Mississippi State head football coach Jackie Sherrill saw significant progress on both sides of the ball, and almost as importantly, saw a relatively healthy Bulldog football team exit off-season drills following its final spring scrimmage. The Bulldogs worked in scrimmage-like conditions for roughly 90 minutes Saturday as part of Super Bulldog Weekend, closing the team’s spring practice session. Approximately 7,500 fans were treated to exciting moments on both sides of the football. “I thought there were an awful lot of positives today,” Sherrill said, “the biggest of which is we finished spring with very few injuries. If we were playing a regular game today, we would have had several other players out there.”
“I thought the offensive line has made progress throughout the spring,” Sherrill said. “We found some guys who can help us there.”
“Kevin (Fant) showed that he is capable of making some awfully good throws,” Sherrill said. “We threw and caught the ball really well. Ray Ray (Bivines) really stood out, and it was nice to see Justin Griffith back on the field.”
After an opening-series interception, Fant rebounded to complete 18 of his next 21 passes for four touchdowns. Bivines caught two touchdown passes among his six receptions, while Griffith rushed for 46 yards and a score, and also caught a pair of passes.
“Defensively, we made some strides at linebacker and in the secondary,” he said. “There has been some real competition there, as has there been in the kicking game.”
Linebacker T.J. Mawhinney led all tacklers with 10 stops Saturday, while defensive backs Gabe Wallace and Michael Gholar had pass interceptions.