Two-A-Days: Mississippi State Bulldogs

Two-a-Days rolls on with our third installment, in which we take a closer look at the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

To read previous entries, click HERE.

Mississippi State in a flash:

Head Coach: Dan Mullen, second year
2009 Record: 5-7 (3-5 SEC)
2009 Stats: Total offense, 371.92 ypg (7th SEC, 65th nationally); Total defense, 366.00 ypg (10th SEC, 58th nationally)
Coaching Changes: Former MTSU DC Manny Diaz replaces Carl Torbush as defensive coordinator and LBs coach; Chris Wilson serves as co-DC and takes over the D line from David Turner after serving as line coach at Oklahoma previously.
Starters Returning: Offense (7), Defense (8), Special Teams (2)
Key Player Losses: RB Anthony Dixon, QB Tyson Lee, LB Jamar Chaney
Big Games: at LSU (9/18), Georgia (9/25), @ Florida (10/16) and @ Alabama (11/13)
Non-Conference Slate: Memphis (9/4), Alcorn State (10/2), @ Houston (10/9), UAB (10/23)

Dan Mullen had a solid rookie campaign as head coach at Mississippi State, winning five games and coming close to knocking off LSU and Florida. But the schedule gets tough in 2010, and Mullen will have to replace his starting quarterback and the school's all-time rushing leader to boot.

To learn more about the West's Bulldogs, I checked in with Mississippi State beat writer Brad Locke of Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal to get some details on spring practice…

David Hale: Quarterback Chris Relf had a solid spring game, and from the looks of it, a good spring overall. Is he settled as the starter now or might we see a bit more to this battle with Tyler Russell in the fall?

Brad Locke: Relf, a junior, has the upper hand right now, but the battle is far from over. For one thing, coach Dan Mullen believes in keeping the competition open as long as he needs to. Secondly, Russell, a redshirt freshman, is too talented not to be in the mix. He's a better pure passer than Relf, and he can run the ball well enough to allow Mullen to use a good bit of the playbook. Likely, both will see playing time this fall, and their differing styles could give defenses trouble.

DH: Anthony Dixon was the foundation of Mississippi State's offense last year, but he's gone now. Who are some of the playmakers on that side of the ball that appeared ready to step in to fill the void this spring?

BL: Running back is a wide-open position right now, with JuCo transfer Vick Ballard, redshirt freshman Montrell Conner and junior Robert Elliott the leading candidates. Ballard and Conner had a better spring game than Elliott, but throughout the spring, Elliott got a ton of first-team snaps and might finally be coming into his own. When you say "playmaker," though, you think of sophomore receiver Chad Bumphis. He was SEC all-freshman last year and led the team in receiving. He's got speed and moves and can hold onto the ball. He should be the Bulldogs' best offensive player, but another guy who can make things happen is athletic tight end Marcus Green, who was second on the team in receiving.

DH: The defense was problematic for much of last season at MSU. That meant changes on the coaching staff, with Manny Diaz coming in from Middle Tennessee and Chris Wilson arriving from Oklahoma to overhaul the unit. What changes have they implemented, and who seems to be benefiting the most from the new blood?

BL: Diaz brings with him a reputation for fielding aggressive but well-balanced defenses. Cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith compared Diaz's schemes to what Joe Lee Dunn used to run at MSU, only a more "modern" version. By that, Smith means that Diaz doesn't put all the "stress" on one group, like Dunn did with his cornerbacks. MSU has a legit sack master in senior Pernell McPhee and is beefier up front, and the addition of Wilson should make them better, if you look at the stats his units put up at OU. And linebackers Chris White and K.J. Wright are big enough and fast enough to get into backfields via an array of blitzes Diaz will call.

DH: Between James Carmon, Pernell McPhee, Fletcher Cox and Josh Boyd -- does Wilson have a bit more to work with on the defensive line than most people around the SEC realize? Seems like it could be a pretty scary group.

