Watch: Mississippi State HC Mike Leach Reflects on Bulldogs Scrimmage, 08/14/2021

Mississippi State football's Saturday scrimmage served as a bit of a checkpoint as to where the team is ahead of the 2021 season.

Head coach Mike Leach seemed pleased with the level of production and the amount of fight both sides had, but there's a long way to go before the team opens the season against the visiting LA Tech Bulldogs on Sept. 4 in Davis Wade Stadium.

"I thought it was productive. I thought it was aggressive," Leach said. "I thought it was competitive the whole time. Both sides have plenty to be pissed about, so that typically means you had a pretty good scrimmage. I would have liked to see us finish on the goal line a couple of those times. The defense let us off the hook a couple of times on some third-and-longs. I still think we’re not as consistent as we want to be. But we do have an explosive quality with the sacks and some of the explosive plays."

Quarterbacks were a hot topic of discussion, with Leach noting that he's continued to see improvement out of South Alabama transfer Chance Lovertich and that he thought sophomore Will Rogers was collectively "pretty good."

"A little up and down. I thought several times really good, then we had some dropped balls or sacks that cost the whole unit," Leach said of Rogers. "Collectively, I thought he did pretty good. There’s definitely a play or two he wants back. He took care of the ball. I like him to find his way out of some of those sacks his own self not just the O line. Obviously, the protection was suspect there. I think some of these guys gotta get tougher. Some think they’re better than they are. We gotta get that out of them."

Watch below to hear everything Leach said following the scrimmage:

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