The secret ingredient: How MSU's defense exceeded expectations

Bulldogs had one of SEC's stingiest units in 2020 regular season

Rewind your mind back to September. When that very first Mississippi State depth chart of the year was released, starting at strong safety was Londyn Craft.

Social media was soon ablaze with multiple variations of the same question. 

"Who?"

Some three months later, the walk-on Craft has established himself as a valuable member of MSU's defense. It's safe to say he's exceeded all expectations as entering Thursday's Armed Forces Bowl versus Tulsa, Craft is fifth on the team in tackles (46). He also has 1.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery this year.

In a way, Craft is the 2020 State defense in a nutshell. It was a group that many in the preseason foresaw as the Achilles heel of this year's Bulldogs. Luckily for MSU, the players making up that defense apparently didn't see it that way and defensive coordinator Zach Arnett saw that as perhaps the secret ingredient of it all.

"The first thing I’d say is the best thing they’ve done is not listen to all that noise outside telling them apparently they’re not that good of players and they shouldn’t be expected to play well – they didn't believe any of that B.S.," Arnett said this week when asked about his group's 2020 showing. "Just because maybe they weren’t household names prior to the season, I don’t see how that makes them a bad football player. It’s just people didn’t know about them yet. Guys get their opportunity, they prepare, they practice hard, and they go out there and play pretty good. Now, we’ve made our fair share of mistakes and we have some things we still have to improve upon and get a whole lot better running the defense, but typically when you prepare hard all week, and you get yourself jacked up and ready to play and play hard, you’ve got a chance to play some decent defense."

And play decent defense the Bulldogs have. In fact, decent undersells it a good bit.

Few folks would've been shocked if you'd have told them prior to the year that State was headed toward having a defensive unit ranked near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference. There were major depth issues. Several stars of the past were either in the NFL or had graduated. Many first-year guys were going to have to play big roles.

Now throw in there was a new defensive coordinator with Arnett – full of new terminology and a new 3-3-5 scheme – and it was seemingly setting up to be a bumpy ride for the Bulldogs. Nonetheless, the group charged forward.

"I really feel like from the time all the new coaches got here, all the new faces kind of rallied around each other and bought in," State senior linebacker Erroll Thompson said. "And really throughout the whole year, just having each other’s backs and depending on each other and falling back on your brother each week and playing for each other. I really just feel like we banded together and just did it for each other really."

All the rallying together provided tremendous results. At the conclusion of the regular season, the Bulldogs were behind only three SEC teams in terms of total defense. State was a top-half-of-the-league team in scoring defense. MSU was fourth in the SEC and 21st in the country in rushing defense. The team was also fourth in the conference in average yards allowed per play.

There were tremendous individual performances as well. Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes is tied for the SEC lead in interceptions. He was selected to the conference's All-SEC Freshman team by league coaches. Fellow corner Martin Emerson is fifth in the conference with nine pass break-ups. Defensive end Marquiss Spencer and linebacker Aaron Brule both have eight tackles for loss, a total tied for 10th in the SEC. Spencer is tied for third among the league's linemen. 

And it also bears mentioning all of this happened with severe hindrances. MSU was regularly incredibly shorthanded on defense due to several factors including injuries, opt-outs or COVID-19 protocols. Starting safety Fred Peters suffered a season-ending injury in the middle of the year. Another starting safety – Marcus Murphy – opted out. So too did defensive lineman Nathan Pickering, a key piece up front for State.

Others didn't play in at least a game, including Spencer, Craft and safety Collin Duncan. Linebackers Tyrus Wheat and Jordan Davis missed two games each. Thompson essentially missed a whole game after getting ejected following the second play of the regular season's final contest because of a targeting call. All the while, no matter the setback, the Bulldogs kept on ticking.

"I never really looked at the guys around me as (having) more or less," Thompson said. "I always looked at it as Coach Arnett did a great job preparing (the first string or second string) or it didn’t really matter. So I knew whoever stepped out on the field, whether they’d played in a game or not, they’d be mentally ready."

Many of those inexperienced pups more than pulled their share of the weight. And even when they didn't, at the very least, it might very well be a situation where those players got first-hand game action that will benefit them moving forward as the head coach Mike Leach era continues to establish itself at MSU. Thompson himself is a testament to how early playing time can sharpen skills.

"Me, personally, getting on the field early I feel like helped me on down the line," Thompson said. "More experience is always better, especially in the SEC. These young guys, I feel like it can’t do anything but get better. It’s definitely a good thing."

Unlike back in September, MSU's defense isn't catching anyone off guard these days. The Bulldogs have established themselves as a tough, stingy group.

And from the top on down, there's plenty of credit to go around. New scheme, new players, new coaches? No problem.

"I think they have done a good job," Arnett said. "Obviously, the credit for that goes to them as players being ready to put in the effort to get in their playbook and learn their stuff. And credit goes to the assistant coaches for doing a nice job of getting it taught. Certainly, there’s credit due there. But you look at us and watch any game, we’re a 3-3-5, but I bet you on a lot of the snaps the opposing offense would say we looked like a 4-2-5. We line up in multiple fronts. There’s a lot of similarities to what they did in the past, so you’re able to hopefully make some connections. 'We call it this, but it’s really like this in your old defense.' It’s a form of the same defense. Obviously, the players have to learn it, learn new terminology, and they have done a nice job of that, and then it was a really good job by the coaches getting it taught."

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