The countdown to this year’s college football season has begun in earnest with less than four weeks until Mississippi State opens the season on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs, under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby, opened fall camp on Thursday.

As camp progresses, The Dispatch will be taking a look at each position group on MSU’s roster, noting who could be the potential starters, backups and impact players to look out for on the gridiron.

The Bulldogs, despite losing Jaden Crumedy and Nathan Pickering, have several players returning on the defensive line. De’Monte Russell and Deonte Anderson will be relied on as the group’s veteran leaders, while Trevion Williams and Kalvin Dinkins are back after season-ending injuries early last season. MSU also added Sulaiman Kpaka and Kedrick Bingley-Jones in the transfer portal.

The Starters

De’Monte Russell

6-foot-4, 285-pound redshirt senior from Jackson, Mississippi

Entering his sixth year with the program, Russell became a starter for the first time last season, finishing with 24 tackles including six tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. After appearing in four games and redshirting as a true freshman in 2019, he missed all of 2020 with an injury but has played regularly since then.

Sulaiman Kpaka

6-foot-3, 300-pound redshirt senior from Grand Prairie, Texas

Kpaka spent the last five years at Purdue, appearing in just two games over his first three seasons there before becoming a regular in 2022. He made 19 tackles that year, 11 of them solo, then set a career-high with 2.5 tackles for loss last fall.

Kedrick Bingley-Jones

6-foot-4, 310-pound redshirt senior from Concord, North Carolina

Rivals ranked Bingley-Jones as the No. 3 player in North Carolina and the No. 5 defensive tackle in his class coming out of high school, but in four years with the Tar Heels, Bingley-Jones has made just eight tackles despite appearing in 26 career games.

The Backups

Trevion Williams

6-foot-4, 295-pound redshirt sophomore from Crystal Springs, Mississippi

A much-heralded recruit out of high school, Williams played in three games as a true freshman to keep his redshirt status intact, then missed the final nine games of last season with an injury. He has as much raw talent and potential as anybody in this position group, so if he can stay healthy, Williams can really bolster MSU’s defensive front.

Kalvin Dinkins

6-foot-2, 315-pound redshirt sophomore from Lake, Mississippi

Like Williams, Dinkins has yet to see the field much due to injury. He did not appear in any games as a true freshman, then was lost for the season last year after making his collegiate debut in the season opener against Southeastern Louisiana. If Dinkins can stay on the field this year, the Bulldogs’ defensive line becomes that much deeper.

Deonte Anderson

6-foot-3, 270-pound redshirt junior from Miami, Florida

Anderson redshirted in 2021 and made five appearances, mostly on special teams, in 2022, but was a key piece up front last year, playing in all 12 games with two starts. He finished with 38 tackles, including three tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks. Against Western Michigan, Anderson made five tackles, forced a fumble and broke up a pass at the line of scrimmage, and he made a career-high eight stops against Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl.

Eric Taylor

6-foot-4, 310-pound senior from Trussville, Alabama

Taylor spent his freshman year at LSU but did not play, then transferred to Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he had three sacks and eight tackles for loss in 2022. In his first year with MSU last year, Taylor played in every game and finished with 15 total tackles, becoming a quality depth piece for the Bulldogs.

The Rest

Joseph Head Jr.

6-foot-4, 240-pound redshirt freshman from Lexington, Mississippi

Head had a monster junior year at Holmes County Central High School, racking up 89 tackles, 12 sacks and three forced fumbles. He then had 21 tackles for loss and 17 quarterback hurries as a senior. He made his collegiate debut last October against Western Michigan but did not register any statistics.

Kai McClendon

6-foot-2, 305-pound freshman from Gulfport, Mississippi

McClendon finished his final high school season with 63 tackles (49 of them solo), eight tackles for loss, three sacks and a forced fumble. Georgia Tech and Arizona State were his other major conference offers.

Corey Clark

6-foot-4, 310-pound sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama

Clark began his college career at North Alabama, playing in 50 snaps across four games as a freshman to maintain his redshirt status. Last year, he played at Northeast Mississippi Community College, playing in nine games and recovering two fumbles despite making just five total tackles.

Gabe Moore

6-foot-4, 290-pound redshirt freshman from Louisville, Mississippi

Coming from a powerhouse high school program at Louisville, Moore put up otherworldly numbers as a senior with 116 total tackles (39 for loss), 12 sacks, five forced fumbles and two pass breakups. He did not appear in any games last year as a true freshman.

Gavin Nelson

6-foot-5, 285-pound redshirt sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama

Nelson made his first three collegiate appearances last season, making two tackles against Southeastern Louisiana and one against LSU.