BL: The potential is certainly there. McPhee had five sacks last year, but he'll have better help this year with Carmon (6'7", 345) and the promising sophomores, Boyd and Cox, who combined for 46 tackles last season. Also, Wilson should be able to get the most out of Nick Bell and Sean Ferguson at the right end spot.

DH: Mississippi State drew more than 34,000 to its spring game, and obviously the Bulldogs made some nice strides in Dan Mullen's first year that has fans excited. How was this spring different than last year? Is Mullen's plan coming together with Mississippi State ready to take the next step, or is this still very much a work in progress?

BL: Spring was different mainly regarding the installation process, for obvious reasons. Except for a handful of early enrollees and walk-ons, everybody knew the system pretty well. Plus, there was the added buzz of a quarterback competition with two viable candidates (sorry, Tyson Lee). As to your second question, yes on both counts. The Bulldogs seemed poised to take a step forward from last year's 5-7 finish, but a lot of needs must be addressed, mainly depth.

***

Big thanks to Brad for all the great info. You can read his MSU coverage for the Daily Journal HERE, check out his excellent Bulldogs blog HERE and follow him on Twitter HERE .

So, what do you think is in store for Mississippi State in 2010? Can the Bulldogs be a player in the West with a bowl bid in sight or the rebuilding project going to last at least another year?

And don't forget, we'll be wrapping up Two-A-Days with an in-depth look at Georgia, so if you have questions you want answered, leave them in the comments section here or send me an email at dhale@macon.com.

NEXT UP: Auburn this afternoon.

Media Days Notes: Slive Calls for 'Renewed Vows'

Commissioner Mike Slive gave SEC coaches a cease and desist order with regards to public mudslinging when they met in Destin, Fla., in June, a necessary step, he felt, with all the coaching turnover since the league adopted a compliance manifesto in 2004. He reiterated that message Wednesday.

"We cannot sustain our successes, which is now our ultimate goal, unless we avoid self inflicted wounds," Slive said, "unless we avoid calling attention to ourselves at the expense of others, and unless we remain committed to the conference, and, finally, unless we realize that we are inexorably tied to each other's athletic and academic successes, and we are tied to each other's athletic and academic failures."

Slive also addressed the spate of secondary recruiting violations that made big news this offseason. While Tennessee drew the most attention, Georgia self-reported several secondary violations, including excessive contact with recruits it attributed to a miscommunication between coaches. Slive claimed such violations were nothing new to intercollegiate athletics but did not brush them off, saying the conference reviews each report to determine its thoroughness and accuracy and reacts accordingly.

"When trends are detected, the penalties and corrective actions become more severe," he said. "As we told our coaches earlier this week in our SEC new coaches orientation program, any time any time they commit a secondary violation, they place themselves, their program, and the institution and the prospect at risk. The risk may be lost recruiting opportunities, lost ability to interact with prospects, and additional scrutiny for themselves and their program."

WHO DUNNIT?

Only three players were unanimous selections by the conference's coaches to the All-SEC team and the conference's most heralded player wasn't one of them. So on Day 1 of SEC Media Days, several reporters set out to find the coach who didn't vote for Tim Tebow.

"I don't know if you all are going to find the culprit," Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson said, "but you can tell him it wasn't me."

Four SEC coaches took to the podium Wednesday and none confessed to leaving the former Heisman winner off their ballot. Tebow received 10 votes, and his coach, Urban Meyer, was not allowed to vote for anyone on his team.

The omission by the one anonymous coach seemed so odd that Arkansas' Bobby Petrino assumed the offending coach wasn't altogether coherent.

"I voted for Tebow," he said. "I'm not crazy."

Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, who was Tebow's offensive coordinator a year ago, was asked the question, too, and not surprisingly he had the Florida quarterback on his ballot as well.

The fourth coach to meet with reporters, Kentucky's Rich Brooks, said Tebow had burned the Wildcats so badly during the past two seasons that he had no choice but to vote for him, too.

So the mystery continues, whether or not anyone will actually admit to the snub.

A SCARY REPUTATION

A reporter asked Kentucky left tackle Zipp Duncan to name the toughest defensive linemen in the SEC to block. He didn't need much time to come up with his answer: Georgia's Geno Atkins.

