Hlas column: Big Ten's reigning Defensive Player of the Year tips his helmet to Ricky Stanzi

CHICAGO - In case you missed the news, the Big Ten football preseason Defensive Player of the Year is ...

Senior linebacker Greg Jones of Michigan State.

That may have shocked and offended some Iowa fans who think Hawkeye end Adrian Clayborn towers above all other defenders (and opposing blockers). But Jones was the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, and with good reason. He was third in the nation in tackles.

Jones, however, would swiftly trade his award for something the Hawkeyes got last year, a 15-13, last-second win over his Spartans in East Lansing.

“That's a game we definitely think about,” Jones rued here Tuesday at the Big Ten's football media day. “A very tough loss. A lot of guys had rough times getting over that game.”

That win pushed Iowa to 8-0 and snapped MSU's 3-game winning streak in the conference. The last 1:29 of that game was Hawkeye quarterback Ricky Stanzi at his best.

With 70 yards to go for a necessary touchdown, just one timeout remaining, and against a Spartan defense that had kept Iowa out of the end zone all game, Stanzi went to work.

You surely know the rest. On fourth-and-goal at the MSU 7, Stanzi's slant to Marvin McNutt jumped directly onto the list of the biggest plays in Hawkeye history.

“His resilience,” Jones immediately replied when asked what he remembers most about Stanzi that night. Then he added:

“His will to respond after getting hit or getting sacked. He comes back in the next series and marches down the field.

“His focus.”

Their 276 yards against Michigan State made for the Hawkeyes' lowest total in any game Stanzi played last season. Jones had 12 of his 154 tackles in 2009 that night, and showed why he had also been the league's preseason Defensive Player of the Year last season.

But the linebacker doesn't talk about keeping Iowa's offense in check for much of the night. He instead discussed how Stanzi stayed the course.

“I think some quarterbacks, after they get sacked or intercepted, their focus is kind of lost a little bit. It's going to take them a few minutes to get back into the game. I think for Stanzi, he comes right back with some confidence and some swagger.

“That takes a great player.”

It takes one to know one. Jones was a consensus All-America last year.

“He does everything a hundred miles an hour and wins with effort,” MSU Coach Mark Dantonio said.

Like Stanzi, Jones is a film-room addict. He said that was vital in helping get a feel for how to deal with Iowa's offense.

“We had a lot of film on them,” Jones said. “The game was late in the season. Early on, when you don't have a lot of film on a team like Iowa, it's pretty hard to prepare. We had a lot to look at, and kind of picked out (Stanzi's) targets and who he likes to throw to.

The offensive line they had, big guys that can really move and work well together as an O-line. We really had a lot to prepare for.”

A smart player, Jones wouldn't say he has circled the Spartans' Oct. 30 game at Iowa on his mental calendar. Not, he said, when his team had a bad hiccup in its second game last season and lost at home to Central Michigan.

Jones gave me the old “one game at a time” line about looking down the line at playing Iowa this fall, but at least he had legitimate cause to use it.

Still, he admitted, “we approached that (Iowa) game last year like it was the most important game we played for the whole year.”

It showed. No other club came close to giving the Hawkeyes the physicality they encountered at Spartan Stadium.

MSU is one of the many potential potholes cluttering Iowa's schedule, one that should help remind people that preseason rankings are useless.

After all, the Spartans still have Jones. Of course, the Hawkeyes still have Stanzi.