STARKVILLE — With spring commencement at Mississippi State now officially passed, summer has arrived in Starkville.
And while the MSU football team has yet to endure its usual regimen of spring practices due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there remains a growing optimism a 2020 football season will be played — though an exact start date and the logistics behind such an occurrence remain unknown.
Over the next week-plus, we’re going to dive into the Bulldogs’ depth chart heading into the summer and what it might look like once competition is allowed to begin.
Following last week’s three-part look at the defense and Monday’s foray into the receiving corps, let’s stick with offense and the MSU offensive line.
Like the linebacker position, the Bulldogs will have to replace ample professional talent in the trenches with the graduations of left tackle Tyre Phillips, interior lineman Tommy Champion and center and team captain Darryl Williams. Losing Williams is perhaps the biggest blow given his leadership qualities and his ability to play any of the interior spots on the line, but with a stable of youngsters, MSU shouldn’t slip too far as it looks to protect its pass happy quarterback — whoever that may be — in 2020.
With Phillips’ spot on the outside now vacated, senior Greg Eiland is a logical option to flip from right tackle to left. At 6-foot-8, 335 pounds, Eiland is massive and profiles like the large offensive tackles of years past in Starkville. And though the former Philadelphia product had some issues with leverage and against speedier pass rushers in 2019, he’s played in 37 career games over the past three years.
Should offensive line coach Mason Miller and company decide to leave Eiland at right tackle, redshirt freshman Charles Cross should see his first extended action as a Bulldog protecting the quarterback’s blindside. Cross, a former five-star recruit out of Laurel was rated the No. 1 player in Mississippi in the class of 2018. In his first season at MSU, he played in games against Kansas State, Texas A&M and Southern Mississippi as the strength staff continued to bolster his 270 pound frame. With another offseason of work, he should add to his already impressive frame and stands to bolster MSU’s offensive line for the next three to four seasons.
“We’ve been recruiting Charles for a little more time because he’s in-state and we’ve known about him for a long time,” former coach Joe Moorhead said in 2017. “We just continued to stay in contact with him, he made his decision to reopen his recruitment and we didn’t have to change anything from what we had been doing the entire time. We just had the opportunity to get him up on campus, get him on an official visit and what we had to offer matched his criteria.”
The Bulldogs also brought in former four-star offensive tackle and West Point native Scott Lashley as a graduate transfer from Alabama. Lashley never found sustained playing time during his spell in Tuscaloosa, but he should be an instant-impact player after enrolling in January.
Moving to the interior, senior and former East Mississippi State standout LaQuinston Sharp and sophomore LSU transfer Cole Smith should battle it out for the starting center previously occupied by Williams. Sharp spent much of the 2019 season in a reserve capacity at guard, but also worked as a center in emergency situations. As for Smith, he served as a backup to LSU All-American Lloyd Cushenberry III during his time in Baton Rouge before migrating to Starkville in August.
On either side of Sharp/Smith, the Bulldogs boast a wealth of experience at both guard spots. Senior Stewart Reese has played 37 games in his career, while classmate Dareuan Parker also returns for his senior campaign after seeing action in the first 25 games of his career on PAT and special teams, but moved into a more vital role at left guard last season — appearing in 11 contests in 2019.
Other names to watch in varying roles include sophomore Kwatrivous “Dollarbill” Johnson and freshman Brandon Cunningham. Johnson was suspended for eight games a season ago for his part in the academic misconduct scandal in which a tutor completed coursework for 10 MSU football players and one men’s basketball player, but offers serious upside at tackle.
In Cunningham’s case, he enters his second season at MSU after redshirting last fall. A former four-star prospect, he profiles more as an interior lineman and should give some depth at either guard spot behind Reese and Parker given his 6-foot-4, 305-pound frame.
MSU has made a habit of producing productive offensive linemen in recent years as four former Bulldog trench players have been taken in the NFL Draft since 2017. This year’s group lost pieces, but the experience is there to expedite the learning process.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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