play well this season.

While Kelly is still new to the team in 2025, he arrived in East Lansing in the winter and went through spring practices, as mentioned. After having that time to adjust to his new surroundings, learn the scheme and connect with his coaches and teammates, Kelly admitted that he is feeling more comfortable at MSU during fall camp.

Video of Grady Kelly’s media availability