DeAgo Brumfield finding early redemption in 2025 for Bulldogs

As Arizona State running back Raleek Brown broke off a 26-yard run in the final minutes of Saturday’s showdown at Mississippi State, many Bulldog fans could feel what was on the way.

MSU had built a 17-0 lead only to see things stall out as the Sun Devils fought back in the second half and tied the game. On a drive that started at their own 4 yard line with around 10 minutes left, Sam Leavitt and ASU continued to milk the clock and gas out the Bulldog defense.

Brown broke free and had nothing but pay dirt ahead of him while many home fans screamed to “let him score.” Instead, cornerback DeAgo Brumfield tripped him up. The rest was history.

“Our coach always tells us to make the offense come out and play again and they’ll mess it up,” Brumfield said of the possession. “Our defense all fall camp was grinding and in redzone knockouts we did pretty good. I feel like we’re a good team on the goal line so my thought was to make them go again.”

After a gain of two on the next play got the Sun Devils to the 1 yard line, the Bulldogs had two stops to keep ASU out of the end zone and they forced a field goal with 1:38 remaining. That gave the offense all of the confidence that it needed to go lead a five-play, 77-yard touchdown drive for the ages as Blake Shapen found Brenen Thompson for a 58-yard catch and run for the game-winning score.

Without Brumfield’s stop on a sure touchdown run, the likelihood of a Bulldog win drops significantly. It was just business for him, though, and that’s the mindset of the entire Bulldog defense this fall.

Brumfield using empty 2024 for fuel in final year

A season after State put together a miserable defensive campaign in a 2-10 year, new life has been given to this team. Brumfield especially feels thankful for his new season and it’s one that he didn’t imagine getting after transferring to Starkville from Memphis.

Brumfield missed most of last season with an injury and got a redshirt year to complete his final year. He didn’t understand the injury at the time, but it’s all starting to make sense to him now.

“It was very frustrating last year,” Brumfield said. “I’ve never been hurt before so it was frustrating and made me question myself a lot of times, but I found faith in it. I feel like everything happens for a reason. Y’all see that we’re way better this year so maybe it was a good thing I wasn’t able to play last year and I’m around some better guys this year.”

Add the defensive secondary into the group that is better this season despite losing one of its best from a year ago.

After the loss of Brice Pollock to the transfer portal and additions coming in from lower levels of football, the early returns from the cornerbacks have been tremendous. Junior college transfer Jett Jefferson has yet to hit the field but Brumfield has stepped up his game along with sophomore Kelley Jones as they have six pass deflections between them through two games.

Saturday night was especially challenging for the duo as they welcomed in All-American Jordyn Tyson. Though the receiver caught six passes in the game, they kept everything in front of them and he had 68 yards receiving on 11 targets.

“We took a lot of pride in that,” Brumfield said of the matchup. “But in our position, we take a lot of pride in guarding wide receivers anyway. Our coach always tells us to be hard to go against and I feel like we did pretty well at that.”

Pats on the back have been coming all week for the Bulldogs as they moved to 2-0 on the season and are on the verge of already eclipsing their win total from a season ago. This isn’t a time for Brumfield and his team to let up, however.

Alcorn State comes to Starkville on Saturday night (5 p.m., ESPN+) and the Bulldogs will have to get back to work and put the big win over ASU behind them.

“It was a big game. The first home game vs. a ranked opponent and all of that. It was the biggest game because it was the next one,” Brumfield said. “Alcorn is the biggest game now because it’s the next one. That’s our mentality.”