Sylvester Croom will be the first to admit that he thought it would take five years for Mississippi State to turn the corner and shed its losing habits. As it turned out, he was ahead of schedule. Not that he’s complaining. Eight wins and countless Coach of the Year honors later, the goal now is to continue to evolve as a program and develop into a championship contender. That’s not nearly as farfetched today as it might have been a year ago.

Two Minute Drill

A Quick Look at the Bulldogs

In Sylvester Croom’s first three years at the helm, Mississippi State managed only nine victories. In year No. 4, the Bulldogs nearly matched that total with eight. And with the momentum of the Liberty Bowl victory, this program now has something it hasn’t encountered in years: expectations. The question, though, is whether MSU can match last year’s magical run. Remember, three of the four SEC wins were by five points or less. That says this team was clutch in the fourth quarter. And if the Bulldogs are to duplicate that success, several factors are critical. First, the offense has to improve and consistency has to be a theme. That task was rather difficult in 2007 due to all the injuries at quarterback. However, those setbacks opened the door for Wesley Carroll, who started nine games, including the final eight. He became a playmaker MSU was desperately seeking and should improve with experience. Second, State has to continue to run the ball. Anthony Dixon established himself as one of the top backs in the SEC with 1,066 yards, and with the emergence of Christian Ducre and Robert Elliott, depth is ample. And finally, MSU must find a way to replace defensive end Titus Brown, not only for his talents, but also his leadership abilities. If the Bulldogs achieve these feats, they’ll prove last year was no fluke.

“When I took the job, people I trusted told me, ‘Don’t expect to win for the first four years,’” he says. “With probation and finding the right players who wanted to be here, they said I’d have to be patient. That was hard for me to hear, because I’m not a patient person.”

In 2006, the Bulldogs were close to getting back on track. The problem, though, was their inability to win the close game — four of the nine losses were by three points. In 2007, the trend fortunately reversed, as MSU finally showed the ability to win the close games.

“To me, that says you have character,” Croom says. “And once you win one of those type of games, you know you can do it again when you find yourself in a similar situation.”

Croom isn’t quite ready to say Mississippi State is primed for a run to Atlanta. But with wins against the likes of Alabama, Auburn and Kentucky, teams that garnered bowl bids, he believes the pieces are falling into place to put this program on the right path to the championship game.

“A lot of people didn’t believe,” he says. “But from Day 1, I said I didn’t believe in a quick fix and to do it right, you had to build from the ground up. People are starting to understand that now.”

Quarterbacks

A year ago, Wesley Carroll was expected to redshirt and serve primarily as the scout team quarterback. Of course, that all changed when injuries sidelined Michael Henig and Josh Riddell. All of a sudden, Carroll was the guy under center leading the offense. Talk about being thrust into a precarious situation. There was no time to prepare or develop. He had to learn on the go. “We weren’t able to work on the little things with his mechanics because we had to get him ready for the game,” Croom says. “We just didn’t have time. It was all about learning the playbook.” And considering the circumstances, Carroll performed pretty well. He didn’t throw an interception in his first 137 passes and managed the offense to Croom’s liking. When spring rolled around, the emphasis wasn’t on the playbook nearly as much as it was the mechanics. “My footwork and steps had to get better,” Carroll says. “As soon as the Liberty Bowl was over, those are the things I began to work on.” Croom has seen the steady improvement. The key now is to avoid injuries, because backups Tyson Lee (a walk-on) and Chris Relf have never played a down of Division I-A football. Still, they are likely to see action this year as reserves in order to gain experience, a luxury Carroll wasn’t afforded in 2007.

