• last year
Jackson Clarion-Ledger writer Stefan Krajisnik outlines what has gone wrong with the Bulldogs' defense
Transcript
00:00 Now, one thing that kind of mind numbingly is in common with these two teams is I guess
00:06 both of the coaches expertise areas, I guess, are struggling.
00:12 Kind of in its own way, what's kind of gone wrong for our net defensively?
00:17 Yeah, I mean, to put it in, you know, short terms, it's, it's everything, everything has
00:22 gone wrong for this team defensively, you know, they've had, they've had injuries up
00:27 front on defense that I really haven't helped, you know, the defensive line.
00:30 But at the same time, it's a team that the Pascal beers have struggled, you know, to
00:34 get consistency up front, which is kind of surprising considering, you know, you look
00:37 at the history of Mississippi State and guys like Montez Sweat, Fletcher Cox, you know,
00:42 Jeffrey Simmons, Chris Jones that have come through his program and I've assessed that,
00:46 you know, the NFL level, I mean, Mississippi State has spent a lot of its off season talking
00:49 about being, you know, D line you, and they're not getting enough up front to really get
00:53 consistent pressure on quarterback.
00:55 So that's, that's number one, it starts up front.
00:58 Number two at linebacker, you have Nathaniel Watson and jet Johnson veteran guys who are,
01:01 you know, probably at the Senate at the end of this year, going to be number one and number
01:04 two and, and sec tackles just like they were last season, right?
01:08 Their experience guys, but they haven't found someone at the Sam linebacker spot who can
01:12 kind of be that, you know, a multidimensional player of, of being kind of a traditional
01:17 linebacker, but also kind of, you know, putting his hand on the ground and coming and putting
01:20 some pressure on the quarterback.
01:21 They haven't found that guy at that level.
01:23 And in the secondary, you lost a lot with, you know, four starters being gone, manual
01:27 fours being top among those, you know, for a first round pick, you know, by the commanders
01:31 and you had the record for pick sixes and FBS history, but you know, you haven't found
01:37 enough production from guys that were kind of behind those starters that have kind of
01:40 stepped into these bigger roles to give you enough in the secondary.
01:43 So you can go by level and say, you know, what the holes have been with this defensive
01:49 defense for Mississippi state.
01:51 And I think that's the number one reason that people are concerned about, you know, where
01:54 this program is in year one under Zach Karnad is because like you said, that's his expertise.
01:58 That was the area that, you know, while losing some players also returned a lot of veterans
02:02 and was supposed to be the rock while this offense kind of figured its way out.
02:06 That really hasn't been the case.