STARKVILLE –The purgatory of offseason storylines and circumstantial prognostications on the Mississippi State football team are reaching their end.
Monday, SEC Media Days kick off in Hoover, Alabama as the head coaches and selected players from each team in the conference will descend on the Hyatt Regency Birmingham-Wynfrey Hotel to answer burning preseason questions as they break their radio silence.
For MSU coach Joe Moorhead, the event is his second go-around as he enters year two with the Bulldogs.
Joining Moorhead in Hoover are junior linebacker Erroll Thompson, senior offensive lineman Darryl Williams and senior tight end Farrod Green.
Williams and Thompson will serve as the offensive and defensive captains, respectively, for this year’s squad.
Chief among the expected questions for Moorhead includes an update on the brewing quarterback competition between Penn State graduate transfer Tommy Stevens and junior Keytaon Thompson.
Thompson is the incumbent in MSU’s quarterback room and left spring practice as the de facto No. 1 after sitting behind Nick Fitzgerald last season.
He flashed a solid understanding of the playbook in the early going this year, though a disheartening 3-for-10 start in the spring game left plenty to be desired.
Stevens enters the fray after spending two years in Moorhead’s system in Happy Valley where he served as the backup to Trace McSorley.
When asked what Stevens’ knowledge of the MSU playbook would be coming to Starkville, Moorhead said he would already know roughly 85 percent of it given the similar concepts and jargon to those used during his time at Penn State.
MSU’s second-year head coach will also assuredly be questioned on how the Bulldog offense will further stretch the field in the passing game after struggling to do so in any capacity last season.
Of course, who plays quarterback will factor in, but Moorhead assured reporters last week that his team will have a receiver total more than 500 yards this year.
As for the players, Thompson will anchor an experienced group at linebacker this fall alongside Starkville native, junior Willie Gay Jr. With the oft-noted departures of Montez Sweat and Jeffery Simmons along the line, Thompson and Gay should factor into this year’s defense more than they did in 2018.
Williams should shed light on what will be a deep and experienced offensive line unit coming into 2019. Shifting over from guard to replace second round pick Elgton Jenkins, the 6-foot-2, 310-pounder will be one of a number of Bulldogs rotating in the trenches.
SEC Media Days begin at 11:30 a.m. Monday when Commissioner Greg Sankey and Missouri’s assorted group address reporters. The event will conclude at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Moorhead and the MSU contingent will speak with gathered media from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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