Michigan State linebacker Cal Haladay earns second-straight Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honor

For the second-straight week, Michigan State redshirt sophomore linebacker Cal Haladay earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors.

As that sentence was being typed out, Haladay just got another tackle against Rutgers, probably.

During Michigan State’s 27-21 win over Rutgers on Saturday, Haladay got more than a fifth of the team’s tackles when he ended the game with 19 total tackles. That’s the most tackles in a single game by a Spartan since Eric Smith had 19 against Notre Dame on Sept. 18, 2004, according to the Big Ten Conference. One of Haladay’s many tackles went for a three-yard loss against the Scarlet Knights.

Now sitting with 99 tackles on the season, Haladay has put himself in the Big Ten lead for most tackles (tied with Iowa’s Jack Campbell). That slots Haladay in prime position to earn All-Big Ten accolades for a second consecutive season as he earned honorable mention status last season.

This is the fifth time this season a Spartan has earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors. Haladay also picked up the honor last week and Jacoby Windmon earned the recognition three times this season as well.