NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Christian Ford wasn’t alone.

When the walk-on wide receiver came to Mississippi State from Iowa Central Community College, he had plenty of teammates in the same boat — young or inexperienced receivers trying to earn playing time on a Southeastern Conference roster.

“They worked hard for it from spring to midnight maneuvers to summer to fall camp,” Ford said. “We all went through the struggle together.”

On Saturday in a 45-6 rout of Vanderbilt, those same players got to succeed together.

Ford, Holmes Community College transfer Caleb Ducking, redshirt freshman Rufus Harvey and true freshman Rara Thomas all had breakout games for the Bulldogs (3-3, 2-2 Southeastern Conference.)

The foursome combined to catch 16 passes for 174 yards, and Harvey and Thomas each caught touchdown passes as the Bulldogs’ offense rolled to an easy win.

“They performed really well,” Cal transfer wideout Makai Polk said. “We prepare a lot throughout the week, so that’s nothing surprising at all. I’m really happy for them.”

Ford had five catches for 63 yards, tying Polk in both categories (though not the latter’s pair of touchdown passes) and trailing just Jaden Walley (72 yards) in receiving yards for Mississippi State. In all, 13 different players had at least one reception.

But it was the quartet of players all sort of in the same situation — seeing the most playing time they had all season and making the most of it.

Although he had a 59-yard fourth-quarter touchdown negated because quarterback Will Rogers was past the line of scrimmage, Ducking managed to catch four passes for 42 yards. He had yet to record a single reception since joining the Bulldogs in 2020.

Harvey was in a similar situation, held out in 2020 and owning just one career catch: a 7-yard grab in last week’s loss to Alabama. Inserted on the outside during the second-to-last drive of the first half Saturday, he had to wait a while to make his presence felt.

The Starkville High School product watched quarterback Will Rogers misfire for him twice in a row in the end zone before Harvey found a seam and caught a third-down pass for a 6-yard touchdown to stretch the MSU lead to 24-3.

Harvey added an 11-yard catch later in the game, more than tripling his total yardage as a Bulldog.

“I thought Rufus Harvey did some impressive things,” head coach Mike Leach said.

So did Thomas, who had played a slightly bigger role earlier in the season with three catches for 55 yards in the season opener against Louisiana Tech. But Thomas had one catch the following week and none since Sept. 11.

The Eufaula, Alabama, product totaled five catches for 52 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown grab from backup quarterback Chance Lovertich with 51 seconds to go. Thomas had three catches in four plays on a drive earlier that quarter that ended in a 5-yard touchdown run by Woody Marks.

Leach called Thomas “fairly equal” to the Bulldogs’ other X receivers, including Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin and Malik Heath. Griffin caught four passes for 22 yards Saturday, while Heath had three catches for 26 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown grab.

“Right now, I don’t think a guy has really taken command and control of X,” Leach said. “We’ve got some guys doing some good things, and right now probably the most consistent guy is Tulu. Malik’s explosive but inconsistent, and Rara’s young and inexperienced. I’m dying for somebody to take command of that position and make it theirs, and right now I can’t say that I believe that anybody has.”

But no matter how fierce the competition gets, it’s all love inside the Bulldogs’ wide receiver room — at any position.

“It’s no hatred in the slot or the outside room,” Ford said. “We all love each other like brothers, and we all want to see each other succeed.”

Succeed, they did. And Ford was happy to see it, saying he was more excited for his teammates’ big plays than Saturday for his own.

“It brought joy to my heart,” Ford said. “I was happy for them.”

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.