Smith confident in Bulldogs improvement ahead of 2025 season

"We've been working our tail off all summer long," Smith said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. "We had a great spring. The new guys we've got, they've been working real hard. The offense, they look really, really well. The defense, we did a lot of things to fix what we had last year, and it's going to be a fun season."

Last season was a true struggle for Mississippi State as the defense finished near the bottom of the FBS in nearly every statistacal category imaginable. Offensively, once quarterback Blake Shapen suffered a season-ending shoulder injury as season went further south, resulting in the program's first winless SEC campaign since 2002.

Smith assured media and fans that energy within the football program remains high while also believing the output with be much different from 2025.

"[Lebby] comes in every day with the same energy, the same vibes," Smith said. "He's always fun to be around and just comes with a lot of energy. If I'd say anything, he's been more locked on us being better than what we were last year."

What Lebby's staff can't control is their player's ability to go out and execute a gameplan each week, leading to harsh criticism falling in their laps time and time again throughout a tough season.

"Last year, I feel like a lot of the criticism got put on our coaches," Smith said. "But I always tell the guys that the coaches can't go out there and play for us. It's up to us to go execute and make the plays. That's what we didn't do last year."

Defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler brought great energy and passion to his unit, which needed fierce leadership and motivation to avoid having his players letting go of the rope.

Mississippi State's defense registered just 10 sacks and 47 tackles for loss while forcing an SEC-low 12 turnovers in 2024.

"Defensively, if we can go out there, get stops this year, I have all the faith in the world that Blake is going to go get the ball to guys like Brenen [Thompson], Anthony Evans," Smith said. "Lebby's going to call the plays to get the ball in the end zone. Maybe this year we'll be on the other side of things instead of going home sad and mad that we lost close games that we should have been winning."