[Tuck4Bama]

STARKVILLE — To the outside observer, the competition to become one of Mississippi State's starting defensive tackles during preseason practice was fairly underwhelming.

But it was pretty intense to those on the inside - the inside of the line.
"It really was better as a competition because if you didn't perform one day, you came back the next day, you're down on the depth chart," said junior college transfer Jessie Bowman, who along with Cortez McCraney earned one of the two spots in last week's 45-0 loss to LSU. "So you just had to come day-in, day-out and work hard."

Which is exactly what the Bulldog defensive line did against LSU, MSU coach Sylvester Croom said. Especially the defensive tackle position. After spending most of preseason camp talking about how no player separated himself from the pack in terms of grabbing a starting role, Croom said Tuesday that the position was "a very big concern" before LSU.

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