Running backs

While Mississippi State was playing musical chairs with quarterbacks early in the season, the one constant was Anthony Dixon. As a freshman, he showed signs of greatness. As a sophomore, he proved to be one of the top backs in the SEC. He also had the knack of finding the end zone, as evidenced by his 14 touchdowns. He’s a workhorse indeed, and one that’s tough to bring down. There were times Croom questioned his tailback’s consistency, but Dixon used the criticism as motivation. And now that there’s depth, Dixon knows he can’t take a play off. But he won’t have to carry the load. With Christian Ducre and redshirt freshman Robert Elliott around, there shouldn’t be much of a drop-off. Ducre turned out to be a pleasant surprise; he rushed for 119 yards on 19 carries in State’s surprisingly easy 31–14 win at Kentucky last October. Elliott’s speed in the spring turned heads. He might be too good to keep off the field. The unknown in the backfield is at fullback, where Brandon Hart and Eric Hoskins are in a battle for the starting nod. Hart may hold the edge due to injuries that plagued Hoskins all spring.

Receivers

Gone is Tony Burks, one of the Bulldogs’ top receivers the past two years. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no talent. Back are Jamayel Smith, Brandon McRae, Aubrey Bell and Co-Eric Riley. But it’s Smith who will likely take over Burks’ role as the go-to playmaker. That emergence actually began last year, when the 6'0" speedster grabbed 33 passes for a team-high 510 yards. At the same time, Croom notes that McRae could be just as a big of a threat. “He has a chance to be an outstanding receiver for us,” Croom says. “He’s just got to be able to perform when the lights come on.”

Offensive linemen

This was supposed to be one of the strengths of the team. But when left tackle and NFL prospect Mike Brown was dismissed in the spring following his arrest on a felony charge, the unit took a major hit. Now, experience is an issue on the offensive line. And compounding matters is the fact the arrest occurred two days before spring practice ended, which means Mark Melichar, Quentin Saulsberry and Addison Lawrence will enter two-a-days in a battle to replace Brown. The good news, though, is that Anthony Strauder, a 13-game starter in 2007, returns at left guard. As for stability, that’s it. J.C. Brignone and Derek Sherrod are first-year starters at center and right tackle, respectively, while right guard Michael Gates drew only two starts last season.

Defensive linemen

The good news for MSU is that it signed seven defensive linemen in February. That’s important to note, because graduation took its toll up front. How much the newcomers will contribute is unknown. So that has Croom and first-year defensive coordinator Charlie Harbison relying on guys who weren’t every-down players last season. At the end slots, Cortez McCraney, a former tackle, and Tim Bailey, a former linebacker, are penciled in as the starters. On the inside, it’s Kyle Love and Jessie Bowman. But if there’s a name to remember, it’s incoming freshman Templeton Hardy. He possesses the talent and speed to garner considerable playing time.

Linebackers

Lack of experience certainly isn’t a factor in the linebacker corps. The Bulldogs’ top two leading tacklers are back in Jamar Chaney and Dominic Douglas, a tandem that accounted for 167 stops, including 12.5 behind the line of scrimmage. MSU does have to replace Gabe O’Neal on the strong side but could be getting an upgrade with K.J. Wright, who is taller and considered to be more athletic. In fact, the coaching staff contemplated moving Wright to defensive end at one point.

Defensive backs

Mississippi State welcomes back five experienced members of the secondary, but the unit’s depth took a hit in the spring. Right corner Anthony Johnson withdrew from school in April without any explanation. However, Marcus Washington had received most of the snaps in the spring while Johnson sat out recovering from a broken leg sustained in the season finale against Ole Miss. Washington started seven games last year and should make a smooth transition into a permanent starting role. The star of this group will once again be free safety Derek Pegues, a first-team All-SEC pick who had five interceptions in 2007 and has returned two interceptions for touchdowns in his career. Add corner Jasper O’Quinn and strong safety Keith Fitzhugh to the mix, and it appears State will field one of the better defensive backfields in the SEC in 2008.

Specialists

Kicking duties will again be entrusted to punter Blake McAdams and placekicker Adam Carlson, players who made significant strides last season. Carlson connected on 10-of-13 attempts and provided the game winner against Ole Miss — a 48-yarder with 12 seconds left. A key to this unit is Pegues, who was fourth in the SEC in punt returns with a 9.9-yard average.

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