EAST LANSING — Xavier Henderson quietly left the field. Darius Snow needed to be helped off it.
One game into the new season, and MichiganState football already encountered two apparently significant injuries to its defense.
Neither player played in the second half of the 14th-ranked Spartans' 35-13 win over Western Michigan on Friday night, and Henderson returned wearing a brace on his right leg and walking with crutches.
MSU coach Mel Tucker did not provide an update for either Henderson, a fifth-year senior safety and captain, or Snow, a junior linebacker.
"I can't give you anything right now. I'll know a lot more tomorrow," Tucker said. "Maybe by Monday or so when I get back with you, maybe I can give me more. We'll just have to see.”
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Henderson tapped out of the game with 8:53 left in the second quarter following his pursuit on a third-and-goal scramble by WMU quarterback Jack Salopek.
Snow needed to be helped off the field with an apparent right leg injury after teammate Chester Kimbrough ran into him on a turnover with 2:17 left before halftime.
Kendell Brooks replaced Henderson at safety, and he was in and out of the game at times in the second half. And Angelo Grose at the other safety also left the game with an apparent injury briefly but returned.
Losing both Henderson and Snow could be a problem, but Tucker said he didn't feel it against the Broncos.
"I didn't see a huge drop off in communication out there," Tucker said. "But then again, I got to watch the film and kind of see some of the details of what's going on out there. But I saw poise from the guys who were out there. Scottie was doing a good job getting them calls early so they could get lined up, so they could take in the information, so they did have time to communicate. And we played the stuff that we had, he called the stuff that we have. It wasn't like we felt like we needed to line up in one thing because the guys couldn't function."
They weren't the only ones dinged up.
Wide receiver Jayden Reed took a hard fall 43 seconds after Snow's injury while making a leaping 26-yard catch on a throw from quarterback Payton Thorne. The senior landed on his left hip and left elbow, which already sported a tape job down the back of his arm, and limped to the sideline. Reed also held his left arm close to his body before joining Snow in the injury tent.
Reed returned after halftime and played on offense but did not have a catch and finished with two catches for 31 yards. He did return punts (two for 21 yards), but Reed was removed from kickoff returns in the second half.
Defensive end Avery Dunn also left the game in the third quarter with an injury.
Defensive tackles Dashaun Mallory and Jalen Hunt did not suit up for the MSU defensealong with defensive end Michael Fletcher and wide receivers Montorie Foster and Terry Lockett Jr.
Nearly catastrophic
Thorne also gave MSU fans a major scare.
The quarterback took off running midway through the third quarter on a rollout, waving wide-open running back Jarek Broussard down the field. As Thorne crossed the first-down marker and started to slide, WMU's Dalton Bussell dove in and cracked him in the right side of his rib cage.
Trainers came out and helped Thorne off the field, much to his chagrin.
"First off, I was pissed off that I had to come out for a play. Our trainers were just doing their job by going out there, but I was not happy that they came out there," Thorne said. "I was down for a second, and obviously he got me pretty good. They thought he hit me in the head, which I didn't think he did. I thought he just got me pretty good in the ribs. But then my leg cramped right as I was down, right as he hit me. I couldn't get up."
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That gave Noah Kim his first collegiate game action. And offensive coordinator Jay Johnson immediately dialed up a deep ball for the third-year sophomore quarterback to Reed, and the throw near the goal line managed to draw a 15-yard pass interference penalty on the Broncos' Keni-H Lovely.
"I'm not surprised that Coach Johnson called that at all. Not at all,” Thorne said. "But it was good job by Noah just coming in there and slinging one."
Now playing
MSU got a number of newcomers involved quickly. Including six true freshmen.
The biggest play came from wide receiver Germie Bernard, who made a leaping catch on a Thorne throw and raced for a 44-yard touchdown on the first play of his college career. He was targeted only one other time in the game.
"He's a really good player," Thorne said of Bernard. "We're excited about what he brings to the table. And that's just an example of what he's been doing all year in practice."
Receiver Tyrell Henry made a quick impact on special teams by diving to down Bryce Baringer's first punt inside the WMU 5. Safety Jaden Mangham played a significant amount in the second half after Henderson left the game.
Jack Stone also got the start at kicker and on kickoffs, making all five of his point-after attempts and getting three touchbacks among his six kickoffs. However, he missed his only field goal attempt and didn't exactly get a ringing endorsement from Tucker after beating out sophomore Stephen Rusnak and Auburn transfer Ben Patton, both of whom were in uniform.
"Everything's always up for evaluation," Tucker said. "We had a competition in camp, and so he won that competition based on what he did in practice compared to the other guys. Sometimes there's not that much difference. But you gotta put somebody out there, and so he got the nod."
Other rookies who got snaps were defensive end Zion Young and defensive tackle Alex VanSumeren.
MSU's first-year transfers also provided critical production.
On offense, Jalen Berger (Wisconsin) had a game-high 120 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown and Jarek Broussard (Colorado) contributed 10 carries for 54 yards. Illinois transfer tight end Daniel “DJ” Barker caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Thorne and also had two carries, including a 4-yard burst for a first down on third-and-short.
"We've been teaching DJ how to get his pads low," Berger said after a chuckle. "He's a tight end, he runs a little high. But he's gonna get his chances."
Brian Greene (Washington State) was one of just seven offensive linemen used, working as the backup at both left and right guard positions.
Defensively, Jacoby Windmon – brought in from UNLV as a linebacker – started at defensive end and had a monster game with four sacks among his seven tackles. Khris Bogle (Florida) came off the bench behind Windmon and added a sack among his three tackles.
Ameer Speed (Georgia) played almost every snap at cornerback and had six tackles, while linebacker Aaron Brule (Mississippi State) got a sack for his only tackle.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football key defender injured in opening game