Mississippi
Position preview: Looking at Mississippi State’s defensive line for the 2024 season
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.
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Mississippi
It’s 2,350 miles long, spans 31 US states and is home to a 100kg animal with a tongue that looks like a worm | Discover Wildlife
The Mississippi River flows for around 2,350 miles through the heart of the US. It drains an area of 1.2 million square miles – that’s roughly 40% of the country – and at certain points is 11 miles wide. It is North America’s second longest river, behind the Missouri River.
Rising from Lake Itasca in Minnesota, the Mississippi winds southwards through a range of environments, draining water from 31 US states before reaching its delta at the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana.
The sheer size of the river and the diversity of habitats it passes through make it a refuge for a huge range of animal species, including more than 260 fish, 326 birds, 50 mammals and at least 145 amphibians and reptiles, according to the National Park Service.
There are many weird and wonderful animals living within the Mississippi’s vast waters, but surely one of the strangest is the alligator snapping turtle.
This prehistoric-looking reptile is massive. It can weigh up to 100kg and males can grow well over half a metre long, making it the largest freshwater turtle in North America.
And as if its size wasn’t enough, the alligator snapper has a host of other characteristics that make it one of the Mississippi’s most striking creatures, including a dark, spiky shell (known as carapace), a brick-like head and a sharp, hooked beak. With such a formidable appearance, it’s easy to see how the turtle got its ‘alligator’ name.
But perhaps the turtle’s most curious feature is a worm-like appendage found on its tongue, which it uses as a lure to catch prey, such as fish, amphibians and invertebrates. Alligator snappers are also quite happy scavenging for food.
More amazing wildlife stories from around the world
Mississippi
Mississippi House of Representatives passes bill to make NIL earnings non-taxable
NIL money comes with a price. More specifically, a tax bill.
The Mississippi legislature is trying to reduce that burden for college athletes who play there.
Via Bea Anhuci of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, the Mississippi House of Representatives has passed a bill that would exempt NIL earnings from state income tax.
It’s a recruiting tool for Ole Miss and Mississippi State, one that would put the Mississippi schools on equal footing with other states that host SEC universities. Florida, Tennessee, and Texas have no state income tax, and Arkansas carved out NIL earnings from the state’s income tax burden in 2025.
Mississippi currently charges a four-percent tax on anyone making more than $10,000 per year.
NIL earnings remain subject to federal income tax.
The bill will have to also pass the Mississippi Senate, and the governor would then be required to sign it into law.
Mississippi
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