Senior saftey Derek Pegues and the Mississippi State Bulldogs have something brewing in Starkville and look to take it to another level this season. (Photo by Jim Lytle/Associated Press)
By Harold McIlvain II
What wonders can recruiting do to a downed program that won five conference games and only seven overall games in the past three years entering the previous season?
Just ask Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom about his team last year.
A traditional team seen at the bottom of the well in the Southeastern Conference, the Bulldogs turned things around with a stellar defense last year and will look to open up the offense with sophomore quarterback Wesley Carroll to improve on last year’s 8-5 record.
“Our offense is definitely going to open up. It starts with the quarterback. I trust our quarterbacks, not only Wes, but Tyson Lee, a junior college transfer, to make right decisions. In our offense, the ball goes to anybody who can get the football,” Croom said. “In the years that we were at the Green Bay Packers, the runningbacks were the leading receivers in the offense every year. But that requires a quarterback to make good decisions and be able to get the ball to the open receiver.”
But Carroll, who finished the year completing134-of-255 passes for 1,392 with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions, will have an extra element from his wide receivers that should help the Bulldog offense that ranked No. 10 in the SEC in points scored.
“We have more speed at wide receiver. That’s gonna allow us to attack vertically a little bit more than what we have done,” Croom said. “It’s not that we will force it. But when the opportunity becomes available, [Carroll] has that option. He has a green light. We’ve given him the green light to take those shots. If it doesn’t work, we feel like with our running game we can come back and make it up on the next play, whereas we didn’t give him those kind of options last year.”
And those running options are looking good with junior Anthony Dixon returning from a 1066 yard, 14 touchdown campaign. But those options look even better with the junior Christian Ducre (487 yards and three touchdowns) returning and the addition of freshmen speedsters Wade Bonner and Robert Elliot.
“Our offense starts with [Dixon and Carroll]. They have to play well,” Croom said. “But Ducre is a valuable part of it. Then we expect Elliott and Bonner to really make a contribution to them. We got some packages where those guys will be involved. Even though Dixon is a starter, all four of those guys will play and play a lot.
“But Rob and Wade give us some explosiveness at the runningback position…we expect those four guys an integral part of what we do offensively.”
The defense that helped guide the renaissance of the program looks to only be getting better with the return of an improving Jamar Chaney.
“Chaney’s a leader of our defense,” Croom said. “We always try to be strong down the middle with him at the middle linebacker spot, and with Derek Pegues as safety we’re pretty solid down the middle of our defense. If we expect his play to improve, I think even from the spring to the summer, he’s really changed his body. I think his conditioning is one of the things we talked to him at the end of spring, he had to improve his endurance level, get stronger. I think he’s done that.”
And the good thing for Mississippi State is that another productive recruiting class, which has brought new light to the downed program, is in the brewing already.
“We are way ahead of where we’ve ever been in recruiting for next season. In fact right now I think we’re at 19 commitments already. We’ve got a few guys in our state that, if we can get those guys committed, and we feel positive about that at this point, then we’ll have an excellent recruiting year.”
With great players comes expectations, so Croom will be shooting for the starts this season to improve and continue to make his mark in the SEC.
“I think we have a chance to [win the conference title] this year. I don’t know if we’re good enough. But I know this: every year prior to now we have played as good as we could play,” Croom said. “When I sit back and look at our team, we have played as good as we can play. But our goal is to win the conference championship.”
Around the SEC will take a look at a different team every Thursday and discuss its current situation heading into the football season.
Filed under: Sports | Tagged: College football, Derek Pegues, Football, Mississippi State Bulldogs, NCAA Football, SEC Football, SEC Media Day, Sylvester Croom
