STARKVILLE – Manny Diaz is ready to see his defensive players tackle other guys than their own teammates.
The first-year Mississippi State defensive coordinator has been preparing his squad for the upcoming season since spring drills and that includes the last four weeks spent in training camp. During that time, the Bulldog defense has gone up against the Bulldog offense numerous times.
“I think we’re kind of at that spot where we’re ready to go play,” Diaz said. “We’ve gone against our offense enough times.
“You can only just run into somebody so many times before you prefer to run into somebody else.”
Diaz and the Bulldogs open the season Saturday night with a 9 p.m. kickoff against in-state foe Southern Mississippi on Fox Sports 1.
The Bulldogs started preparing for the Golden Eagles’ offense last week, but the big changes started this week as MSU officially made the transition into game week. The changes include different types of practices and meetings.
“That allows them to get into the focus of game mode,” seventh-year coach Dan Mullen said. “You are putting a specific plan together for this week. You are getting into your game routine. That allows them to stay focused throughout the week with the excitement building up to it.”
Veteran Bulldogs like senior cornerback Taveze Calhoun knows what it takes to stay focused when anxiety builds for a game. Even though the Bulldogs finished last season with a 10-3 overall record, the defense gave up 424.4 yards per game.
“We know where we want to go with this season and we know what our goals are,” Calhoun said. “The ultimate goal is to stay focused on our opponent and make sure we do the things we need to to get a win.”
But to ensure those goals come true, the Bulldogs have been doing the same things over and over into practice. A.J. Jefferson and the defensive lineman are trying to avoid boredom with the same reps.
“We come out there and do the same thing every day, from hand placement to coming out of your hips,” Jefferson said. “We’ve been at it and grinding. I made a goal right now to just stay focused and keep doing what we’ve got to do.”
Defensive line coach David Turner has a unique way of keeping the focus of his guys: he reminds them of the 452 rushing yards by Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl, the 223 yards both LSU and Troy rushed for in 2013 and 2012, respectively.
“Just because it’s Southern Miss, doesn’t mean they can’t run for 300, 400 yards,” junior defensive lineman Chris Jones said.
All 11 of MSU’s starters on defense will either be seniors or juniors, so they’ve experienced the anticipation of the first game week of the season. There are six redshirt freshmen and sophomores in the two-deep: redshirt freshman defensive tackle Braxton Hoyett, redshirt freshman defensive tackle Cory Thomas, sophomore linebacker J.T. Gray, redshirt freshman linebacker Gerri Green, sophomore linebacker Dez Harris and redshirt freshman strong safety Brandon Bryant. Senior defensive end Ryan Brown will be making his 14th career start Saturday.
“We just try to make sure those younger guys who haven’t been through a game week know what this week is about,” Brown said. “We make sure those guys are keyed in, locked in and know what they’re doing.”
Gray played in six games last season and earned All-SEC Freshman honors, while Harris’ season was cut short due to an injury after playing in six games. Hoyett, Thomas, and Bryant will all be playing in their first college game.
“We’ve got freshmen that are coming from great programs and great coaching, but it’s still just a vast jump to being on a field where a lot of times for these guys, it’s the first time where they see their peer, first time where they really see their equal,” Diaz said. “Often, they’re so physically more talented than everybody they play against on a high school field. The first time they run around out there and see themselves looking back at them, that’s a little spooky.”
Junior linebacker Beniquez Brown made two assisted tackles in his first game action in the 2013 season opener against Oklahoma State. The week leading up to the loss to the Cowboys, Beniquez Brown was anxious, but he had older guys like Deontae Skinner, Matt Wells and Benardrick McKinney to look up to.
“All week you were preparing to go in there and when you get in there, it moves a lot faster than practice,” Beniquez Brown said. “Practice moves fast, but when you get into a game, it’s a different pace. You have to get accustomed.”
The Bulldog defense had an easy time with the Golden Eagle offense last year only allowing 283 total yards of offense: 71 rushing yards and 212 passing yards. Diaz was at Louisiana Tech last season, but he has seen a Todd Monken offense three of the last four seasons. Monken, the third-year head coach, was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State from 2011-12, the same time Diaz was the defensive coordinator at the University of Texas.
Diaz helped Louisiana Tech beat Southern Miss 31-20 in Hattiesburg last season and the defense only allowed 348 yards: -31 rushing yards and 379 passing yards.
“Our guys are highly focused on Southern Miss at this stage,” Diaz said. “They understand what a big game that’s going to be, what a great environment and what a great game for this state.
“We have a high sense of urgency to make sure that we preform at a very high level that night.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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