"He's just a dynamic athlete," Duncan said. "He gets off the ball quick. He's got the speed to beat you and the strength to beat you, so he presents a really tough matchup."

PLENTY OF SEC ON ESPN

A new twist to the kickoff of SEC Media Days this year involved a special presentation by ESPN's John Wildhack, the network's executive vice president for programming acquisition.

ESPN and the SEC agreed to a new 15-year deal this year that will dramatically increase coverage of the league's sports, including football. Wildhack said 23 more SEC games would be televised this season than last year, including a regional game of the week, which will air on a newly launched platform called The SEC Network. Wildhack also said he expects SEC games to be featured more prominently on ESPN's regular Thursday night packages.

"Our goal is to serve the SEC football fan better than ever before," Wildhack said. "Last year, 77 million people watched SEC football on ESPN or ESPN2. We expect that number to increase significantly this season."

Each of Georgia's first three games will be carried on one of the network's platforms. The Bulldogs' opener against Oklahoma State kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on ABC, with the SEC opener against South Carolina a week later airing on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Georgia's road date with Arkansas in Week 3 will be carried by either ESPN or ESPN2 and is set to kick off at 7:45 p.m.

RETURN ENGAGEMENT

New Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen knows that selling his team on a new system is no easy task, which is why he's so happy to have senior linebacker Jamar Chaney back in the fold has been such a blessing.

Chaney, who was originally a Georgia signee, figured to be the anchor of the Mississippi State defense a year ago, but a leg injury suffered in the first game cost him the entire season. He accepted a medical redshirt and decided to return to the Bulldogs for a second shot at his senior season – this time with a new head coach and a new role as salesman.

"From Day 1, he walked into my office and said, 'Coach, I'm going to believe in everything you're doing,'" Mullen said of Chaney. "Having a personality back like that, especially when you take over a new program, to help build that foundation of what we wanted the message we're trying to get across to our team … it's just fantastic."

PREPS AREN'T PREPARED

Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino thinks some changes need to be made in the way high school coaches are preparing quarterbacks for the next level. With more programs employing spread offenses, Petrino said many young quarterbacks aren't getting the necessary experience playing under center, and it's making the job of recruiting pocket passers a tough one for college coaches.

Petrino pointed to one of his own quarterbacks, Tyler Wilson, as a prime example of the problems of playing too much out of the shotgun. Wilson took every snap of his high school career in a no-huddle shotgun formation, and he has struggled since arriving at Arkansas with things as simple as the quarterback-center exchange or handoff placement on running plays.

The solution, Petrino said, might be mandating how high school coaches use their quarterbacks.

"I'm really happy that high schools are throwing the ball," Petrino said. "I just wish they would maybe put a rule in that they have to have at least 25, 40 percent from underneath center."

SLIM AND TRIM

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett has always been described as having an NFL body. It's just a little slimmer now.

Mallett, the strong-armed, 6-foot-7 quarterback who emerged from the spring as the Razorbacks' projected starter, weighed 265 pounds when he transferred from Michigan last year. Since then, he's slimmed down to 238 pounds, something head coach Bobby Petrino hopes will help him be more elusive in the pocket against the SEC's quick defensive fronts.

"In him losing the weight, being more mobile, we're not going to lose our movement game, our ability to run sprint outs, run the bootleg game, be able to move the pocket," Petrino said. "In this league, with the defensive ends we face, the speed and athleticism of the defensive fronts, it's important that you change the launch point, and you can set your quarterback at different spots, take some pressure off the offensive line and running backs at times."

* The Ledger-Enquirer's Andy Bitter contributed to these notes.

Two-A-Days: Mississippi State Bulldogs

Over the past few weeks, I've traded emails with beat writers for each SEC team, along with Georgia's three other BCS-conference opponents to get some insider insight into what fans can expect from UGA's competition in 2009.

