STARKVILLE — Brylan Lanier started his college football career as close to home as he could possibly be.
The safety grew up in Tuscaloosa, Ala., attended Paul W. Bryant High School in nearby Cottondale, and enrolled for his freshman year at the university where his alma mater’s namesake became a college football coaching legend. But Lanier was unable to carve out any playing time on Alabama’s stacked roster and transferred to Indiana with all four years of eligibility still intact.
Lanier played in 11 games in 2022 for the Hoosiers but then returned to the Deep South and played the 2023 season at East Mississippi Community College, helping the Lions reach the NJCAA championship game. As the No. 3 rated junior college cornerback in the country according to 247Sports, Lanier had offers from Georgia, Arkansas and North Carolina State but committed to Mississippi State on New Year’s Day.
“We’ve got a great group,” Lanier said. “Everybody can play with the (first team). Everybody can play different positions.”
Lanier is one of four EMCC products on this Bulldogs defense, joined by safety Tyler Woodard, linebacker Marcus Ross and lineman Ashun Sheppard. It’s a defense that is largely lacking in returning production and has added just five players so far via the transfer portal, three of them up front.
Defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler has Lanier working at the nickel position, but it remains to be seen how often MSU will utilize nickel packages. The Bulldogs operated out of a 3-3-5 base defense with three safeties last year under Zach Arnett and Matt Brock, but Hutzler is a primary defensive coordinator this year for the first time in his career (he was a co-defensive coordinator at Texas in 2020).
“(The) defense (has) been balling,” Lanier said. “Coach Hutzler is calling some aggressive calls, so we’re getting the ball out, we’re getting big stops. It’s going to be a great season.”
Of those five defensive transfers, only South Carolina linebacker Stone Blanton had significant playing time in 2023, and cornerback Tre Wright (Memphis) and lineman Wilky Denaud (Auburn) did not record any statistics last fall.
Denaud, a four-star prospect from Fort Pierce, Fla., had six SEC offers out of high school and could be in line to contribute right away. The defensive line loses Nathan Pickering and Jaden Crumedy but brings back De’Monte Russell and Deonte Anderson, as well as Kalvin Dinkins and Trevion Williams, who both sustained season-ending injuries early last season.
Defensive line coach David Turner is one of just two assistants back on the Bulldogs’ staff from the previous regime.
“(Turner) wants me to get better at consistency,” Anderson said. “I’d be making strides in plays, but then sometimes I’d just fall back a little bit.”
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