Three Storylines to Follow as Mississippi State Opens Fall Practice
We're officially just one month away from the start of Mississippi State's 2021 football season, when LA Tech travels to Davis Wade Stadium for the season opener on Sept. 4.
But before that happens, there will be a lot of action unfolding during fall camp in August. Thursday is report day, with
There's a wealth of things to look into across the board on both sides of the ball -- here's three key storylines to follow before the year kicks off:
1. Who will be the starting quarterback?
MSU has eight quarterbacks on its roster and "wide open" battle at the position, though it seems that graduate transfer Jack Abraham and sophomore Will Rogers are the frontrunners.
Head coach Mike Leach has spoken to just how competitive it will be, and we can expect it be a close one between the amount of experience Abraham brings and how well Rogers was able to step up a true freshman taking the reins in the midst of adverse circumstances last year.
Abraham completed over 69% of his passes for 7,067 yards with 41 touchdowns and 29 interceptions over three seasons at Southern Miss.
In his first season, Rogers completed 69.1% of his passes for 1,976 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions over nine appearances.
"Jack (Abraham) is accurate, makes good decisions, has quick feet is how I would categorize him," Leach said at SEC Media Days. "The other thing he brings to us is the highest level of experience at the position that we have on our team."
Leach also spoke highly of Rogers at the event.
"I thought Will did a really good job," Leach said. "True freshmen don't start very often, and part of the reason is they're true freshmen. But in Will's case, we needed a guy that could go out there and play. I thought he did a very good job, especially as far as being composed and played with a level of -- at times looked more experienced, certainly, than he was."
2. Repetition pays off.
If you're even slightly familiar with the Air Raid offense, you know that it's based on repetition and execution. There's nothing incredibly flashy about it -- a you-know-it's -coming-but-you-can't-stop-it type of deal where we're going to get so good at each thing that we win by executing so well.
But that's hard to do when you have an extremely limited offseason like college football programs including MSU had last year. Players who were there the year before had to switch from an entirely opposite system and learn a new one over Zoom.
Of course, there aren't excuses for poor player performances, but the Bulldogs could have benefitted a great deal from a full offseason last year, especially with how young this team was and still is.
This year, with a full offseason intact, we can expect to see a lot of upward momentum for a program that looks poised to make a statement. It will be interesting to see how the team puts it all together on the field in real-game action after not having to deal with the COVID offseason it had to deal with last year.
3. How different will the defense look between this year and last year?
Just as MSU had an entirely new offense to pick up in 2020, it also had a new defense to learn under new defensive coordinator Zach Arnett. The Bulldogs ranked fifth in the SEC in total defense, 10th in the conference in passing defense and fourth in the SEC in rushing defense.
Some key losses here include linebacker Erroll Thompson, outside linebacker Kobe Jones and defensive end Marquiss Spencer.
Linebacker Aaron Brule is projected to be a standout player as he comes into his redshirt junior year, as is Tyrus Wheat, who is a senior this season.
The Bulldogs also have the makings of one of the best, if not the best, secondaries in the country, though there was some struggle last year with safety Fred Peters unable to stay healthy. Emmanuel Forbes and Martin Emerson Jr. have the chance to rival the LSU Derek Stingley Jr./Elias Ricks cornerback duo for the best at the position this season.
The unit also has former Texas cornerback Jalen Green now in the fold, who could quickly become an impact player.
It will be interesting to see what comes of the futures of Londyn Craft, Collin Duncan, Forbes, Peters, Esaias Furdge, Landon Guidry, Jay Jimison -- all of which were first-time starters within the unit as well last season.
