State of the Program – Rush Ends: Can Michigan State’s Khris Bogle make an impact?

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The following is the ninth in a series of articles projecting Michigan State’s football depth chart, heading into preseason camp. Our goal is to provide analysis on the latest developments at each position, and reacquaint the fanbase with names and faces on the roster heading into Jonathan Smith’s first season at Michigan State .

RUSH ENDS:

1. Khris Bogle (6-4, 244, 6-Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Bogle has emerged as the leading candidate to begin the season as the first-string rush end for the season opener on Aug. 30 against Florida Atlantic. That would be a fitting start to Bogle’s third season at Michigan State and sixth season in college football, considering he came to East Lansing with intentions of becoming an impact starter. But can he stay healthy and hang onto a starting role, something he has been unable to do in his first two seasons as a Spartan?

He’s pumped up and believes he’s poised for a strong third and final year at Michigan State.

“Everything is a clean slate, it’s brand new, take it day by day and stack days,” Bogle said. “Every day, you’ve got to compete which is way better with the new staff than how it was before.”

It seems odd that a transfer can suddenly emerge as one of the older guys on the team. But that’s the case with Bogle. Michigan State has 43 new scholarship players on the roster, and Bogle – in year three – is suddenly the guy who teaches newcomers about the program.

“Being an older guy and being a leader to the young guys, if I can come back and be a leader, we can build a better team,” he said. “I feel like that’s the main reason that I decided to come back. I did put my name in the transfer portal (last winter), but we had a lot of guys come back an then I talked to Coach Smith, Coach Wilt, Coach Rossi and I just feel like my role here was better.”

Bogle also checked in with former Florida teammate Andrew Chatfield who spent three seasons at Oregon State. Specifically, Bogle asked him about defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa.

“He was like, ‘He’s legit,’” Bogle said.

Bogle has been spending most of his time with rush ends coach Chad Wilt. Wilt had spent two years as defensive line coach with Rossi at Minnesota, and then spent the past two years as linebackers coach and defensive coordinator at Indiana.

BOGLE’S RECENT PAST

Khris Bogle photo by Nick King | USA Today Network.

Bogle came off the bench in the first three games of the 2022 season, and then started in game four against Minnesota, but went down with an injury and was lost for the season. However, he retained redshirt status that year, which ultimately allowed him to come back for a sixth season this year.

Last season, Bogle started the first three games for Michigan State . He missed games against Maryland and Ohio State with an undisclosed injury. Bogle started games six and eight against Rutgers and Maryland and then came off the bench for 21 snaps in each of the last two games against Indiana and Penn State.

Bogle has been a functional depth piece and spot starter in two years at Michigan State , but not quite the impact guy that former coach Mel Tucker anticipated when the Spartans nabbed the former four-star recruit out of the portal.

Bogle had 2.5 sacks as a true freshman at Florida in 2019, then had 4.0 in 2020 before falling off to 1.5 sacks in 2021, and then entered the portal.

Bogle had one sack in four games in 2022, and then 1.5 sacks last year in 10 games (199 snaps).

THE NEW KHRIS BOGLE

Bogle working with Chad Wilt prior to the Spring Showcase in April. (Photo by Nick King | USA Today Network).

Bogle is off to a good start at camp, this summer. In the spring, he said he was the healthiest he had been in years.

“I’ve been taking care of my body as I get older,” he said. “I try to come in twice a day to take care of my body, stretch, go to therapy. It’s football. Injuries do happen, but it’s how you bounce back.

“Last year, at the beginning of the year I was playing pretty good football and then to get injured I was down on myself a little bit. But everybody has a plan, God has a plan not only for me but my teammates as well.

“Last year, we went through a new position coach. The scheme stayed the same last year, but learning from one position coach to another was difficult. But I’m comfortable with this staff we have now.”

He’s eager to re-invent himself as part of Joe Rossi’s one-gapping, aggressive defense.

“Last year, I kind of played stationary, it was kind of a stationary defense,” he said. “I made a few good plays but this year I feel like my role is way better than it was in the past, and just to be an older guy and bring everybody around me forward. I’m a team guy first so I want to bring everybody around me to the next level.”

THE RUSH END POSITION

The rush end position is a unique staple of the Rossi system. The rush end stands up like an outside linebacker, but most often plays a defensive end type of role.

In order to keep the offense off-balance, sometimes the rush end drops into coverage.

Last year, Minnesota rush end Danny Stiggow (6-5, 255 and a former three-star recruit, ranked No. 769 in the nation in the On3 Industry Rankings) played 456 snaps for the Gophers. He dropped into coverage 90 times.