Each day, we'll preview two teams, culminating with a big-picture look at the SEC and a deeper look at the biggest issues facing your Georgia Bulldogs. To submit a question for the Georgia entry in Two-A-Days, send me an email with the subject line "Two-A-Days" and I'll do my best to find you an answer.

To read the previous entries in the series, click HERE.

The 14th entry in the series is the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS
Head coach: Dan Mullen (1st season)
2008 Record: 4-8 (2-6 SEC)
Total Offense: 274.92 (10th SEC, 113th overall)
Total Defense: 327.5 ypg (10th SEC, 35th overall)
On the docket: Mississippi State opens the 2009 season Sept. 5 against Jackson State. The Bulldogs won't play Georgia this season, but they do have a home date against Georgia Tech on Oct. 3.

At the end of 2007, Sly Croom was the SEC's coach of the year, leading Mississippi State back to a bowl game after a long postseason absence. A year later, he was fired after one of the ugliest Egg Bowl performances in years. While Croom was old school (series of tubes?) his replacement is just the opposite. So will Dan Mullen be able to recreate the same exciting offenses he had at Florida in Starkville? To find out, I went to Brad Locke of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

David Hale: It's a new regime in Starkville. What are the biggest changes Dan Mullen has implemented this spring since taking over the program?

Brad Locke: The biggest change is the offensive scheme. Sylvester Croom's West Coast offense, which never produced, has been replaced by the spread that Mullen has worked wonders with at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida. He's also raised the intensity level – a reflection of his personality – in the weight room and on the practice field.

DH: Even during the successful season of 2007, Mississippi State wasn't exactly an offensive powerhouse. Things got worse last year, and from the look of the spring game, there won't be a lot of fireworks in 2009. What are the biggest keys to finding some offensive production for the Bulldogs in 2009? Does Mullen's spread offense have a chance to be successful in Year 1?

BL: Don't count on the Bulldogs lighting it up. Year 1 will most likely be painful. Mullen picked up some good, fast receivers in the 2009 recruiting class and will have to use some of them, if not all. He also picked up a stud quarterback, Meridian's Tyler Russell, who is the future of the program but won't be handed a redshirt. Mullen's willing to be flexible and will fit the scheme around the personnel, something Croom did a poor job of.

DH: Linebacker Jamar Chaney is well known around here, having nearly ended up at Georgia. He was lost for the season last year with an injury. How much was he missed defensively for MSU last year, and what will having him back in the lineup in 2009 mean to the defense?

BL: He wasn't missed as much as one would have thought. Dominic Douglas slid into the middle and performed beautifully, but that left a hole on the outside, so Chaney's impact had an effect. Having him back is huge, especially with K.J. Wright returning and juco transfer Chris White stepping in. Linebacker should be the strongest position on the team.

DH: Obviously Mullen had a lot of success at Florida, but the job of turning things around at MSU is a bit tougher. Still, the Bulldogs' in-state rivals made a pretty quick turnaround last year under first-year coach Houston Nutt. What's an appropriate level of expectation for MSU this year? Minor improvement, bowl game, competitive in the SEC West?

BL: Reasonable? Four wins. Nobody's expecting a Houston Nutt-like turnaround, simply because there isn't nearly as much talent in Starkville as there was in Oxford last year. This is a complete overhaul. Fans are expecting a significant improvement within 3-4 years.

DH: After seeing the team in its first spring under Mullen, what jumped out at you about this spring in a positive way, and what would you say are the biggest questions MSU still needs to answer before the season begins?

BL: Positives: Mullen lets nothing slide and has brought the aforementioned intensity. He's won over most of the players and has opened up competition at every position. A healthy sense of realism has helped balance it all. Negatives: So many holes to fill. MSU was short on receivers in the spring – they had five at the most at one time – and injuries forced Mullen to use fullbacks, tight ends and late walk-ons during drills. Hard to install the spread with so few parts.

* Brad Locke has been at the Daily Journal since 2002 and began covering Mississippi State last year. You can read his Bulldogs coverage HERE or find his blog HERE. You can also follow him on Twitter HERE.

NEXT UP: We'll have the final installment of Two-A-Days tomorrow.