Former Mississippi State defensive coordinator Geoff Collins will be coaching more than 500 miles from Starkville this season, but he’ll have as much of an impact on MSU’s defense this fall as replacement DC Manny Diaz.

When Collins, now with the Florida Gators, was on Dan Mullen’s staff at Mississippi State, he and Mullen became known for employing an unorthodox substitution method that involved giving backups significant playing time early in the season. Not in garbage time either, but in the heat of battle.

Last season, Mullen even rotated eventual first-team All-SEC quarterback Dak Prescott off the field during the first half of a few games in order to prepare backup Damian Williams in the event Prescott got hurt during the year. Collins regularly played his entire two-deep on defense, and MSU had more than 20 defenders log a tackle in a majority of its games a year ago.

The logic behind this strategy is to build depth in live-game situations, not just on the practice field. Mullen and Collins might not substitute as liberally against ranked SEC foes, but in non-conference games against the likes of Southern Miss and South Alabama they had no hesitation sending members of the second unit onto the field during the course of a game for the purposes of preparing the insurance policies lying behind the starters.

This season, the Bulldogs have already lost Collins as well as a number of key starters on defense, including defensive ends Preston Smith and Kaleb Eulls, linebacker Benardrick McKinney, cornerback Jamerson Love and safeties Jay Hughes and Justin Cox. But rest assured, the next men up on the MSU depth chart are prepared for the moment, thanks in large part to Collins.

Some might look at McKinney’s 72 tackles to lead the team a year ago and think “the team leader only had 72 tackles? How bad was the defense? How is this guy considered the No. 1 middle linebacker in the NFL Draft class?”

But when you truly understand how Collins ran his Psycho Defense at Mississippi State, that figure makes sense. McKinney only logged 72 tackles because he shared playing time with so many other members of the defense. Yes, most other team leaders in the SEC posted more than 90 tackles, but those defenses also fell well short of the 21 players MSU boasted with at least 20 tackles a year ago.

For example, Alabama’s leader in tackles last year was Landon Collins with a whopping 102, but only 16 players on the Tide’s defense logged at least 20 tackles. Auburn had two players with more than 90 tackles but only 15 with at least 20. Do you see what I’m getting at?

Mississippi State’s second line of defense was better prepared than the second-string of any other defense in the SEC, perhaps the nation. That’s a credit to Collins.

When the Bulldogs debut two new safeties this fall, they’ll feel comfortable knowing both players saw significant time a year ago, allowing them to acclimate themselves with the speed of the FBS. Both Kivon Coman and Deontay Evans logged at least 34 tackles apiece, and they combined to break up nine passes during the course of the year.

New defensive end A.J. Jefferson, who backed up Smith and Eulls a year ago, recorded 28 tackles, 7.0 for loss, to go along with 2.5 sacks. Linebacker Richie Brown made 50 tackles and picked off three passes in 2014.

These guys were all backups last season, but those numbers certainly don’t resemble numbers posted by an average second-teamer. That’s because, thanks to Collins and his ability to season every player within his unit, those guys weren’t second-teamers at all, but instead were just extensions of the starting lineup.

Now they’re all bonafide starters prepared to hit the ground running this fall. Few teams who lost as much talent as MSU did this offseason could claim that, but MSU can, thanks to a coach now running the defense of a conference rival.

Diaz is certain to put his own stamp on the Bulldogs defense this season, but he’ll have a unit already prepared to take on his system thanks to the man he’s succeeding. It may be ironic, but for Mississippi State it’s also a blessing.