“That’s what that position needs – every bit of a defensive end, every bit of an outside linebacker and a really disruptive pass rusher,” Wilt said.

Last year, Bogle played 180 snaps for the Spartans and didn’t drop into coverage once.

However, in Bogle’s last year at Florida, he played a rush end role which was somewhat similar to the role he will play at Michigan State this year. In 262 snaps in 2021, he dropped into coverage 45 times.

“It’s just like everything I did at Florida,” Bogle said. “It’s like an outside linebacker, but out of a 4-3 front. Off the ball a little bit. Can rush. I’m bigger, faster and stronger than I was before and that will help me.

“My hand won’t be down in the dirt as much as it was (the past two years). It will allow me to see a lot more and play a lot faster.”

Wilt has seen growth in Bogle from the spring through fall camp.

“As we go through meetings, Khris sits front row, dead smack in the middle,” Wilt said. “He is the front row, middle of the row student. You can just see the processing.

“When you ask questions in a meeting, the conceptual understanding is going to the next level for him. When you look at OTAs from February, in pre-spring ball, then you install it in spring ball, we do our OTAs over the summer with those guys, and now preseason camp. This is the fourth install on packages for him.

“When you have that, now you start to play fast, because you know what you’re supposed to do. You know what the keys look like, you know what the reactions are, now I can go play fast and I think that’s where Khris is now. The process is slowing down, so the speed is going up.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Michigan State played sophomore Jalen Thompson at rush end in the spring. He was functional in the spring game, although he looked like a defensive end, and not a linebacker, when trying to cover tight end Ademola Faleye on a crossing route. He wasn’t bad. He was just a step behind.

Michigan State opted to move Thompson back to conventional defensive end for fall camp, where he will likely start, and split time with Middle Tennessee State transfer Quindarius Dunnigan.

Thompson’s move has allowed Bogle to rise up to presumptive starting status. Bogle’s competence at the position likely gave the coaches the confidence to move Thompson to defensive end.

The addition of transfers Anthony Jones from Indiana and Tyson Gillison from Cincinnati probably had something to do with it as well.

2. Anthony Jones (6-4, 260, R-Soph., Las Vegas | Indiana transfer)

Jones started four games for the Hoosiers at Sam linebacker last year, logged 306 snaps and had 12 tackles. He transferred to Michigan State after spring practice. Jones played one year at Oregon in 2022, seeing action in two games, before transferring to Indiana.

Jones, Tyler Gillison and Avery Dunn are competing for a role at rush end, likely behind Bogle.

“Those guys are pushing each other, they’re challenging each other,” Wilt said. “We’re rotating a lot of guys with different groups: this day, you’re going to get reps with the ones because we want to see you go against the ones. That’s a little bit how we’re going to play them, too. They’re going to rotate. They’re going to roll.

“Obviously the best players will play – the most dependable, the most productive, the most trustworthy. But I really see a good focus and intentionality of competing with each other in that room, not against.”

Wilt was asked after practice on Thursday how many rush ends he feels good about.

“Certainly, I feel good at this point about three,” he said, without naming them. “There are a couple of other guys. There’s (linebacker) Jordan Hall in some situational pass rush, which also allows us to take a play off here or there from a guy.

“There are definitely some guys coming along. We watched some film last night and this morning of NFL pass rush, how they turn corners and how they work edges and how the lower half is working in conjunctions with the upper half. I think some guys are understanding that and developing that.”

Wilt said there are no plans at this time to bring Thompson back to rush end. But he said Thompson could do it in a pinch, if there are injuries.

“That’s one of the strengths of our defense right now is just playable depth,” Wilt said. “We have a lot of guys who have played meaningful snaps of football. Just in my room alone, talking about Khris Bogle, Avery Dunn, Anthony Jones, Ty Gillison. Those four guys have played meaningful snaps in Power Four football games.”

THE BOOK ON ANTHONY JONES

Anthony Jones photo by Dane Robison for SpartanMag.

Jones was mainly a thick outside linebacker for the Hoosiers last year. When he went into the portal, Wilt knew about him, having coached at Indiana last year. Wilt’s time as a defensive line coach for Rossi at Minnesota also provided an understanding of how Jones could fit at Michigan State.

“He’s 6-3 and a half, 6-4, 260 pounds and played Sam linebacker for us at Indiana last year, mostly in space. But to move him a little closer to the box and put him in that position to play the defensive end jobs, but also doing outside linebacker jobs, he has skills to do that but also to be a really effective edge pass rusher too.”

