There are three important times of the year for college football fans in the South-the regular season, signing day and spring practice.
Mississippi State kicked off spring practice March 7. They have totaled 11 practices to this point, not counting the second scrimmage, which will be played tomorrow. The Bulldogs will conclude spring practice with the annual spring game on April 9, which will be televised by ESPN2. From day one, spring practice has been a roller coaster ride. With each day comes a new team. One never knows who will show up-the team that beat Florida or the team that lost to Maine.
“That’s been the history of this program. We’ve got to change that,” head coach Sylvester Croom said of the inconsistent play of his team. “We’ve got to start getting better every day out here. We’ve got to be able to win every week we go out there.”
Practicing with more consistency is a key to winning consecutive games during the regular season, the second-year head coach said.
“It’s that same way during the season. If you have a big win, you’ve got to be able to put it behind you, and come back, and get ready to play, and win the next game,” Croom said. “Right now we haven’t matured enough to do that.”
Quarterback Omarr Conner missed the first two days of spring practice due to a non-football related sprained ankle. Conner is fully healthy and is throwing the ball well, but his protection and his wide receivers have been the problem.
The offensive line can be compared to a thin piece of thread that gradually keeps unraveling until nothing is left.
Three projected starters are no longer with the team.
Left tackle Richard Burch was dismissed after he was arrested for the alleged selling of marijuana.
Brad Weathers, who was supposed to replace Burch, has nerve damage that will prevent him from ever playing again.
And Donovan Davis, who was listed as the starting right guard coming into the spring, quit the team after he and Croom had a verbal spat about his injury.
Davis thought he should not have had practice last Monday due to a sprained wrist, but team doctors had cleared him to practice, spawning the argument with Croom and eventually leading to his quitting.
“Skill-wise we’re potentially better at every position except offensive tackle. We’re bad there, very bad,” Croom said. “Those freshmen tackles we signed may be penciled in as No. 1’s the first day they get here,” he added about the five offensive linemen Mississippi State signed in this past recruiting class.
Center Chris McNeil and guard Brian Anderson have been the only consistent linemen in the group.
There is hardly any depth at any position on the entire offense, spare the tight end spot where Eric Butler is backed up by ex-wide receiver Jason Husband, who Croom says has been the surprise of the spring.
While the wide receivers look better than they did last year at this time, there are still drops being made. Starting wide out Tee Milons is improving with every passing day, but as Croom said, the ball is still hitting the turf.
“We had way too many drops on the offense today,” an upset Croom said after Tuesday’s practice. “I think Tee [Milons] had about three, and that’s uncharacteristic of him from the way he’s been practicing. He does some good things, but he’s not making the catches right now. He’s losing his focus a little bit.”
The defense has been the cornerstone of spring practice. They fly to the ball, and they elicit crushing hits.
The offense has rarely moved the ball on them. Blocked passes, tackles for loss, sacks and interceptions have been more prevalent than anything when the first string offense and first string defense clash during practice. This brings up the question, “Is the defense really good or is the offense just really bad?”
One thing for sure, the defense definitely has more depth than the offense. And the talent level is greater on that side of the ball.
This year Croom has started what might turn into a tradition at Mississippi State. Croom has created a number-rewarding system.
At the start of spring practice, only a small number of players had numbers on their jerseys as a reward for good off season conditioning, while the majority of the team had just a plain jersey on. A player can receive his number by playing hard at practice.
“What we’re going to do is at the end of the spring those guys who have numbers, if they want to change numbers or get somebody else’s number, it’s their right to do so,” Croom said.
There are currently 23 players with numbers on their jerseys, meaning more than 55 players do not have a number on their jerseys.
INJURY REPORT
Second string defensive end Solman Ona is suffering from a sprained ankle. The red shirt freshman has seen no contact this week.
Second string wide receiver Joey Sanders sustained a bruise chest during Tuesday’s practice. It was not made clear when he would return to practice.
Kick and punt returner Jonathan Lowe (neck injury), backup end Stephan Arant (shoulder) and starting corner back David Heard (calf) sported gold jerseys at Tuesday’s practice, meaning light contact.