Cal Haladay (born December 16, 2000) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 Varsity team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

Early life

Haladay attended Southern Columbia Area High School in

Elysburg, Pennsylvania Elysburg is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ralpho Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is forty-two miles north-northeast of Harrisburg. The population was 2,194 at the 2010 census. The area's biggest attraction ...

. In his high school career he notched 334 tackles with 34 going for a loss, 14 sacks, two pass deflections, four interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and two forced fumbles. Haladay committed to play

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

over other schools such as

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

College career

As a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

in 2020, Haladay redshirted and appeared in four games, recording no statistics. In week 5 of the 2021 season, he tallied ten tackles with one going for a loss, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble in a 48–31 win over

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

. In week 7, Haladay intercepted a pass thrown by Jack Tuttle and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, as helped the Spartans beat

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

20–15. In the season finale, he racked up 11 tackles with 2.5 being for a loss, 0.5 sack, and a forced fumble, as helped Michigan State beat Penn State 30–27. Haladay was named the defensive MVP of the 2021 Peach Bowl after recording a team-high 11 tackles and a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown to secure the Spartans' 31–21 victory. He finished the 2021 season with 96 tackles with five going for a loss, 0.5 sack, a pass deflection, two interceptions, a fumble recovery, two forced fumbles, and two touchdowns, earning Freshman All-American honors. In the 2022 season opener, Haladay recorded a strip sack fumble and an interception in a 52–0 victory over

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

. In week 10 he totaled nine tackles with 3.5 being for a loss in a win over

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. For his performance, Haladay was named the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

defensive player of the week. The following week, he notched 19 tackles with one going for a loss, as helped the Spartans beat

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

27–21. Haladay was named the Big Ten defensive player of the week for the second straight week. He finished the 2022 season with 120 tackles with 11 going for a loss, 1.5 sacks, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble. In Haladay was named to the second-team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and by the media. Ahead of the 2023 season, he was named to the watchlists for the

Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

, the

Bronko Nagurski Trophy The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been awarded annually since 1993 to the collegiate American football defensive player adjudged by the membership of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be the best in the National Collegiate Athle ...

, and the

Chuck Bednarik Award The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player of the year in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and profess ...

References

External links

Michigan State Spartans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haladay, Cal 2000 births Living people American football linebackers Michigan State Spartans football players Players of American football from Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania