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Bob Shoop to be Mississippi State's defensive coordinator

<p>Tennessee defensive coordinator Bob Shoop.</p>

Bob Shoop is headed to Mississippi State to be the Bulldogs defensive coordinator, he confirmed to WBIR in a text message on Friday.

Shoop was Tennessee's defensive coordinator for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The Vols ranked 83rd nationally in scoring defense in 2016, allowing 29.1 points per game. That number improved to 28.8 points per game (68th in nation) in 2017.

Shoop's defense was ravaged by injuries in both seasons. Both starting linebackers were out with injuries for the majority of Shoop's tenure at Tennessee.

Starting middle linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. played in only eight games the last two seasons and wasn't at one-hundred percent for most of those. Starting weakside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin played in the first four games of 2016 before missing the rest of the season with an injury. He was selected in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions.

Cortez McDowell was the starting weakside linebacker in 2017 and he was lost for the season during the third game of the year. Austin Smith was expected to be the starting strongside linebacker before injuring his knee in the week leading up to the first game and missing the first six games.

One of the defense's top playmakers and an NFL draft pick, Cam Sutton, missed five games in 2016 and senior safety Todd Kelly Jr. missed all but two games in 2017. Tennessee also suffered numerous injuries on the defensive line in 2016.

Shoop joins Joe Moorhead's staff in Starkville. Moorhead and Shoop both worked for James Franklin at Penn State, but not at the same time.

Moorhead was the Nittany Lions' offensive coordinator for the 2016 and 2017 seasons and Shoop was the defensive coordinator in State College for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Shoop's 2014 Penn State defense ranked second in the nation, allowing only 278.7 yards per game.

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