HOOVER, Ala. — Fletcher Cox may be the best defensive lineman on his team.
He”s just fine with that.
Although Cox was one of Mississippi State”s three representatives Wednesday at Southeastern Conference Football Media Days, the junior defensive tackle was quick to remind reporters MSU”s interior strength is a two-man wall.
Cox”s teammate and roommate, junior Josh Boyd, wasn”t named to the coaches” preseason All-SEC team like he was, but their statistics from last season were nearly identical.
Perhaps Cox has earned more notoriety because he has a more imposing frame (he is listed at 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, while Boyd is 6-3, 295) and he forced the game-saving fumble against the University of Florida last season that helped MSU preserve a 10-7 victory.
Maybe the people who hand out awards and issue accolades are just torn between the two.
Whatever the reason, Cox believes the bond he and Boyd share formed at the start of their freshman seasons and is the driving force behind their success.
“Me and Josh talk all the time. We always compete against each other,” Cox said. “We”re never satisfied. We just set a standard and try to reach that standard.
“We both played as true freshmen. Me and Josh said our junior and senior year we want to be two of the best in the country.”
Should Cox and Boyd turn two years of valuable experience into a dominant 2011 season, it would help offset the loss of All-SEC linebackers KJ Wright and Chris White and All-SEC end Pernell McPhee. All three were selected in the 2011 NFL draft.
Cox feels he”s ready to step into the role McPhee played last year when he ran the defense.
“(Defensive line) Coach (Chris) Wilson always expresses you”re gonna have to have one defensive lineman run the defense,” Cox said. “The coaches expect a whole lot more than I did my freshman and sophomore year. But me being a leader, coaches are looking at me being one of the leaders of the defense, especially on the line.”
Athletic department sets fundraising record
MSU”s athletic department received a school-record $37.6 million in gifts and pledges through the Bulldog Club and Bulldog Foundation during the 2010-11 fiscal year, MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin announced Wednesday.
The record includes all outright gifts as well as multi-year pledges to the Bulldog Club, Bulldog Foundation, and the “Today. Tomorrow. Forever” athletic facilities initiative. The total includes approximately $20.3 million toward the planned Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex, spearheaded by a record $12 million gift from the Seal Family announced earlier this year.
The $37.6 million figure is a significant increase from last year”s total of $17.4 million and marks a fifth straight year of increased athletic donations. Athletic fundraising has risen from $9.2 million in 2007 to $11.6 million in 2008 to $14.9 million in 2009.
“These record fundraising totals are a result of the many people throughout our state and beyond who love this university,” Stricklin said. “Our university is in the midst of record enrollment, record giving, and record ticket sales. Each of those highlights how unified we are in pushing Mississippi State forward into the future.”
On Tuesday, the Mississippi State Foundation announced a record-breaking year of fundraising for the university, which collected $80 million in private gifts.
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