STARKVILLE — Mississippi State junior defensive tackle Fletcher Cox couldn’t win Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for a third consecutive week.
Bye weeks will do that.
The Yazoo City native had 13 tackles in MSU past two games against the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of South Carolina. His four tackles behind the line of scrimmage is the second highest single-game total in the conference this season.
Cox led a defensive front that held South Carolina to a season-low 110 rushing yards on 43 attempts, including a 39-yard effort by Marcus Lattimore, the SEC’s leading rusher.
But MSU defensive coordinator Chris Wilson knows Cox, a second-team All-SEC selection can do more.
“He can be better,” Wilson said. “It’s never good enough. Trust me.”
The difference in Cox’s play and preparation can be traced back to what MSU coaches call “an organic” players-only policy that has seen lineman watching film with the linebackers so they can learn to communicate better in games.
“The nice thing is they are doing on their own,” MSU linebacker coach Geoff Collins said. “It seems like another two guys and another two guys are jumping in that meeting, and that’s when leadership happens among a team.”
Cox was the first MSU player to win the SEC’s weekly defensive honor twice since current Baltimore Ravens defensive end Pernell McPhee claimed the award twice in 2009. He also is the first MSU player to earn a conference weekly honor in back-to-back weeks since Don Smith on Sept. 6 and Sept. 13, 1986.
“He’s getting in a rhythm, and at the end of the day he’s done a better job of preparing,” Wilson said. “In week seven and week eight, you know who you are. What you have to start determining is who your opponent is. If we’re still out there fixing your fundamentals, then we’re in trouble.”
Cox’s ability to get up the field from the inside front of has allowed MSU’s defense to post better numbers on first down. The Bulldogs (3-4, 0-4 SEC) are allowing a little more than 3 yards per rush in their past three games, which has forced more third-and-long situations in the past 10 quarters against Georgia, UAB, and South Carolina.
“First down is critical to our success, and I like to think we’re getting better every week in that department,” Wilson said. “We need to win first down, and our guys are doing a better job understanding how teams want to attack on first down.”
At 6 p.m. Saturday (Fox Sports South), MSU’s defensive tackle tandem of Cox and Josh Boyd will be asked to slow a University of Kentucky rushing attack that had 340 rushing yards Saturday in a 38-14 victory against Football Subdivision member Jacksonville State.
“We can be real good like we were (Saturday),” Cox said after the South Carolina game. “The main thing we always talk about is stopping the run game.”
MSU players weren’t made available to the media Monday.
Kentucky is last in the league passing (117 yards per game), and coach Joke Phillips acknowledged Monday the running game’s ability to generate first downs will be critical to helping his team pull a home upset.
“It definitely helps give our guys confidence in the running game because we know the thing we have to do,” Phillips said. “I think you saw last week what our defense can do when they are fresh, when they don’t have to play as many plays, and keeping those guys off the field is done by running the football efficiently and moving the chains and then being able to have some big plays in the pass game.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.