Mississippi State started 2016 on a pretty sour note with a loss to South Alabama. Four months later, an Egg Bowl win and a St. Petersburg Bowl win closed the year on a much different note. The Bulldogs found their quarterback in Nick Fitzgerald and saw some players on the young defense start to find their way. Here are five focal points for 2017 for the Bulldogs roster.

How to use Aeris Williams: Fitzgerald is going to lead the team in rushing. For the Bulldogs to take the next step, he needs to be better in the passing game. Junior back Aeris Williams can make that happen by taking on more of the rushing responsibilities.

Williams made cameos as a feature back and looked good when given the chance. Against Texas A&M and Ole Miss, Williams had 140 and 191 yards on 24 and 25 carries, his high totals for the season. It wasn’t a coincidence those were the two biggest wins of the year. There are young backs in Alec Murphy and Nick Gibson who could put Williams and the Bulldogs right back into a crowded, muddled backfield situation. It will be interesting to see how the coaches handle it.

Graves has to be better: Field goal failures lose games for high school teams. College teams can’t afford it. Junior Westin Graves made all but one extra-point attempt in 2016 but only 11 of 19 field goals.

The numbers don’t lie and aren’t deceiving. Three of those misses came within 30 yards of the uprights, including a miss that would have beaten South Alabama in the opener and maybe gotten the season off to a whole different song. Graves made 5 of 6 from 30-39 yards but only 3 of 7 between 40 and 49 yards. Some of the longer ones can be excused, but inside 30 yards needs to be nearly automatic in a league where three points can win – or lose – a lot of games.

Can Donald Gray step into Ross’s shoes? Fred Ross has been one of the best receivers in the SEC. Donald Gray has shown that he can be. Now he needs to be.

Ross caught 72 passes last season for 12 touchdowns, far ahead of Gray’s 41 catches. Next on the list was Malik Dear with 23. Gray will have a featured role as Fitzgerald works on improving his throwing. Dear and Keith Mixon can flourish inside if Gray develops into a Ross or De’Runnya Wilson-type threat on the outside. If not, the job will be up for grabs.

Filling Brown’s shoes: Richie Brown had 211 tackles the last two seasons and has been the unquestioned leader of the Bulldogs’ defense. The linebacker was more than just the stat leader and someone has to fill his void. Looks like that is going to be sophomore Leo Lewis.

As a redshirt freshman, Lewis finished second on the team in tackles with 79 and showed the knack for finding the ball that made him the country’s top linebacker recruit for 2015. Lewis, like junior Gerri Green, is a top talent alongside senior J.T. Gray. Talent won’t be enough to fill Brown’s leadership, a non-talent part of the game that someone has to grow into.

Find a leader in pass defense: Brandon Bryant was fourth on the team with 62 tackles. As a junior, Bryant needs to shoulder the lead in improving a pass defense that ranked last in the SEC. The Bulldogs allowed 281.5 passing yards per game, 30 more than Texas A&M a spot ahead of them. They did pick off 14 passes but the ones that didn’t get picked, picked up chunks and chunks of yardage. Bryant and Mark McLaurin will be the ones to turn the secondary around if it is to be done. McLaurin added a pair of picks, five pass breakups and seven deflections to his 51 tackles. He also recovered a pair of fumbles.