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SEC Football: Five teams with the most experience from juniors

By Jake Wimberly

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Oct 4, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs wide receiver De

1. Mississippi State Bulldogs

The Bulldogs of Mississippi State went on a magical run in 2014, winning ten games, playing in the Orange Bowl and ranked number one in the country for five consecutive weeks at one point. The Bulldogs only return nine starters on paper, but anyone around Starkville knows head coach Dan Mullen hates depth charts and is prone to “playing with them.”

Outside of quarterback Dak Prescott, the Bulldogs are all but forgotten in the preseason SEC media hype. State is picked to finish dead last in the West and tied for ninth overall in the SEC preseason power polls.

While most people have written the Bulldogs off in 2015, and some even predicting they finish with a losing record, many forget that the Bulldogs played a ton of young talent a year ago – evident by their number one ranking in the SEC in sophomores played a year ago.

The Bulldogs rank fourth in the country in number of young sophomores played a year ago, as 292 starts were made by Bulldogs, 129 coming on the offensive side of the ball and 150 on the defensive side.

Josh Robinson is gone at running back, but Brandon Holloway and Ashton Shumpert saw action in every game last year and made significant contributions for the Bulldogs.

De’Runnya Wilson, Fred Ross and Fred Brown were all super sophomores for the Bulldogs in the passing game and all three receivers return to lead one of the more talented groups of receivers in the SEC.

While Benardrick McKinney was the face of the Bulldog defense a year ago, then sophomores Beniquez Brown and Richie Brown were near the top of every defensive category for the Bulldogs.

Chris Jones, A.J. Jefferson and Tory Dale played in all ball games a year ago for the Bulldogs along the defensive front; likewise for Tolando Cleveland in the secondary.

Many people have written the Bulldogs off in 2015, but don’t be surprised if you look up in early October and there are those Bulldogs, again making a move in the Top 25. Mullen and his staff pride themselves on playing a lot of players and their development program.

That should pay off for State again in 2015.

Next: Top 15 Breakout Players to Watch in 2015

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