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Mississippi State

Kedrick Bingley-Jones, State's defensive line faces challenge of slowing down Texas A&M offense

Paul Jones Mississippi State Bulldogsby: Paul Jones10/03/25PaulJonesOn3
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Mississippi State DT Kedrick Bingley-Jones (Photo by Jared Thomas, Maroon and White Daily)

Last weekend Mississippi State’s defensive line held up well against Tennessee’s ground game but will be tested again this weekend. The Bulldogs allowed under 100 rushing yards to Tennessee for the Vol’s lowest rushing total of the season.

The Bulldogs will face the task of slowing down the Aggies’ offensive attack, which features several playmakers. For the defensive line, the challenges are containing quarterback Marcel Reed (1,076 passing yards, 9 touchdown passes) and running back Le’Veon Moss (307 rushing yards, five touchdowns).

Earlier this week, senior defensive lineman Kedrick Bingley-Jones met with the media to discuss the Aggies’ offense among other topics:

Q: Looking back at the Tennessee game, how do you feel the defense did with the gameplan?
Jones: I felt like we did pretty good against the run. They are a heavy run team. Coach (David) Turner said before the game, I think they were like 25-0 when they rushed for over 200 yards. So one of our main goals in the Dtackle room is to stop the run. That’s our first goal. But we did a pretty good job executing. Hated that in overtime we were not able to execute as well when they got the long run. But that was like the only explosive run they had during the game. I thought we did pretty good but you can always improve.

Q: Do you feel like playing in a loud environment at home prepares you for those road games?
Jones: It is always difficult to emulate what crowd noise is going to be like, especially with them being over 100,000. So really loud in there and I know it’s going to be a great challenge for us. But I feel like we will be able to prepare and be able to adjust. I know the crowd is a big part of every game but we will focus on trying to execute our job and communicate well with each other. I think that’s the biggest thing.

Q: What stands out to you about Texas A&M?
Jones: They are returning all five of their starting offensive linemen from last year. So it’s a veteran group, a pretty good group. They work well together up front. They’ve got playmakers on the outside and Mario Craver was here last year, obviously. Then KC Concepcion, I actually played against him at UNC and he was a problem there. Being able to handle those two on the back end, I can’t speak for them but I know it is a great challenge for them. Then kind of like last week, we got to be able to gap up the run because they’ve got two talented running backs with (Le’Veon) Moss and No. 4 (Rueben Owens). So I think our biggest challenge is to gap up the run to make them one-dimensional and also be able to contain Marcel Reed because he is a good runner.

Q: What have you seen from Kalvin Dinkins so far that makes him productive this year?
Jones: He was telling us on the Dline that (last week) was his first SEC game. I am really proud of Dink. All of the stuff he’s been through, kind of like me, just battling through injuries and stuff. But really proud and I feel like he’s improving week to week and he’s been a big piece of what we have going on up front. Really glad to see he is doing well.

Q: How do your keys change on the defensive line when facing a mobile guy like Marcel Reed?
Jones: It just always goes back to execution. Just knowing when you have to squeeze and having eyes on the quarterback, especially in the pass game because if the first two reads are not there, he’s going to try to take off. So I think the biggest thing is like what I said about the first week and the Arizona State game. It’s big about the pass rush and integrity and being able to contain him in the pocket and make him beat us playing quarterback and not being able to scramble with his legs, too.

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