Mississippi State University head football coach Dan Mullen has always said he wants to field a physical football team capable of winning the battle at the line of scrimmage. With the 2012 signing class in the books, Mullen may have finally signed enough talent along the defensive line to do just that.
The Bulldogs are bringing in eight defensive linemen this year, and it is a defensive line class which scout.comrates as the number one in the nation. Headlined by five-star junior college defensive end Denico Autry and Quay Evans, scout.com‘s number three rated defensive tackle and another five-star signee, MSU coaches were able to sign the program’s first five-star prospects since Derek Pegues inked with the Bulldogs in 2005.
Autry and Evans both enrolled this semester at MSU, and Mullen said he thinks this will pay dividends for them.
 ”They get the opportunity to go through spring ball, so they have the opportunity to be a little bit ahead of the other guys when they get here within the program,” Mullen said. “So that can make a lot of differences, too, for the guys on the field.”
Along with Autry and Evans, MSU also signed Torrey Bell, Ryan Brown, Nelson Adams, Jordan Washington, A.J. Jefferson and Nick James to play on the defensive line. Evans, James and Jefferson all made the Dandy Dozen, which is the Clarion-Ledger’s list of the top 12 prospects in the state of Missssissipi.
This group is expected to make an immediate impact and provide some much needed depth this coming football season.
“It’s obviously the deepest group,” Mullen said. “And that’s something that is really important to us. We have players that are leaving early to go to the NFL right now. That’s a good problem to have, it means we have some really good football players and we’re doing a great job developing them with our coaches. With Fletcher (Cox) leaving early, it’s going to open up more opportunities for guys to step in and play right away on that defensive line. I think that group as a whole is probably the strength of this class.”
Autry and Evans may headline the class, but every prospect signed has a high upside. Under Mullen, MSU has sought to sign players with a high “ceiling” so to speak, and if the coaching staff is going to err, they will do it signing a player who is an above-average athlete for the position he plays. The coaching staff is extremely excited about Nick James’ potential. James, a behometh defensive tackle from Long Beach, Miss., was repeatedly described by Mullen as a “freak” athlete. According to Mullen, James ran the 40-yard dash in less than five seconds this summer at the Big Dawg Camp, and he did so while weighing a svelte 330lbs, an astounding time for a player of his size.
With a mixture of big-name prospects and under-the-radar athletes, MSU’s defensive line haul could end up being one of the best in school history. It has often been said the talent along SEC  teams’ defensive lines is what sets the conference apart from others, and State’s defensive line class this year ranks higher than that of any other SEC school. For a program competing against Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas on a yearly basis, a talented defensive line is a must, and the Bulldogs appear to be set here for the foreseeable future.