STARKVILLE — The road to Atlanta and the Southeastern Conference title game starts today for the Mississippi State football team.
The Bulldogs reported Suanday night and open fall camp today. No practices will be open to the public.
MSU opened the 2014 season with nine-straight victories and was ranked No. 1 for five-straight weeks. The Bulldogs lost three of their final four games, including losses to Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl and Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl, to finish 10-3. MSU earned its highest finish in The Associated Press rankings (No. 11) and tied its highest finish in the USA Today Coaches poll (No. 12).
“Hopefully we’re getting to that point now where we can compete year in and year out,” MSU coach Dan Mullen said last month at Southeastern Conference Media Days. “If you ask what we expect, look at our schedule, I would think we’d go 15-0 this year because I don’t ever this time of year say we’re going to definitely lose that game.”
MSU, which was No. 26 in the preseason coaches poll (two points behind No. 25 Tennessee) will open the season at 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, against Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the game. MSU will play host to LSU at 8:15 p.m. (ESPN) the following week.
MSU released its 105-man roster Sunday night. Freshman tight end Farrod Green was the only addition. He was one of three incoming freshmen who didn’t enroll at the start of summer. Former Louisville High wide receiver Dontea Jones enrolled at Jireh Preparatory Academy in Matthews, North Carolina. He is expected to enroll at MSU in January. The future of former Woodlawn High (Shreveport, Louisiana) defensive tackle T.D. Morton is uncertain.
Linebacker Quadry Antoine and tight end Rashun Dixon weren’t listed on the roster. Antoine played in 14 games for the Bulldogs in two years. He made six tackles and had one sack.
According to an MSU spokesperson, Antoine will transfer and Dixon is no longer on the team. Dixon is the younger brother of Anthony Dixon, MSU’s all-time rushing leader, who is playing with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
MSU returns four starters on offense, including All-America quarterback Dak Prescott. The Haughton, Louisiana, native threw for 3,449 yards and 27 touchdowns last season. He rushed for 986 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“My goal is to work harder than every other team in this conference,” Prescott said at media days. “We have to dedicate ourselves to watching more film and sacrifice doing what we want to do.”
The offense also returns 22 letterwinners from last season.
MSU returns four starters on defense and 20 letterwinners. According to NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., Will Redmond and Taveze Calhoun are the two of the top six NFL cornerback prospects for 2016.
“We want to have a complete defense,” Calhoun said earlier this summer. “We just try to take care of ourselves, our defense as a whole, and make sure everyone is working toward the common goal of being the best defensive in the nation.”
Of the 105 players who reported, 52 will play on offense, while 46 will play defense.
Ben Wait is a sports writer for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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