STARKVILLE — No defensive players were left behind during Mississippi State football’s walk from the practice facility to Davis Wade Stadium on Aug. 10.
The unit made sure everyone was ready before trekking to the stadium together for the first scrimmage of MSU’s preseason.
The scrimmage was closed to the public, including reporters, but second-year coach Jeff Lebby said that connectedness was the start of what was an encouraging performance by the defense.
“What I loved was defensively finding ways to create turnovers and some negative plays,” he said afterward. “That, for me, was a great thing to see from the defensive side of the ball. They got their hands on the ball, made plays, created some huge momentum plays in the scrimmage. That was good to see.”
Lebby didn’t single out any players except for one: Kelley Jones. The redshirt sophomore cornerback, according to Lebby, had a scoop-and-score touchdown of “50-60 yards.”
Jones is expected to be a starter for the Bulldogs’ defense, which allowed an SEC-worst 34.1 points per game in 2024.
On the opposite end, that means the Bulldogs’ offense didn’t limit turnovers.
“Today, the frustrating thing offensively was not taking care of the ball,” Lebby said. “We did some really good things. We created a couple of explosives. We did some decent things in the run game, but turnovers were the storyline today. The ball is the program, and we’ve got to make sure we’re doing a great job taking care of it. We’ve done a pretty good job of it throughout fall camp and doing that nine practices in.”
Mississippi State doesn’t have many injuries, says Jeff Lebby
Lebby added that MSU is generally healthy as the first game of the season nears, at Southern Miss on Aug. 30 (11 a.m. CT, ESPN).
Lots of eyes are on starting quarterback Blake Shapen, who…
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Publish date : 2025-08-11 02:32:00
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