STARKVILLE — Jaylan Ware was scrolling through Twitter around 9 a.m. when he caught the news.
Sitting with junior linebacker Tyrese Hopkins in English class, the duo was alerted to their selection to the Mississippi team for this year’s Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Classic.
“I was shocked since I didn’t think I was going to get picked for it,” Hopkins said.
Needing to replace eight defensive starters entering this season, Ware and Hopkins have helped expedite the process of rebuilding a youthful Starkville defense — one that will be tested this week against Germantown.
Ware has been a stalwart on the interior of the Yellow Jacket defensive line for almost three years now. Through six games, he’s tied for the team lead with 44 tackles and is No. 1 among all players with 12 tackles for a loss.
For Hopkins, this season has been a learning curve. A transfer from Noxubee County, he spent much of the spring and fall simply trying to grasp the Starkville defensive playbook. Speaking with The Dispatch three weeks ago, Hopkins said his understanding of the playbook wasn’t quite there. That’s no longer the case.
“My last answer, I didn’t know where I was,” he quipped Wednesday. “Now I know where I’m at pretty much 100 percent.”
With Ware and Hopkins stabilizing the Starkville defense, there’s been an appreciable improvement over the past three weeks. In games against Meridian, Louisville and South Panola, the Yellow Jackets are allowing an average of nine points per game.
By contrast, Starkville conceded 28.3 points per contest through its first three games against Brandon, Oxford and West Point.
“I think it’s all about getting better week in and week out,” Starkville coach Chris Jones said of the defense. “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon so we’ve got the mindset of just one game at a time — we’re not trying to look too far down the line. We just want to get a little bit better every day.”
“They came out and exposed us,” Ware added of West Point, which hung 41 points on the unit. “Personally, I hate if someone comes out and exposes me, so I always tell the guys there won’t be another team that comes out here and exposes the Starkville defense.”
Facing a Mavericks team that will line up in a split-back look, the reads for the front seven are a touch different. Hopkins explained that the Yellow Jackets must stay true to their assignments and stick with their tackling lanes.
Further, Germantown relies heavily on pulling guards and tackles to create mismatches — something that can tip off the linebacking corps as to where the run is going.
“The major point of emphasis all week has been making sure we recognize the formations and what they can and can’t do out of certain formations,” Jones said. “It’s kind of process of elimination.”
With his and Hopkins’ statewide honors in tow, Ware said the nomination was among his goals for the season. Next up for him and the defense: a state title.
“We’re about 80 percent of the way there,” Ware added. “We’ve got some things to fix and stuff, but I think right about Week 9, Week 10, everything should be in place and kicking in.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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