STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State football defense had the offense bottled up for the entire spring game until the very last play.
As the Bulldogs were practicing the two-minute drill — mostly with starters out of the game — freshman four-star quarterback Kamario Taylor lofted a perfect pass down the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown to receiver Sanfrisco Magee. The two-quarter scrimmage ended there, with Team White defeating Team Maroon 9-0 at Davis Wade Stadium on April 19.
“Our guys’ energy was good,” second-year coach Jeff Lebby said. “I thought at times defensively we really flew around. I thought there was physicality. I thought both lines of scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball did a good job.”
MSU went 2-10 and winless in the SEC last season in large part because of the horrendous defense that allowed 34.1 points per game. But in the spring game, the defense with retained coordinator Coleman Hutzler had the best of the offense.
Mississippi State had an impressive defensive performance in the spring game
The Mississippi State defense didn’t recover a fumble or intercept a pass, but it kept the offense from scoring for most of the game.
The Bulldogs had seven sacks and nine tackles for loss. Safety Tony Mitchell led with two tackles for loss while seven players each had one sack. Thirty-nine rushing attempts accumulated only 70 yards with sophomore Xavier Gayten leading the way with 35 yards on 10 carries.
The defensive line has been facelifted from last season after ranking near the bottom in the FBS in sacks and rushing defense.
“The defensive line, from a roster standpoint, we’re in a completely different spot than we were a year ago today,” Lebby said. “We’ve got to continue to get better up front on the defensive side of the ball. But where we’re at today compared to a…
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Publish date : 2025-04-19 21:32:00
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