Terrance Hibbler Jr.

6-foot-3, 290-pound freshman from Lexington, Mississippi

Hibbler chose MSU over a laundry list of offers, including Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss and seven other Southeastern Conference programs. He earned first-team all-state honors as a high school senior and was the MHSAA Class 5A Player of the Year, leading his team with 92 tackles and 21 sacks.

Ashun Sheppard

6-foot-3, 280-pound junior from Brandon, Mississippi

Sheppard played the last two years at East Mississippi Community College, helping the Lions reach the national championship game last year. He was the No. 11 ranked junior college defensive lineman in the country.

MSU

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The November election is less than 100 days away, and two federal agencies are making a public service announcement to explain that while some cyber attacks are possible, not all pose a threat to the security of your vote.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly released information on DDoS attacks on July 31.

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service and works by overwhelming websites with traffic, making them inaccessible.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson says it may sound familiar to you.

“We saw this directly here in Mississippi a couple of years back in an election,” explained Watson.

The DDoS attack happened in 2022 and kept many people from accessing the Secretary of State’s website at different times on election day.

“It was only our public facing website,” noted Watson. “No election information was breached. What we did was harden our system with some new tools to make sure if that’s the attack that happens, we see it. We can tell exactly what’s going on, and we can further defend ourselves from it.”

However, many question the integrity of the ballots being cast and counted.

“When it comes to elections, you don’t want just secure elections,” said Sen. Jeff Tate, former Senate elections committee chairman. “You want the perception of your elections to be secure. Also that’s very important.”

There were already some security measures in place to keep hackers out of the equation in Mississippi.

“Unless you could hack into a plug in the wall, you couldn’t hack into those machines,” said Watson.

In 2022, legislation was passed that adds some back-up security.

“The counties were due for new equipment,” explained Tate. “One of the mandates that we put with this money is that it had to be purchased by 2024 it had to have a paper trail, and it could not have the capability of being hooked up to the Internet. So, not only can it not be hooked up to the Internet, it can’t have the capability of being hooked up to the Internet.”

Secretary Watson notes that election interference will likely come in many forms, including misinformation.

That’s why he is encouraging you to reach out to his office or your local circuit clerk before you go sharing the latest election-related rumor you see on social media.

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Predictions season is in full force as the entire country prepares to ramp up the excitement in anticipation of the 2024 college football season.

As many experts throw their hats into the ring for a preseason pick, many forget that a great simulation tool is now, after more than a decade, back at the fingertips of fans everywhere. With just the click of a few buttons, a week-by-week simulation of the 2024 football season can be viewed in incredibly depth. For Mississippi State, that means a couple surprising results.

Mississippi State – 35, FCS Midwest – 10

EA has Mississippi State handling its business in week one against the in-game counterpart of Eastern Kentucky University on August 31 of this year. First year transfer quarterback and redshirt senior Blake Shapen tossed for four touchdowns in the simulation and totalled 259 yards through the air on the day.

Davon Booth led all rushers with 60 yards on the ground on 17 carries and found the end zone once for the team’s fith touchdown of the game. Kevin Coleman torched the FCS Midwest defense for six receptions and 82 yards on his way to two touchdown grabs. You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first one, and Mississippi State did just that in this sim.

Mississippi State – 34, Arizona State – 17

MSU was able to double up the Sun Devils on the road after a 24 point fourth quarter. Shapen turned around a poor performance in the first half in which he threw two interceptions and threw three scores to elevate Mississippi State on the road.

Nick Barr-Mira made a pair of field goals to further elevate the Mississippi State offense after Davon Booth was shut down for just 33 yards on the day while managing to find the end zone once. Mississippi State entered week three with a 2-0 record and some adversity under its belt.

Mississippi State – 42, Toledo – 14

For the first time in the simulation, the Mississippi State offense really flexed its muscles against Toledo. Shapen lit up the box score with 401 yards through the air and five scores while also completing 26/31 passes.

Booth found the end zone once again on his way to a 54 yard performance on 16 carries while Kelly Akharaiyi had a breakout game with 176 yards through the air and a pair of touchdown receptions. Coleman shined again as the secondary target with a pair of touchdown receptions as well.

Stone Blanton lit up any ball carrier in sight, forcing one fumble and recovering two to give Mississippi State a commanding edge in time of possession. As far as the simulation was concerned, the Bulldogs were rolling into week four.

Mississippi State – 18, Florida – 34

This is where things began to turn south for MSU in the simulation. Shapen only completed just over half of his 35 passing attempts for 239 yards, two scores and one pick. Booth had success in the game and averaged 4.7 yards per carry, but because MSU found itself down early, only got 10 touches on the ground.

