Last fall Mike Henig was under constant duress. He was working behind an offensive line with little experience and throwing to a maligned receiving core. His only relief was the school’s all-time leading rusher in the backfield.
This spring some things have changed. Some have not.
“We’re still making mistakes in the protection and not giving ourselves enough time to make plays,” Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom said of his offensive line. “If we can give Mike (Henig) time, he’ll make a play.”
Henig threw for 173 yards and no interceptions in Saturday’s spring scrimmage, the second of three game-simulated sessions this spring.
Four different receivers hauled in touchdown catches for the offense, a much better outing than last week’s session where the core caught only one. Tyler Threadgill and Lance Long each caught end zone passes early, while Omarr Conner and Keon Humphries scored late on 17 and eight yards passes.
“I’m excited,” said Conner, the senior receiver. “We’ve got a whole swarm of receivers now. This offense has a lot of plays for the receivers to make, and we’re just going to try to get out there and do it.”
Conner caught six balls for 110 yards Saturday, continuing to adjust to the receiver position with ease. He said having this spring to focus on receiving (whereas last spring he was taking reps at quarterback) is really helping his game and that the action on the field is beginning to slow down.
Threadgill has worked his way up from the scout team to the starting unit, and according to position coach Guy Holliday, he has matured enough to possibly stay there.
“(Tyler) has grown up,” Holliday said. “There’s no way to know for sure until he lines up under the lights against ESPN, but he certainly looks for real.”
The Bulldogs ground attack looked less than intimidating, as the unit racked up only 100 combined yards. Derrick Ambrose was a bright spot for the unit, leading the team with 48 yards and a touchdown. Ambrose was able to cause a fair amount of missed tackles, despite spending most of last season on the injured list with a bum knee.
First string running back Brandon Thornton again missed action while recovering from shoulder surgery, leaving the state of the Bulldog backfield in a position which worries Croom.
“Ambrose and Thornton, that’s who we’ve got to beat South Carolina with,” Croom said. “Right now, that’s my biggest worry, in the sense that right now both of those guys have something wrong with them.”