No player typifies Mississippi State’s hidden amount of experience like Will Redmond.

Officially speaking, the Bulldogs return just one starter in the defensive backfield. Practically speaking, they’ve got one of the SEC’s best cornerback duos coming back.

Despite serving as a backup in the base defense last year, Redmond enters 2015 with a freight train of hype behind him. He was a second-team preseason All-SEC pick by the league’s coaches, a first-team selection by Phil Steele, he’s on the watchlists for the Bednarick Award and the Nagurski Trophy, and he’s the top senior cornerback in Mel Kiper’s 2016 draft rankings.

Not bad for a nickel back.

Redmond will see the field with the first unit this season, joining fellow senior Taveze Calhoun, a starter for the last two seasons who led the team last year with 10 passes defended.

Also in the mix: Tolando Cleveland, a junior who had 29 tackles, two interceptions and seven pass breakups in 2014.

That’s a solid foundation for an entire secondary, let alone a single position group.

So what was the problem last year?

Despite these returning pieces and departed Jamerson Love in last year’s secondary, the Bulldogs got toasted by big plays in the passing game time and again in 2014. They gave up an SEC-worst 272.8 yards per game through the air, 47 passes of more than 20 yards and nine passes of 50 yards or more.

Some blame has been placed at the feet of the safeties, but Calhoun took responsibility in an interview with ESPN this spring.

“Sometimes we would get lackadaisical when we were winning big and it carried over later on into the season,” Calhoun said.

And though the pass defense was only a piece of the equation, “later on in the season” is when a historic start crumbled into three losses in four games for the Bulldogs.

The good news is that if you didn’t beat the Bulldogs’ pass defense with a big play, you probably didn’t beat them in any material fashion. Despite giving up nearly 40 yards per game more than any other SEC team, Mississippi State was sixth in the league in pass defense efficiency. That’s largely because the Bulldogs were at their best in the red zone, and finished the season with almost as many interceptions (16) as touchdown passes allowed (17).

And though the Bulldogs must replace numerous pieces from last year’s defensive two-deep, the most important newcomer in 2015 might be the guy who suits up with a headset instead of a helmet.

After an up-and-down tenure at Texas and a return-to-form season at Louisiana Tech, defensive coordinator Manny Diaz is back in Starkville, where his rise to nationwide prominence began in 2010.

Diaz is known for aggression. The optimistic view in this regard is that Mississippi State’s strong cornerback group will allow that scheme to thrive due to their ability to operate on islands. The pessimistic take: Diaz’s approach is akin to playing with fire given the Bulldogs’ penchant for surrendering the big play in 2014.

We’ll likely get a feel for how 2015 might play out early this season. Mississippi State hosts LSU in Week 2, a game that could prove to be an early-season litmus test for the Bulldogs defense as a whole.

Leonard Fournette should be the Tigers’ offensive centerpiece, but they’ve also got a pair of legitimate big-play receivers in Travin Dural and Malachi Dupre. Adding to the intrigue: Brandon Harris, who nearly brought LSU back after Mississippi State all but buried the Tigers in last year’s game, is leading the quarterback race in Baton Rouge.

Almost no game can be called “must-win” in September — check with 2014 Ohio State for confirmation — but if the Bulldogs are going to make serious noise in the SEC for a second straight season, a 1-0 start in SEC play would sure help.