WATCH: Assistant Darcel McBath pushing State cornerbacks to finish

Mississippi State assistant Darcel McBath and his cornerbacks’ group own a mixture of experience and new faces this year. There’s been ups and downs but moreso from the veterans in the room.

Of late, some of that young talent has started to creep up the depth chart. Following Tuesday’s practice, McBath met with the media to talk about his position group and Saturday’s challenge at Arkansas:

Q: How’s it been to get back on the practice fields after the bye week?
McBath: It’s been great. The guys are excited. They’ve got that energy back, renewed focus, all the things you try to get coming out of a bye week. I think this has been our best practice since early in the season. Just in terms of excitement and execution. Fired up to get them back and they’re fired up to prepare and play.

Q: Which guys have you noticed emerging of late at cornerback
McBath: It’s been fun to watch. The young guys grow up, and the guys who are playing elevate their game. You’ve got Brice (Pollock) and Kelly Jones, the two young guys who are kind of emerging. DeCarlos (Nicholson) is getting better week after week and DCam (Decamerion Richardson) is holding down the other spot. It’s good to have a four-man rotation there and getting Furdge in the mix to have a five-man rotation that I feel good about going in and executing. That’s a cornerback coach’s dream.

Q: Over the past two games Decamerion has played better. Was there something you saw in his game that needed corrected?
McBath: I don’t know so much that it was corrections. He had a couple of things he was dealing with that stopped him from making a few plays. He battled through. He’s just feeling a lot better those last three weeks before the bye. He’s moving around a lot differently, more confident, and more physical – his brand of football. That’s who he is, his calling card. He’s physical at the line of scrimmage, he’ll come up and tackle you and smother you in coverage. You see him getting back to that.

Q: Pass defense efficiency has not been a strong suit so far. How can you improve there?
McBath: I think it’s more than one thing. It’s multi-layered. It’s about affecting the quarterbacks in a lot of different ways. It’s also about affecting the guys on the outside, the edge, and making people feel uncomfortable. I think we’ve implemented some things that will help us with that. Try to dictate the game to people and not let them dictate the game to us. And then, when you’re in a position to make a play, you make the play because they are huge. Third down stops to keep guys going. You gotta have those plays. Just finish, and be violent, just taking pride in it. One play leads to the next and we know how that goes.

Q: What have you seen from Esaias Furdge the last few weeks after he opened the season as the starter?
McBath: I love Furdge because he never complains about anything. He’s going to battle. I don’t have to say anything to him. He’s always in the mix. I know I can plug and play him whenever I need to. And I know I’m going to get great reps from him in practice. He’ll be ready, I never worry about Furdge.

Q: You have seen a lot of tape on Arkansas now. Your thoughts on them?
McBath: Big, physical. Older quarterback who has played a lot of college football in the SEC. He’s going to be prepared. They’re going to want to run the ball. They run it like 38 times a game. It will be a focal point of theirs. But he can do it with his arm too. He can do it both ways. Dual threat quarterback. We’ve got our hands full but we’re looking forward to it. We’ve had a week off, our guys are hungry. We’ll go out and fight.

Q: We’ve asked you about the coverage issues. Is it just about more reps?
McBath: That’s a lot of it. Getting guys comfortable in what we’re doing. We have a confident group, but the know-how and the finish to do the things that it’s going to take. You get out there in an SEC game, you can’t simulate the speed, the crowd, the noise, the attention to detail. Some of those things we’re kind of learning on the job. The second half of the season, every spot on defense will be better.