Day 1: Reviewing The Action As Mississippi State Football Opens Up Camp

Mississippi State football opened up its first camp under new head coach Zach Arnett.

College football has unofficially begun in Starkville this week. After a long and tragic offseason, Arnett was ready to get started.

“It’s good to get out there and start coaching football again," Arnett said. Obviously, the season is right around the corner. We’ve got a long way to go."

The last 20 minutes of practice was open to the media. During this time, they went through team and skel drills with just helmets.

Veteran quarterback Will Rogers, as expected, took the first-team reps and was sharp. He played as scheduled for a four-year starter. He did not force the ball and was comfortable in the new Barbay scheme, displaying accuracy at multiple levels.

Jo'quavious "Woody" Marks carried the bulk of the load at running back and looked like he had added to his frame, something that's a positive now that he's expected to get far more carries with the change in offensive scheme.

Up front there isn't much to take away from a non-padded practice. However, the starters were from left to right Dollarbill Johnson, Nick Jones, Cole Smith, Steven Losoya, and Kam Jones.

One receiver who caught the eye was junior Justin Robinson. He made an awe-inspiring catch over cornerback Esaias Furdge during team drills. He ran with the first group of receivers along with Tulu Griffin, Jaden Walley, and Zavion Thomas.

Another impressive player was tight end Geor'quarius Spivey. The TCU transfer took first-team reps at tight end and displayed solid speed and route-running ability for a man his size.

There haven't been many questions about the MSU defense, and Friday was no different. Standout linebacker Jett Johnson was back after missing spring due to injury.

The defensive line brings back a great deal of experience with seniors up front between Demonte Russell, Nathan Pickering, and Jaden Crumedy. Again, it was an unpadded practice, but Pickering made a veteran play on a reverse to Tulu Griffin, where he stayed home and made the play.

At cornerback, Decamerion Richardson was solid and had veteran Esaias Furdge on the other side with the first team. Former JUCO transfer DeCarlos Nicholson was working with the second team, but he was flying around the field. Furdge will need to work hard to keep his job.

Toward the end of practice, the freshmen and walk-ons ran team and skel drills. Freshman quarterback Chris Parson took many of the reps, and he was impressive. Parson looked relatively comfortable for a true freshman as a signal-caller with a high ceiling.

Despite being picked last by the SEC media, MSU fans should still have high expectations for a team showing a lot of promise. With less than 500 season tickets remaining, the fans have shown they believe in their first-year head coach.