Here is where Mississippi State stands defensively according to defensive coordinator Zach Arnett

On the heels of MSU's first scrimmage, Arnett believes team has plenty of work to do

With the consistency that Mike Leach offenses have shown through the years, many expect it to be a given that the new Mississippi State head coach will again find a way to rack up yards and points this year, even if there are a few growing pains. If that happens, the defense might be what makes or breaks the Bulldogs in 2020. 

However, with under three weeks until MSU opens up the season at LSU, defensive coordinator Zach Arnett is clear. He doesn't believe the Bulldogs are ready on that side of the ball.

Last month, Arnett emphasized the State defense isn't where it needs to be. When Arnett met with reporters Tuesday night, he said there'd been progress made, but he's still not satisfied.

"I’ll put it bluntly," Arnett said. "Do I feel a little better? Yes. Are we there? No."

Here are a few more takeaways from Arnett's meeting with reporters:

It's not knowledge, it's execution

Arnett believes the Bulldogs know what to do. They know where to be. To reach peak performance though, Arnett says the next step is executing it all consistently .

"When the ball is up in the air, (it's) winning those 50-50 balls," Arnett said. "Or finishing a pass rush and getting the sack instead of the quarterback being able to step up, evade the rush, and keep the play alive. Credit to the guys. They’ve done a nice job of spending time in the meeting rooms and asking their coaches, learning the X's and O's on the classroom side of it. Now we have to get a lot better at how it actually plays out on the field."

With a relatively inexperienced group, particularly at linebacker and in the secondary, it stands to reason that there might be more comfort – and thus more production – with more experience. The question is, how quickly can the group progress, as the 10-game SEC slate will be unforgiving.

Forbes and Furdge battling for starting CB role

It's a near certainty that Martin Emerson has one starting cornerback job locked up. The question has long been, who will be the other? Arnett gave some insight on Tuesday.

"We’ve got a good battle there between everyone else vying for it," Arnett said. "A couple of guys who have done a nice job up to this point – true freshman (Emmanuel) Forbes and (sophomore Esaias) Furdge are having a nice little battle over there right now. It’s good because competition makes everyone better. They’re pushing each other over there and we’ve got some depth fighting to battle it out with those guys. Those two names I mentioned right there, they’re probably competing the most right now."

Arnett later elaborated more on what is setting Forbes and Furdge apart from the rest of the pack.

"It’s pretty simple for a corner," Arnett said. "Line up on the guy, cover him and don’t let him catch the ball. Good corners play man coverage and don’t let their guy catch the ball and then they make plays on balls in the air. Those guys have done a nice job of that. Forbes has got that natural thing that you can’t coach – length. He can run and has a big wingspan. He can make plays on balls in the air. Furdge has done a nice job of being competitive, competing with receivers in tight coverage, fighting through the whistle and getting balls out...It’s pretty simple. You turn on the film and evaluate what do guys do when you’re actually playing football (and) who makes plays and who doesn’t. Those are the guys who are leading the competition in the one and two deep."

Linebacker play a concern

For Mississippi State at linebacker, senior Erroll Thompson is about the only sure thing. Essentially everyone else at the position is either a first-year Bulldog or stepping into a much larger role than ever before. Arnett, in what has become his typical fashion, didn't hold back when asked if he has been pleased with his linebacker group.

"Not pleased enough," Arnett said. "Erroll has got all the SEC experience in the world, but other than that, we need guys to step up and perform like veterans who don’t yet have that experience. We’re pushing them hard and really leaning on Erroll to hold them accountable and get them going because our scheme will not be successful if we don’t get good linebacker play, quite frankly. Those guys know it. They’ve been hearing it in the meeting room. First scrimmage down, and yep, we didn’t make a whole lot of assignment errors, but we didn’t make near enough plays for what the linebackers need to make in this defense. The pressure is on them. We need to see marked improvement this next week."

Defensive line being challenged by offensive line

In what could be taken as either a good thing or a bad thing for MSU, Arnett talked on Tuesday of how the State defensive line was challenged mightily by the offensive line in last Saturday's scrimmage. Now perhaps that means MSU's offensive front is performing well. Or maybe it means the defensive line still has progress to make. Either way, it appears there were battles going on in the trenches last Saturday.

"I think we got push (during the scrimmage)," Arnett said. "To be honest, I’ve got to give the offensive line a lot of credit. We threw every twist, or pass rush, stunt or blitz. They did a nice job of picking it all up. We didn’t win as many one-on-ones as we need if we’re going to be successful, but the (defensive) line comes off the ball good...You’ve got Marquiss (Spencer) and Kobe (Jones) – two older guys there. You’ve got (Nathan) Pickering and (Jaden) Crumedy that have played a whole bunch of snaps. (It's) a lot of (defensive) line guys – big, strong guys that can get off the ball on the snap. We need them to get push, to get back there and not let the quarterback hold the ball long. And obviously cause some chaos and destruction in the run game."

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