STARKVILLE — Nothing will be basic about the No. 20 Mississippi State football team”s defense after the first play this season.
As he prepares for his first game as defensive coordinator, MSU coach Chris Wilson said his unit won”t leave any schemes unused in its season opener Thursday at the University of Memphis (7 p.m., Fox Sports Net).
“There”s nothing vanilla about Mississippi State,” Wilson said. “In a game one you have no idea who the other guy is going to be, so you really want to be as clean as you can be.”
MSU head coach Dan Mullen agrees, and made that point Monday at his weekly media conference.
“You want to concentrate on you as a team, so you”re not going to go too far outside the lines of what you do offensively and defensively, because your guys are comfortable with your system,” Mullen said.
The argument was made last year that a basic scheme would be in place when then-defensive coordinator Manny Diaz drew up a game plan for Memphis five days before MSU played host to Auburn. However, MSU used zone blitzes and disguised protections to create two interceptions while allowing just 41 yards rushing in a 49-7 victory.
“No, that is completely untrue,” Diaz said in September 2010. “We had to beat Memphis. We were looking to establish our identity and you can”t play a game with next week in your mind-set. We operate under the onus we”re going to do what we do regardless of who we play, so Memphis or Auburn, it”s all the same to us.”
Wilson, who was co-defensive coordinator last year with Diaz, must replace three new starters at linebacker, but he returns the combined experience of 130 starts at the other positions. He intends to continue Diaz”s philosophy and won”t care about what future opponents can scout from the game that week.
“This game will really be about who makes the adjustments,” Wilson said. “I”m just kind of ready to see our product, especially it being year two of the defense.”
When preparing for a defense, MSU offensive coordinator Les Koenning said there are many different flavors of vanilla teams can showcase in the opening week.
“There”s vanilla with cherries, strawberries, and nuts,” Koenning said. “There”s a lot of ways we coaches like to say we”re vanilla.”
MSU could use as many as six or seven linebackers this season, and players will be asked to know multiple spots, if not all three under new linebackers coach Geoff Collins. Unfortunately, Mullen said Monday sophomore Chris Hughes will “questionable” to play against Memphis, but he didn”t go into detail about a reason for Hughes” status.
MSU also will have incorporate changes in the secondary. Senior Wade Bonner will be the starter at free safety. He is listed first on the depth chart, and he said Monday he”ll split time with sophomore returning starter Nickoe Whitley.
“We just want to come out and play our technique, but it”s a dual starting thing we got there,” Bonner said. “We”re still learning day by day. It”s basically the same defense, so we both have a better understanding of what we”re doing out there.”
Wilson said Monday he”s convinced his defensive secondary, which includes juniors Corey Broomfield and Johnthan Banks at cornerback and senior co-captain Charles Mitchell at strong safety, is “by far” the best in the Southeastern Conference. Even as Wilson tries to find a pass rush with new pieces at defensive end and linebacker, the secondary could wipe away early season mistakes.
“You”ve got guys with (video) tape and they have a résumé of being able to perform in games,” Wilson said. “It allows you do some things you probably didn”t feel as comfortable with a year ago.”
Without updated tape to scout Memphis, Mullen and the coaches have focused inward for the season opener, especially on defense.
“Do we have 11 guys running to the ball and not giving up on the play (and) are we creating turnovers?” Mullen said when asked what he wants from his defense. “Those are things that you control, that you focus on your assignment. Not have (missed assignments), not having penalties, those are the things that can doom you in the first game. We focus on more than that maybe the scheme. You don”t know the Memphis personality.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.