Another Versatile LB Target Set to Visit MSU
Brigham Young linebacker Aisea Moa was originally a defensive line prospect coming out of high school in the class of 2022. He was a good one, too, rated a four-star and the No. 44 defensive line recruit, per 247Sports.
Moa will now be taking a visit to Michigan State this week, per 247Sports' Blair Angulo.
"The sophomore has two seasons of eligibility remaining, and has a connection with the Spartans staff dating back to coach Jonathan Smith's time at Oregon State," Angulo wrote. "Moa totaled 16 tackles and a forced fumble this season.
"A former Polynesian Bowl all-star, Moa has positional versatility to play either edge or linebacker depending on the formation."
Indeed, Moa is versatile at 6-foot-2, 240 pounds. He has played off the ball linebacker as well as on the front line, and in high school he was everywhere.
Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, also the linebackers coach, described his prototypical linebacker just before the 2024 season. He is flexible in what he wants at the position.
"Long, athletic, and smart," Rossi said. "That's what we look for and that's a sliding scale, OK. And what I mean by that -- if a guy's 6-foot and runs 4.4, that's cool. But if you're going to be a low 4.8, you better be 6-foot-3 and a half. So my point is -- it slides, but the ideal thing, if I'm just giving you three, it's length, it's athleticism, and it's intelligence. Not necessarily in that order."
The Spartans' defense is a 4-3 that uses a stand-up rush end. It is an answer to the modern, pass-heavy offense and rush ends coach Chad Wilt will likely be looking for some more depth at the position and more importantly, a drastic increase of production in his edge rushers in 2025.
He told our Aidan Champion about the position last spring:
"This rush end position -- we were talking earlier -- it's it's a hybrid outside backer/D-end thing," Wilt said. "So sometimes, he’s going to have D-end jobs -- play over tight end, right? Play in the C-gap, be strong and sturdy and sometimes it might be ‘Hey, you're gonna be over this tight end man-to-man.
" ... "It goes back to ... the jobs that they're going to be asked are very different," Wilt said. "And some of those jobs you can't do from a three-point stance -- or, I shouldn't say can't -- extremely difficult to do from a three-point stance. So now we can do that from a two-point, and you don't know offensively that, 'Okay, hey, we're gonna be in our pressure package or we're gonna be in our base package here -- base calls.' So I think just allow those guys the freedom and flexibility, but then it also gives us, I think, another set of eyes that can see."
Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.
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