Pro Football Focus did not grade Jones high last year. He graded 39.7 overall, 26.8 in tackling, 37.7 in run defense and 48.0 in pass rush, all of which rank in the “poor” category, according to PFF. He had one QB hit on the year and seven QB hurries.

By comparison, Michigan State starting defensive end Zion Young was a 55.1 (below average). Tunmise Adeleye had a forgettable single season at Michigan State but managed to grade out at 62.4 by PFF (average).

Last year, Brandon Wright ranked No. 2 at Michigan State among defensive ends in snaps played with 290, and had a 63.3 pass rush grade.

“As we watched film of Anthony through that portal process,” Wilt said, “I tried to step back because I know the ins and the outs and the goods and the bads and the plusses and the minuses to be able to sit with Joe (Rossi), ‘What does this position look for? What do we need out of it? What do I know that he can do from practice reps, from game reps?’

“And Joe seeing it on film, I think it was very easy to say, ‘Yes, this is a really good fit positionally for his skills, his ability.’”

Jones’s PFF grades (which are unofficial and likely don’t reflect those of the coaching staff) weren’t high, but he looked pretty solid against Michigan State. PFF graded him at 57 (below average), but SpartanMag rewatched that game and charted him with a handful of plus plays.

Our scorecard of Jones’s game against Michigan State, last November:

* Came off the bench as a second-string, stand-up defensive end against the Spartans in game 11 on Nov. 18, last year.

* Served as a pass rusher on third downs in the first quarter.

+ On outside zone to his side, took on Michigan State TE Evan Morris , buckled Morris back a half yard. (Michigan State RB Jaren Mangham cut inside for a gain of 5).

= Late in the first quarter on third-and-10, Jones played as a stand-up edge rusher vs Spencer Brown . (Jones was listed as a Sam LB, but on this play, played a role that is similar to the Edge rush end in the new Michigan State scheme). Brown moved quickly, got two hands on Jones and stopped Jones. Incomplete pass.

Jones’ takeoff looked pretty good on this play, looked like he put a good strike on Brown, but Brown controlled him. Spencer Brown wasn’t a plus player for Michigan State in 2023, but Brown looked pretty good against a quality pass rush attempt on this play.

+ On third-and-seven early in the second quarter, Jones was part of a three-man rush. Taking on Michigan State left tackle Brandon Baldwin , Jones tried a rip move and showed a decently tight hoop turn at the end of his rush and got a hand on QB Katin Hauser for an incompletions. This could be loosely termed a QB hurry by Jones.

+ Took on right tackle Ethan Boyd during a Michigan State outside zone run. Jones two-gapped Boyd, and moved Boyd back a half yard. Good job by Jones.

+ In pass defense, dropped at a 45-degree angle, flipped his hips, then flipped them again, and looked pretty good. The task of being a run defender, pass rusher and pass defender needed for the rush end position, he showed evidence that he can do the third of those three disciplines on this play.

+ Edge blitz vs a run play. On an outside zone, Jones took on a wham block from Evan Morris. Jones came in hard at Morris. Morris was kind of twisted up and Jones blasted through him and got in on the tackle for a two-yard loss. Jones showed some wheels on this play, looked like a capable edge player.

– On third-and-three, Jones missed a sack on Hauser. Indiana was up 21-17. There was miscommunication on the right side by Kevin Wigenton and Spencer Brown . Jones came in untouched. Hauser ducked and dodged Jones. (On the next play, Hauser connected with Maliq Carr for what turned out to be the game-winning TD. If Jones finishes that sack, Michigan State would have faced fourth-and-10 and likely would have lost to Indiana).

3. Avery Dunn (6-4, 254, R-Sr., Shaker Heights, Ohio).

Dunn has seen action in 20 games through four seasons at Michigan State with three starts (two in 2022 and one in 2023). He has 40 career tackles, including 12 last year.

Dunn has spent most of his career outside the two-deep, but has been available enough to rise up the depth chart in each of the past two seasons to provide serviceable duty.

Dunn showed good heart and tenacity in 2022 in helping the Spartans salvage good moments on defense despite a rash of injuries, rising up from the third string.

Last year, he missed games six and seven after being limited to just one snap in game five against Iowa.

Now, in a new scheme, at the new rush end position, will he look different in a one-gapping, upfield-oriented defense? You’ll know when I know.

Wilt said he feels good about three rush ends. It’s likely that bogle and Jones are two of them. Is the other one Dunn or Ty Gillison? Wilt didn’t say, but it will be interesting to watch.

Last year, Dunn played 182 snaps, two more than Bogle. PFF listed Dunn with a 74.1 overall defensive grade (above average), compared to 68.1 for Bogle.

Dunn graded out at 72.5 in run defense, 80.3 in tackling and 69.3 in pass rush. Dunn dropped into pass coverage as part of zone blitzes on three occasions.

Those numbers look pretty good, if you believe PFF. Whether or not he can demonstrate a level of play this month and into the fall that approach those numbers remains to be seen.

3a. Tyler Gillison (6-2, 244, R-Soph., Pickerington, Ohio | Cincinnati transfer)

Gillison saw action in 10 games last year, logging 123 snaps at outside linebacker. He had 15 tackles including 2.5 for losses.

Gillison’s brother, Trenton Gillison, played three seasons at tight end for Michigan State (2019-21) before transferring to Youngstown State. The elder Gillison had 12 catches as a redshirt freshman in 2019, including four catches for 84 yards in the Pinstripe Bowl against Wake Forest, but had only four catches in the next two seasons under Mel Tucker before transferring.

PFF graded Gillison at 63.4 overall (“average,” according to the PFF scale), 62.8 in run defense, 70.5 in tackling (“above average”) and 55.6 in pass rush (“below average”).

What did Wilt and the Michigan State coaches see when scouting him in the transfer portal?

“You saw some of the outside linebacker traits, coverage drop ability, but then also some edge pressure, turning the edge, pass rush stuff,” Wilt said. “He’s been able to show that for us too here in preseason camp. He has ability to have athleticism on that edge that we need.”

Gillison averaged fewer than 10 snaps a game last year as a redshirt-freshman. He logged a season-high 25 snaps in a 42-21 loss at West Virginia in game 11. SpartanMag reviewed that game tape and didn’t come away with many strong opinions or observations.

* He mostly played a stand-up, rush end, lining up on the line of scrimmage, next to three down linemen – very similar to the rush end role at Michigan State.

+ He looked pretty firm when locking up against West Virginia left tackle Wyatt Milum (6-6, 312). Gillison looked like he has the ability to keep his feet moving after engaging with a blocker. He has some herky-jerky slipperiness to him.

= We saw him drop and cover the flat as part of a zone coverage (the ball didn’t come his way).

+ He was able to get off of Milum, shock and control him a little bit, cross face and make the tackle after a gain of three.

+ Gillison looked like he had decent acceleration in running with the tight end on a wheel route in the third quarter. (The play was an RPO and resulted in a run to the other side).

Overall, he looked like a solidly-built redshirt-freshman who can move his feet, stand firm against blockers, and drop into pass coverage somewhat comfortably. He looks like he has the makings of delivering many of the characteristics needed to play rush end at Michigan State at some point.

Gillison went to Cincinnati as a three-star recruit, ranked No. 31 in Ohio and No. 1,029 in the nation in the On3 Industry Rankings.

5. James Schott (6-4, 242, R-Soph., Greenwood, Ind.)

Schott played 18 snaps on defense last year, and had one assist against Penn State. He had one solo against Ohio State. He played a season-high 10 snaps against Central Michigan.

Schott saw limited playing time in the Michigan State Spring Showcase. In limited notes, I observed that on one pass rush situation, he was controlled by true freshman Charlton Luniewski.

Schott has toiled as a third- and fourth-stringer in two years at Michigan State. It’s an important month for Schott to show he can hang with players in the two-deep.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Michigan State might not have the prototype rush end that Rossi is looking for in his defense. Can they make it work with a refurbished Bogle and a revitalized Jones, who is playing for his third college team?

Gillison is an interesting one, but might be more of a developmental player for the near future. Dunn and Schott are question marks, with Dunn having more experience and physical maturity.

Are we confident that Jones is ahead of Dunn on the depth chart? No. Dunn has every opportunity to solidify himself as No. 2 through the course of training camp and into September. We’re going with a hunch that Jones showed a little more natural juice for the position last year for Indiana against the Spartans, whereas Dunn is a down lineman by trade who is trying to make a difficult transition to a stand-up edge role.

Rush end is a specialized position. Rossi and Wilt had to go outside the program to bring in Gillison and Jones after spring practice. So player development and teaching are at a premium for Michigan State at this important hybrid position of flexibility.

Michigan State needs pass rush production and pass defense solvency from the rush end. And firm run defense. Players who can provide all three aren’t easy to find. If Bogle or Jones don’t come through at this position this year, it will be that much tougher for this defense to harness a level of winning football in the short term.

This position is one of the x-factors of the defense, and the entire team. There are some experienced, capable bodies at rush end? But is there anyone who can be a plus at the position? That might be difficult to attain? Functionality? Probably. Stardom? Not yet.

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