Jon Runyan Jr., Sean McKeon react to ‘dirty’ MSU player after late hit on Saturday

Michigan State Spartans defensive lineman Jacub Panasiuk was ejected from Saturday’s 44-10 loss to the Michigan Wolverines after a cheap late hit on quarterback Shea Patterson late in the game and if you thought that the Wolverines would forget about it, you were dead wrong.

Fifth-year senior offensive lineman Jon Runyan Jr. spoke about the play to the media on Monday afternoon and took issue with how Panaiuk and his brother, Mike Panasiuk, play the game of football.

“I didn’t see it at the time. I always knew No. 96 was a kind of dirty player, him and his brother,” Runyan said. “I really don’t care too much for them. I made clear of that. You can go back and watch the film. I have a play where I cleaned up 96, took him 20 yards up the field. Not really a big fan of him.

“I don’t really wanna talk trash about him, but I don’t like that guy. I don’t like how he plays the game of football. That was disgusting what he did. Completely unnecessary. You could tell he was frustrated, because he couldn’t do anything against me or (Jalen Mayfield) all game. He had to come up with a different way to affect the game and ended up taking himself out.”

Runyan said several times during his chat with reporters that he is not a trash talker and does not like to do that, but said that his game speaks for itself and the reason the Spartans resorted to the tactics they did was because they were frustrated with their performance.

“I really don’t like talking trash,” Runyan said. “Sometimes my emotions can get the best of me at the end of a game. I kinda let my game do the talking. No. 48 over there (Kenny Willekes) — he’s a good pass rusher. He actually talks a lot of trash — not as much this year, he did last year. Again, couldn’t really do much against me and Jalen. That’s a credit to our preparation and the kind of game plan we had going in there.”

Tight end Sean McKeon took issue with the hit on Patterson as well, saying that he wanted to retaliate for the cheap shot on his quarterback, but says that the officiating handled things appropriately.

“I kinda wanted to fight him,” McKeon said. “But obviously can’t. A lot of refs right there. Try not to make the situation worse. They did the right thing by getting him out of the game.”

McKeon also spoke about the penalty that was called on Tarik Black for taunting after flexing.

Saturday’s game from Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana kicks off at 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.