STARKVILLE — It may not be game week yet, but Mississippi State has all but wrapped up fall camp and is beginning to focus on preparing specifically for its first opponent, Eastern Kentucky.
“We were just saying when we met up after practice that we’re excited to game plan against new opponents instead of each other,” offensive lineman Albert Reese IV said. “I definitely feel more involved and I’m definitely more in tune, and just personally getting ready to play a lot of football this season.”
The Bulldogs have spent nearly three weeks installing new head coach Jeff Lebby’s offense, getting their inexperienced defense up to speed and figuring out the depth chart. Lebby said MSU improved at avoiding pre-snap penalties between the first intrasquad scrimmage on Aug. 11 and the second scrimmage last Saturday and played cleaner football overall.
With Lebby coordinating a much faster-paced offense than the Bulldogs ran last season, the defense has needed to adapt quickly in practice and handle the offense’s tempo. Linebacker John Lewis, who played in every game with three starts last fall, said the defense tackled much better in Saturday’s scrimmage than it had six days before.
“All the linebackers that we’ve been preparing, I feel like we all can have a breakout year,” Lewis said. “I just told some of the linebackers a few minutes ago in our huddle, we have to just stay focused. If (the scout team defense) helps the offense, the offense will help them be better players. I told them to look on the bright side; they’re going against (the first team). It can’t get any better.”
There are no limits on how many players a college football team can have, but Football Bowl Subdivision teams are limited to 85 full scholarship players per year, and no more than 70 are allowed to appear in a game. Those who do not make that 70-player threshold will typically stay home when teams travel on the road.
Lebby told the scout team in practice Tuesday that what they do makes the whole team better, and while preparing the starters for Eastern Kentucky may not seem glamorous, the scout team will mimic the likes of Texas and Georgia before too long.
“They see it as an opportunity to elevate their role on the team,” Reese said. “If you have a scout guy doing really well against the starters, they could earn a ticket on the bus (for road games). Whenever they get tired, you can just tell them, ‘Hey, this will help you, this will help me, this will help the team overall.’”
MSU has never played the Colonels, but even in down years, the Bulldogs have rarely had trouble against Football Championship Subdivision opponents. They’ve scored at least 45 points in their last 14 such games, and the only time MSU allowed more than 17 in that span was a 56-41 victory over Samford in 2016.
No matter the opponent, Reese — who played in every game in 2022 and 2023 but has started just once — is just excited to be back in Davis Wade Stadium on game day with tens of thousands of cowbells ringing out in support of the Bulldogs.
“I can’t wait. It’s unreal every time you go out there,” Reese said. “The cowbells, nobody else does that, so having 60,000 of them is exciting. Just playing for great fans, it means a lot.”
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