STARKVILLE — Dez Harris was more than a middle linebacker producing over five tackles per game for last year’s Mississippi State football team; he was a senior for a position group that desperately needed one, as the rest of its rotation was made up of two freshmen and a sophomore. In the midst of installing a new defense with a new coaching staff, MSU will have to find a replacement for Harris as the defensive signal caller, the one in charge of all postsnap adjustments.
If all goes according to plan, that man will be Erroll Thompson.
Thompson was MSU’s second-most productive linebacker last season as his 46 tackles, one for a loss, earned him Southeastern Conference All-Freshman honors, but that’s not why he is picked as the next defensive leader. If Thompson is the one making the calls for MSU in the fall, it’s because he’s the kind of guy MSU wants to do it.
“He’s been really good because No. 1, he wants to do it,” MSU linebackers coach Tem Lukabu told The Dispatch. “That’s always the first step of, who are we going to let quarterback our defense? It has to be a guy that actually wants to do it. There’s no faking your way through that: either you can do it and you want to do it or you can’t because the guys in front of you and guys behind you are going to look at you like you’re crazy and they’re not going follow you. He’s put the extra time in, he’s diligent about learning the details. So far, so good.
“I think it takes a certain type of personality. He wants to be a commander, and so far he’s doing that.”
This move has been months in the making for the Florence, Alabama, product. Thompson had frequent conversations with Harris last season about this role, how to prepare for each game within it and the leadership expectations that come with it. Thompson said Harris was consistently coaching him on it all — even before Thompson was given a sneak peek at the job when Harris missed three games dues to injury.
Granted, all of that on-job training came in the Todd Grantham system, before new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop took over as part of the Joe Moorhead staff. Clearly, Shoop saw the same things in Thompson that Harris did, as his decision to groom Thompson for the role came quickly.
“I think between he, (safeties Mark) McLaurin and (Johnathan) Abram, if you’re grading them on football intelligence I’d say they’re off the charts,” Shoop said. “They have a good feel for the game and that makes it fun to work with them.
“Talking to Erroll, talking to Mark and talking to John is like talking to adults, it’s not just talking to young kids. They’re very mature and very football intelligence.”
Since then, Shoop has talked to Thompson like a person he wants to run his defense. Thompson said Shoop tells him often he has to, “be the quarterback of the defense,” telling him to lead and be vocal on the field. It may be a lot to put on a sophomore for a defense that has significant upperclassman presence, but the age factor is nothing Thompson’s coaches fear.
“For me, as a linebackers coach, it doesn’t matter what age you are. If someone can lead guys, they show you,” Lukabu said. “It pops, you don’t miss it. It’s one of those things you see, and so far he’s got that.”
All that’s left is the system knowledge required to make those calls and checks — and that’s what this spring is for.
“He’s diligent,” Shoop said of Thompson. “I’m also getting to know the other coaches and I’m very impressed with Tem Lukabu, Tem’s done an excellent job with the linebackers and they’ve come out for practice ready to execute at a high level. I know he’s going to have Erroll and I’m going to have Erroll ready.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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