Mississippi State’s starting offense seems likely to have seven transfers on the field when the Bulldogs open the season against Eastern Kentucky on Aug. 31. MSU’s defense, though, will have to rely mostly on players the Bulldogs recruited out of high school.
With key players gone from every level of last year’s defense that grew a lot as the season progressed, MSU has question marks all over the field as Coleman Hutzler prepares for his first year coordinating the unit. Injuries were an issue in 2023, especially up front, but it may be the secondary that has the most to prove this fall.
What’s clear is that the Bulldogs will need significant contributions from players who have yet to prove themselves at the collegiate level so far. On the defensive line, the most likely candidate is Trevion Williams, who played in three games last season as a redshirt freshman before missing the rest of the year with an injury.
Williams was a consensus four-star prospect out of Crystal Springs High School in southwest Mississippi, choosing MSU over the likes of Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee and Auburn. The No. 5 player in Mississippi for his class, Williams redshirted in 2022 after appearing briefly in three games before seeing his 2023 season get cut short.
Still, his potential is undeniable, and the Bulldogs will need him to showcase that potential after losing Jaden Crumedy and Nathan Pickering from their defensive front. MSU does return Deonte Anderson and De’Monte Russell, plus Kalvin Dinkins, another redshirt freshman who missed almost the entire season due to injury. But Williams could be the group’s most explosive playmaker, which means a lot of the defensive line’s success is resting on his shoulders.
The Bulldogs did add a probable starter in the middle of their defense in former South Carolina linebacker Stone Blanton, who grew up in Jackson and was once committed to MSU for baseball. But the linebacking corps is still tasked with replacing Nathaniel “Bookie” Watson and Jett Johnson, the Southeastern Conference’s two leading tacklers each of the last two years.
Redshirt junior Ty Cooper, who saw more playing time late last season, could help fill that void. Cooper played high school football in nearby Louisville and was a top-20 recruit in Mississippi for the class of 2021. He made brief appearances in eight games as a true freshman but was limited to three games the following year, taking a redshirt.
In 2023, Cooper played in all 12 games, starting the last two in place of DeShawn Page. He saved his best performance for last, making four tackles and adding a quarterback hurry in the Egg Bowl against Ole Miss. John Lewis, one of three student-athletes selected to speak during MSU’s SEC Media Days session, may be the Bulldogs’ most experienced returning linebacker, but Cooper should be right in the mix for a starting spot alongside Lewis and Blanton.
The defensive backfield no longer has Decamerion Richardson, Shawn Preston Jr. or Marcus Banks, all of whom are pursuing opportunities in the NFL. Corey Ellington started seven games last year at safety, but if MSU is to continue its long line of shutdown cornerbacks, sophomore Brice Pollock seems like the Bulldogs’ best bet.
Pollock started three of MSU’s last five games as a true freshman and led all freshmen on the team in tackles with 24. Apart from him and Ellington, the Bulldogs’ secondary is likely to be a combination of junior college pickups and players with little college experience, so Pollock will need to emerge as a leader within the group even as an underclassman.
In MSU’s spring game, the secondary looked overmatched most of the day against a talented group of wide receivers, although they did create one turnover when safety Tyler Woodard stripped the ball from Kevin Coleman just shy of the goal line and cornerback Raydarious Jones recovered the fumble.
Turnovers will be the biggest key to the Bulldogs’ defensive success in 2024, and Pollock, who is in line to fill Richardson’s spot as the top cover corner, will need to be a big part of creating those game-changing plays.
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