EAST LANSING — Cal Haladay trotted onto Ryan Field on Friday night with no gloves, no wraps, no elbow pads. It's one of the big reasons Mel Tucker calls him “a throwback guy.”
The Michigan State football coach started using a nickname his teammates gave Haladay: “The Body Man.”
“I guess they think I hit hard or something," the redshirt freshman said. "I'm not sure. But I like it. I think it's pretty funny.
It also was a sign the linebacker had made an impression on Tucker. Enough that, after the Spartans’ second scrimmage of preseason camp, Haladay started working in the starting group in the final weeks before the opener.