With the 2024 regular season wrapped-up, we're seeing several Mississippi State Bulldogs enter their names into the transfer portal. Up to this point, all of the transfers out of the program have come from players who weren't making much of an impact if at any. That is no longer the case, as Mississippi State has lost its first major contributor to the transfer portal.
Starting sophomore cornerback Brice Pollock enters transfer portal
On Tuesday, we learned the sophomore cornerback Brice Pollock is entering the transfer portal. Pollock started all 12 games for Mississippi State this fall.
Mississippi State cornerback Brice Pollock plans to enter the transfer portal, he tells @On3sports.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) December 3, 2024
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound cornerback has 72 career tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, an interception and a forced fumble. He has 11 career pass breakups.https://t.co/IhlOTDYyeQ pic.twitter.com/KK6TSXG4gH
Pollock, a former 4-star prospect from Snellville, GA, was a big get for the Bulldogs in the class of 2023. State beat out Ole Miss and Pittsburgh for the big-framed corner. As a true freshman, Pollock was thrust into a starting role late in the season. He wasn't quite ready for that task, but it provided him with valuable reps going into his sophomore year.
In 2024, Pollock became a full-time starter on the outside for State. In 12 games, he recorded 48 tackles, a tackle for loss, nine passes broken up, and a forced fumble. In a road game at Georgia, he made his first career interception.
Mississippi State's defensive overhaul just got tougher
It's no secret that Mississippi State is working to completely overhaul their defensive roster. The talent level on that side of the ball was not SEC caliber, and in order to turn things around in 2025, they're going to need an influx of impact defenders to come in and be starters.
However, there were a few pieces worth building around on defense, and Brice Pollock was one of them. While Pollock was by no means a lockdown corner, he was a solid player on the outside and had an impressive showing in the Egg Bowl. With further development, he could easily become a plus starter in the SEC. But now, he won't be doing that at Mississippi State.
State's job of flipping their defense just got tougher with Pollock's decision to leave. Finding high-level cornerbacks in the transfer portal is not an easy task. And while finding someone of similar caliber to Pollock isn't necessarily an impossible, having to devote resources to recruiting that position when there are so many other needs is not ideal.