Super Bulldog Weekend is officially upon us once again. There will be plenty of parties, music and fun for everyone to enjoy from this weekend’s various festivities. But another major part of Super Bulldog Weekend is the sports. There will be a plethora of different sporting events to choose from over the weekend. The baseball team has a series against Ole Miss, the softball team has a series against the No. 2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and there will be tennis action as well. But the event I am looking most forward to is the Maroon and White game. It may not be fall yet, but football is back. The Mississippi State University football team will play its annual spring scrimmage game on Saturday at noon at Davis Wade Stadium, and admission is free to the public. 
It should be quite an exciting scene. Expectations are extremely high this season for the Bulldogs after the way they finished strong down the stretch of the 2013 season. The returning starters and senior leadership produces another factor in the high expectations coming into this season, neither of which was the case a year ago. But of all the things the football team has going for it at the moment, none might be bigger than junior quarterback Dak Prescott who has a chance to perhaps be the best quarterback in the SEC in 2014. Multiple SEC teams lost their starting quarterback from a year ago, and unlike those schools, MSU has a guy coming back with starting experience. There have even been offseason rumblings of Prescott as a dark horse Heisman candidate. If that proves to be the case, MSU could be in for one of its most memorable football seasons in school history. 
As with the start of any football season, there are many storylines and questions going into the 2014 season involving this team. We might not get the answer to all of our questions or concerns on Saturday, but it will be a good place to start. Special teams was one of the biggest problems for the Bulldogs a year ago. One of the main things to look for in this scrimmage will be to see if the team has improved in that area — more specifically in the place kicking. 
Also, MSU did not lose very many starters, but of the ones the Dogs did lose, two were along the offensive line. Most notably, Gabe Jackson is most likely going to be a second round pick in the 2014 draft next month. So how the offensive line looks with two new starters will be another point to keep an eye on in the scrimmage. 
Another position MSU fans need to keep an eye on is the outside receivers. Senior Jameon Lewis had a breakout campaign in 2013, and we expect him to be just as good if not better in 2014. But he plays in the slot. Our receiver play on the outside was inconsistent a year ago, and it will be interesting to see in the scrimmage if a potential big-time target emerges on the outside for Prescott. Joe Morrow and Robert Johnson were the starters a year ago, but look out for underclassmen like sophomores De’Runnya Wilson and Fred Ross to potentially be the playmakers on the outside the team has been awaiting. 
There are also a lot of potential positives to keep in mind for this game. At the top of my list is the depth at running back. The Bulldogs have four backs ready and are able to be big factors in the run game. Most MSU fans know about Josh Robinson and Ashton Shumpert, but watch out for Nick Griffin who hopes to finally have an injury-free season, and the small but dangerously elusive Brandon Holloway who showed off quickness and nifty moves in the open field during spring practice and will be sure to dazzle the crowd on Saturday. 
And finally, watch for the improvement on defense. The Bulldog defense was good a year ago, but it has a chance to be one of the top units in the SEC this season. The secondary is older, more experienced and no longer seems to be the weak link pulling the rest of the unit down anymore. The linebacker corps is led by one of the best middle linebackers in the nation in Benardrick McKinney, and the defensive line is the deepest position on the team featuring last year’s freshman standout Chris Jones who is poised for an even bigger year in 2014. Coming into last year we used words like rebuild, wait and patience. When discussing this team now, 10 wins is a legitimate possibility in 2014.