No position was hit harder by graduation for Mississippi State defensively following last season than safety.

Collin Duncan, Jalen Green and Jackie Matthews are all gone leaving the Bulldogs and first-year safeties coach Brett Dewhurst tasked with breaking in three new starters at the back end of the defense.

"We obviously have a lot of new faces and a lot of experience to replace with losing all three starters," Dewhurst said. "There's a lot of competition right now and coach (Zach) Arnett always says that whoever practices the best will get a chance to play and start. But if you don't play well in games, there's probably going to be a new starter the next week. I'm really trying to figure out who the best three are right now, but there are six or seven guys that we'll travel with that are competing for jobs."

The most experienced safety MSU has returning is Shawn Preston Jr. The graduate has logged 42 career games and 15 starts over his previous five seasons with the Bulldogs making 143 tackles, 11 pass deflections, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

"Shawn's been doing a good job," Dewhurst said. "He came back for a reason. He got his degree and wanted to come back for one more year and help every which way, be a leader and get this team rolling."

Competition during preseason camp has been fierce with Bulldogs old and new battling for playing time on a play-by-play basis.

"It's a fun group to coach," Dewhurst said. "There's inexperience but they want to be coached. We'll continue to work on the toughness and the mindset and continue to grind every single day."

Other than Preston, the lone safety with starting experience is Corey Ellington. Ellington, now a junior, made his lone career start as a true freshman in the 2021 Liberty Bowl and tallied a personal best eight tackles in that contest.

"The safeties are very young and don't have much experience except for Shawn Preston," Ellington said. "So that means every rep is very serious and we've got to take advantage of every single one of them."

Outside of Preston, Ellington and fifth-year senior walk-on Cody Swanson, most of State's other safeties are either new to the program or the position. The Bulldogs converted cornerbacks Marcus Banks and Hunter Washington into safeties in the spring after the two transferred in from Alabama and Florida State respectively prior to last season.  

Banks appeared in all 13 games for Mississippi State last fall and has 37 games worth of experience over the past four years. The 6-foot, 190-pounder has one career interception and closed out the Bulldogs' ReliaQuest Bowl win over Illinois by returning a lateral 60 yards for a touchdown.  

"Marcus Banks is a guy who's been around as a fifth-year guy," Dewhurst said. "He's played a lot of football and he's ready for it to be his time. He's been a back-up and a special teams guy and I think he's excited to take on that role."

Washington brings 10 games worth of experience into his redshirt sophomore season. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder played in one game as a true freshman for the Seminoles and saw action in nine games at MSU last season on special teams and as a reserve corner.

Making the move to safety has gone rather seamlessly for both Banks and Washington. In fact, there are several similarities between the two secondary positions.

"It's a mindset thing, especially in the defensive back area," Washington said. "You've got to have a short-term memory. No matter what happened on the previous play, you've got to focus on the next play, keep executing and do what you're coached to do."

Another former transfer that has created some buzz during his second preseason camp at Mississippi State is Jordan Morant. The 6-foot, 210-pound redshirt junior who spent two years at Michigan prior to his arrival in Starkville was a fixture on Bulldogs' special teams units last season and appeared in all 13 games.

"Morant has been getting better for sure," Banks said. "I know he had a big role on special teams and is continuing to do that. That's also translated onto the defensive side of things. The coaches are loving that and so do I."

The Bulldogs dipped back into the transfer portal during the offseason to add three more transfers into the fold, two of which come from Power 5 programs. Redshirt junior Chris Keys (Indiana) and sophomore Ja'Kobi Albert (Kentucky) joined the team in January along with redshirt sophomore Jalin Shephard (West Georgia).

Keys, a 6-foot, 190-pounder, started two games for the Hoosiers last fall and saw action in 15 contests during his career. Albert, a former four-star recruit, appeared in 10 games as a true freshman at UK last year.

"Ja'Kobi Albert and Chris Keys are great pickups," Ellington said. "I'm glad we picked those guys up. They're versatile and can play boundary safety or field safety. I think they're going to be great for us."

State also signed three talented defensive backs that could be pressed into action early on in their careers in former four-star recruit Isaac Smith along with fellow freshmen Jaylen Aborom and Will James.

Smith was rated the No. 3 prospect in the state for this incoming class and was named Mississippi's Mr. Football for Class 4A. The 6-foot, 205-pounder snagged 25 interceptions during his prep career at Itawamba AHS, including nine picks as a senior.

"Isaac Smith has the ability to do it," said defensive coordinator Matt Brock. "He's just learning all the things that go into being a college football player - mentally and physically - at this level."

Aborom is a 6-foot-2, 190-pound in-state standout who starred on both sides of the ball at Oak Grove High School while James is a 6-foot, 180-pounder that also did a little bit of everything across the state line for Theodore High School and played in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game.

The Bulldogs also have two members of their 2022 signing class – Tanner Duke Johnson and Trent Singleton - still awaiting their turn to make their first impacts on the field after sitting out last season as redshirts.