Meridian native Deke Adams now coaching defensive line for Mississippi State

Published 11:00 pm Wednesday, March 27, 2019

For the first time in nearly a decade, Queen City native Deke Adams will again occupy a spot on the sideline in his home state this fall.

Mississippi State University hired Adams as its defensive line coach in January, giving the Bulldogs a defensive mind with more than 20 years worth of coaching experience, and bringing Adams back to the state in a coaching capacity for the first time since 2011, when he departed the University of Southern Mississippi for the University of North Carolina.

“It’s really great — it is,” Adams said of his return. “I had the opportunity to be in the state about almost 10 years ago back at my alma mater, and that was really good, and I moved up from there. To have the opportunity to come back and be here at Mississippi State with this staff, and to get back and see a lot of familiar faces in the state, I mean it’s really a great feeling.”

Adams graduated from Meridian High School in 1990 before heading to Southern Mississippi, where he excelled as a linebacker and in the classroom as a four-time dean’s list selection.

Although his schedule over the years hasn’t afforded him many opportunities to attend Wildcat football games as a spectator, he said he still keeps an eye on his alma mater.

“It’s funny now because a lot of the kids who are playing are kids of a lot of my high school classmates,” Adams said with a laugh. “And so it’s been really good. I’ve been able to keep up with them a good bit. Obviously, in this profession, you kind have to feed it with a long-handled spoon because you have to be very careful about how you handle things, even though it is your alma mater.”

Mississippi State marks Adams’ second job in the Southeastern Conference. From 2013-15, he was defensive line coach at the University of South Carolina. Adams’ defensive front in 2014 produced the No. 1 selection of the NFL draft in Jadeveon Clowney. 

Adams boasts a vast coaching resume that, in addition to Southern Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, also includes stops at East Carolina University, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, North Carolina A&T University, Ouachita Baptist University and Jacksonville State University.

Prior to accepting his current position at Mississippi State, Adams held the title of defensive line coach at the University of Memphis for several weeks.

Adams has also coached at the junior college level at Pearl River Community College.

“Over the years, you become more comfortable within your philosophy and the things you’re doing,” Adams said. “One of the things I try to do is continue to network with different coaches and NFL coaches throughout my career to find something that might make what I’m teaching a little bit better, because I’m a firm believer that if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse — you don’t stay the same.” 

Adams joins a Mississippi State defensive unit that was among the nation’s elite last year. Notably absent this year will be linemen Montez Sweat and Jeffery Simmons, who are projected as high picks in this year’s NFL draft. The acclaimed duo combined for 13.5 sacks and 31 tackles for a loss last season. However, Adams said there’s no shortage of talent on Mississippi State’s current defensive line, and his experiences with similar style defenses over the years have equipped him with the necessary skills to ensure the unit will again be formidable next season.

“Some of the things they did, I’ve been a part of — the aggressive style of play, the pressure and all of the different things that they did here as a defense, I’ve been around it,” Adams said. “I just want to be able to come in and maybe put a little spin on something here that might be able to make it a little bit better. Because obviously losing a lot of the talent we lost, there will be some things we can and cannot do, but we still have a lot of talent here that will give us the opportunity to be successful. Right now, it’s just adapting to what they believe and what they have here.”

While following up last year’s banner defensive season by the Bulldogs rank high on Adams’ list of priorities, he said a cornerstone of his coaching philosophy thought his career is building relationships with his players that span beyond the football field.

“The biggest part in all of this is just every year understanding the kids and being able to relate to the kids and relate to what they bring to the program and how they see things, how they learn and how they do things,” Adams said. “That’s something that you have to continue to get better at as a coach.”