Mississippi State football has 19 more days until its begins its 2025 season on the road against Southern Miss.
So far, the Bulldogs have held nine practices and held their first scrimmage of the preseason Sunday evening. The scrimmage was closed to the public, but head coach Jeff Lebby met with reporters afterwards to discuss the scrimmage.
Here’s what he said:
One of the biggest goals is to get out of this thing healthy and kind of see some retention. How would you kind of assess both of those fronts after this?
We are we are healthy and that’s a great thing really as you look at it. Nine days into camp, I think our guys have taken to the culture of recovery and finding time to to make sure that they’re doing everything they possibly can to get themselves ready for for the next day’s practice. And I think the the growth in that has been it’s been fun to see and and been really good. The retention piece of it installs have been heavy. Uh we’ve put a lot on them. You know, we we want to create some stress for them to see how they’re going to respond. And as you can imagine, there’s been some good and there’s been some not so good. So, a ton to clean up, ton of work to do. But again, our guys right now are man, they’re dialed into getting better.
Anybody kind of catch your attention or any group today catch your attention?
Yeah, I mean what I loved was, you know, defensively found a way to create turnovers and some negative plays and that that for me was a great thing to see from the defensive side of the ball, man. When they got their hands on the ball, made plays, created some again some huge momentum plays in the scrimmage and that was good to see. And it was, man, it was the unit. Kelly Jones had a scoop-and-score touchdown from 50, 60 yards out which was great to see. And again, just guys making plays. We’ve talked about that non-stop. You know, when you’re in position to make it and we got to make it. And so again, we were far from perfect. But we’ve got a chance to build on that.
You mentioned the defense. Do you see them bringing more energy right now than maybe previous? I know they always played hard, but have you seen a difference?
Yeah, I think it’s just a more connected group as much as anything. I thought something that was different than what I’d seen is the players made a decision today as we walked over from the Seal to get here to the stadium, the entire defense walked together. Nobody left without the other and that was good to see. I think there’s connection over there. There’s some trust being created inside the unit. There’s accountability and that’s what we got to have to have a chance.
Coach, as a play caller head coach, you’re a bit more involved in the offense than a lot of other head coaches. Are things kind of smoothing over as the units are coming together? Are you liking what you’re seeing so far at this point?
Yeah, today the frustrating thing offensively was not taking care of the ball. You know, we did some really good things. We created a couple of explosives and did some decent things in the run game, but then turnovers were the storyline today. And so, the ball is the program, and we’ve got to make sure we’re doing a great job at taking care of it. We’ve done a pretty good job throughout fall camp at doing that nine practices in. But, you know, that was the story today.
What have you seen out of Fluff Bothwell since he’s arrived here? And what do you kind of see his role playing for the season?
Yeah, a guy that’s going to be incredibly involved. I talked a lot about the running back room in the spring and uh Fluff is man, he’s serious about being great. He’s had a great camp and great start to it. Great nine days and excited about Fluff and what he’s going to do for us.
You mentioned a heavy install these first week or so of camp. How does that compare to the last preseason, the degree of install you were able to do with that bunch?
Yeah, I think that the cool thing is that we’re getting more guys getting more reps. And so there is there’s more tape to watch, there’s more film, there’s more going on because again from a roster standpoint, we’ve been able to practice how we need to practice just to give ourselves a chance. And so with a lot of newness, again, a bunch of the guys defensively were here in the spring offensively, you know, the line of scrimmage with our offensive lineman and then the tight end position and those guys are new and so their non-practice is in. And I think that’s again, I talked about it, I guess, after day one. That’s where we’ve got to make this huge amount of growth as fast as we possibly can is getting those guys on the same page.
New look O-Line and D-line for the most part today. First time really in a game type situation that you’ve seen them kind of face off. What are your impressions about today’s battles in the trenches?
Yeah, I think again we’ll have to watch it just to to be able to evaluate it the way we need to evaluate it. I know that nine days in the physicality at practice is completely different than what it was. And so again, there has to be that to have a chance, and we’ve got that right now. I love how hard our guys are practicing. We’ve got again on the offensive line, we’ve got to come together as a unit. Who is who are the top eight guys, top seven guys that can go play winning football throughout the season for us and that’s probably the biggest strain for us offensively right now.
Along those lines, obviously you got more competition and more depth on both sides of the line this year. Are there any guys starting to kind of separate themselves a little bit?
Yeah, there really had there’s been a good core group of guys in the Dline that have done a really good job. I’m going to wait and to name names until we get through next week’s scrimmage, get two weeks all the way into this thing. But I think the best part about what’s going on the defensive line right now is we’re going to really have the ability to go play 10, 11 guys and play winning football with 10 or 11 guys. And so that that is great for us. That’s huge for us. We need them to keep coming. We need great competition so that we have the ability, man, to roll guys, play fresh, and play hard.
You talked about the running back room and there’s a lot of depth there and we’ve seen a couple videos of Seth Davis. Are you kind of surprised how he kind of looks now? I know it’ll be a while before he gets back to 100%, but did it kind of surprise you with what he’s been doing.
Yeah, it’s probably the coolest story or probably the most special story of fall camp to me. I mean, here’s a guy that’s gone through what he’s gone through, still battling the things that he’s battling. Pretty special, pretty amazing. And what a great testament to who he is as a person, as a competitor. I think what an incredible example for our football team to see and love who he is. Love that he’s with us and being able to practice and go out and compete as he’s trying to work himself back to being himself.
Coach, last week Art Briles was at open practice. Are there any boundaries around his presence in regard to—
No, I mean coach being here was, you know, again with family, I think that was addressed and man, we want family at practice. We want family at scrimmages and that for me is special and that’s how it’s going to continue to be.
The turnover topic has come up here a few times. I know you really want to see the defense making those plays, but how do you hide from your offense that you’re excited to see the defense making plays like that?
Yeah, it’s a fine line, you know, and I think for me again I of course I want to see the negative plays. I want to see us getting the ball out and creating the turnovers. We talked in the team meeting today about win percentage and the turnover battle and you can be plus two to plus three. Your win percentage right now is going to be over 80%. And so, man, stressing that and that’s both sides of the ball. But I think creating that awareness non-stop is critical for us as we move forward. But it is there’s a fine line in that.
Coach, I know you’re a very process-oriented guy and you grade your coaches as well, but nine games or nine practices into this thing for the first scrimmage. How do you feel like the process went as far as just kind of facilitating a game type atmosphere?
Yeah, again there’s going to be a ton to clean up, but our communication obviously both sides of the ball, having coaches up in the box, having coaches downstairs, having the iPads, having the full game day piece of it from a communication standpoint, we’re in a really good spot. I think, you know, having the ability to be year two with the staff back, obviously Phil being year one for us from an O line standpoint, but spent six years with me before that. So, that is incredibly seamless. And so, we are we’re in in a great spot from that standpoint.
Coach, it seems Trevion is taking more more of a step defensively. What do you want to see out of him this year?
Yeah, he’s just continuing to get better and then make plays, you know. I think for him, uh it’s exciting because now he’s year two in the defense. Uh he’s settled in and he’s a guy that I think has he’s gotten better and better. He’s one of those guys that, you know, we mentioned the 10 or 11 guys earlier. Um and he’s definitely one of them that’s done a done a really good job. He’s got to continue to keep coming, keep pushing, but again, I like where he’s at. I like where that room’s at.
Saw you earlier this week working with some of the tight ends during the practice that we saw. How does an improved tight end kind of upgrade this offense or enhance what you guys want to do?
Creates freedom. I mean, that that’s what it does as a play caller. When you have multiple tight ends that can go execute a lot of different things, it creates freedom. And so that room has been upgraded in an incredible way since June 1 and fired up about Max and Sam being here. Two unbelievable kids that are talented kids that love football and I am I’m excited about that group.
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