Despite a 15 point fourth quarter, MSU couldn’t dig itself out of the hole it was found in early after going down 24-3 at the end of the third quarter. Thus, MSU suffered the first loss of the season and went into week five 3-1.

Mississippi State – 14, Texas – 24

Most Bulldog fans would probably happy if this was the score of this year’s scheduled game against Texas in real life, to be fair. For one reason or another, Arch Manning drew the start against Mississippi State and did enough to win as he tossed the Longhorns’ only three touchdowns on the day.

CJ Baxter gave Mississippi State enough trouble on the ground to control the pace of play with 90 yards rushing on 15 carries. Coming away from Austin unscathed was highly unlikely to begin with, but MSU managed to keep it close.

Mississippi State – 35, Georgia – 34

Your eyes do not deceive you. In this simulation, Mississippi State shocks the College Football world and bests Georgia by one point in Athens.

MSU lived in the Georgia backfield and sacked Carson Beck a total of four times while holding Trevor Etienne to just 33 yards rushing in the game. Blake Shapen put on a masterful performance with over 350 yards through the air en route to three touchdown tosses and zero interceptions.

Kevin Coleman torched UGA for 167 receiving yards and a pair of scores. He also had 107 yards after the catch, showing off breakaway speed at the top of Mississippi State’s receiving charts. With this win, the Lebby tenure pulls off one of the biggest upsets in program history in his first year at the helm.

Mississippi State – 36, Texas A&M – 35

The Bulldogs hang on by a thread yet again against Texas A&M just a week after beating Georgia by the same minute differential. Shapen’s consistent and mistake-free play yet again guided MSU to victory in the simulation as he tossed three scores and zero picks.

The rushing attack was bottled up for Mississippi State with only 33 total yards on the day, but a pair of red zone scores was all it took to lift the Bulldogs to another narrow victory. Now at 5-2 with a pair of marquee wins, Mississippi State controlled its own destiny in the expanded playoff format.

Mississippi State 17, Arkansas 34

“The epitome of brutality” – Jon Rothstein. Yes, it’s a basketball reference, but it perfectly sums up Mississippi State’s week nine loss to Arkansas in the simulation.

Taylen Green lit up Mississippi State for 308 yards through the air and anther 27 on the ground for a pair of scores, but it was senior running back Ja’Quinden Jackson that did the most damage to the Bulldogs with 110 rush yards and another pair of touchdowns. Mississippi State’s dream season is suddenly given a reality check, and the Bulldogs fall to 5-3.

Mississippi State – 21, UMass – 34

When it rains, it pours. Mississippi State had already won enough games to make it to a bowl if it just took care of business outside of the conference, but alas, UMass had other plans.

Despite Akharaiyi and Coleman both having more than 100 receiving yards on the day, the MSU offense falls short, and the defense didn’t help itself out, either. De’Monte Russell had the Bulldogs’ lone sack on the day. Woof.

Mississippi State – 14, Tennessee – 31

The downhill slide only gets worse in week 11. Mississippi State can only muster two scores in the loss to the Vols, while Tennessee put up points in all four quarters.

A trio of rushing touchdowns by Dylan Sampson, Nico Iamaleava and Cameron Seldon sealled the deal for Tennessee and secures their spot as the nation’s fifth best team at Mississippi State’s peril in the simulation. At 5-5, the outlook is bleak for MSU’s bowl chances.

Mississippi State – 14, Missouri – 38

The simulation is high on Missouri in 2024, and rightfully so for a team that is returning a metric ton of production. However fans view them at the No. 1 spot, they beat the simulated Mississippi State team down like they deserved the spot.

Brady Cook left the game early for the Tigers, but the two headed dragon of Marcus Carroll and Nate Noel were too much out of the backfield for Mississippi State as they combined for three scores on the ground.

The Tigers bottled up Shapen and the MSU passing attack, only allowing 158 yards through the air. Mississippi State’s bowl hopes relied solely on the Egg Bowl now.

Mississippi State 14, Ole Miss 26

The odds weren’t great for Mississippi State as they hit the road for the short drive to Oxford, but they were almost shut out in the game save for a 14 point fourth quarter.

Again, Shapen and company were locked up for just 261 yards through the air and a single score, while the MSU rushing attack was almost nonexistent. MSU’s Egg Bowl loss marked the second straight season that the Bulldogs would not make any postseason trip.

Mississippi State ended the simulated season at 5-7 (2-6) and 14th in the SEC – not terribly far from where many experts have the Bulldogs picked. Despite two marquee wins against top 25 teams, it was the devil in the details that held Mississippi State back from six wins in Jeff Lebby’s first season.