MSU Football: LB Antjuan Simmons Expects his Team to Respond
Iowa City, IA – After leading Michigan State with 90 tackles last season, Antjuan Simmons earned an honorable mention All-Big Ten from both coaches and the media.
In 2020, he hasn't disappointed, flying around the field totaling 26 tackles (11 solo, 15 assisted), 3.5 tackles for a loss, two pass break-ups, and one quarterback hurry.
Simmons is everything a team could ask for.
But, he wasn't on the field much against Iowa, and after two games where he made a significant impact defensively, it's clear Simmons was missed – even if he doesn't think so.
"I just couldn't go out there and be as productive as I have been in the past," Simmons said. "That's no excuse; when I was out there, I played hard. When Chase (Kline) went out there, he played hard. Whoever was in there, they played hard. I personally didn't feel like it was anything being missed of me out there."
Regardless, Iowa started fast and never looked back as they drove down the field twice in the first quarter for an easy 14-points.
"They were executing, they were able to do the things they wanted on offense, defense, and special teams," said Simmons. "They were really just executing their gameplan in all facets of the game. It was hard for us to stay in it."
However, Michigan State's leader on defense is still proud of his guys.
"We definitely fought our back-ends off in that second half. The team kept fighting, and we responded. That's all we could do."
And he expects a response from the Spartans next week against Indiana.
"We have responded before; we have a tough team. We have tough guys … as leaders, me, Rocky, everybody – we're going to make it a priority to have this team ready to go Saturday and from here on out because we can't be up and down. That's not how you win games. That's not how you become a good team. That's not how you become a good program, and this program is on its way up."
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