STARKVILLE — Mike Leach’s first press conference of the spring featured a three-minute verbal tour of Las Vegas and a five-minute sojourn about treehouses in Utah.

The third-year Mississippi State coach was, if anything, consistent after years of prior humorous rants.

In Thursday’s practice at the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex, Leach said his team shared his dependability.

“I thought we were more consistent than I thought we’d be,” Leach said. “I hoped we’d be consistent, but a lot of times you’re not the first day.”

Maybe it’s a good sign that the Bulldogs, who finished the 2021 season at 7-6, bucked that trend in their first official practice of the spring. Mississippi State returns a glut of starters from last season’s team, and they didn’t miss a beat Thursday.

At least, not as many beats as Leach might have expected.

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell without the pads, but we did get really good work in and we did a pretty good job of being full speed without full contact,” Leach said. “Both sides looked like they executed some things pretty well, and there weren’t any lapses in the practice, I didn’t think.”

There’s plenty of time — more than five months — for the Bulldogs to work out whatever issues crop up at this point in the offseason, less than three months removed from a Liberty Bowl loss to Texas Tech.

By now, Mississippi State’s roster has taken shape, and Leach spotted two areas where questions run rampant.

One is wide receiver, where dependable target Makai Polk declared for the NFL draft and outside threat Malik Heath transferred to Ole Miss.

“I think most of the jobs out there at receiver are wide open,” Leach said. “We’ve got some reasonably good guys, but they’ve got to separate themselves. That’s the biggest thing: We need guys out there not just running the pack and get through practice; they need to separate themselves and give us a reason why we should play them instead of the other guy.”

The Bulldogs return Jaden Walley, Austin Williams and Christian Ford on the inside and a group led by Rara Thomas on the outside.

A pair of transfers — Georgia’s Justin Robinson and Northwestern’s Jordan Mosley — should help things. Leach praised the size and range of the 6-foot-4 Robinson and the quickness of the 6-foot Mosley.

“We’ve got to keep developing their ball skills and their route running and stuff like that and see where that takes them,” Leach said.

The other area likely to be a concern is the offensive line after the Bulldogs lost both starting tackles from 2021. Left tackle Charles Cross is a consensus first-round pick in April’s draft and a possible top-10 selection, while right tackle Scott Lashley ran out of eligibility.

Lashley seems to have an heir apparent in sophomore Albert Reese IV, who played in three games later in his freshman season and impressed there.

“He kind of closed in on guys at the end of last year,” Leach said of Reese. “You could make the argument that he maybe should have been in there last year. It’d be a close call, I think. He certainly gained a lot of ground on the starting five. I can definitely see him being one of those guys if he keeps improving.”

Center LaQuinston Sharp received an extra year of eligibility, while guards Cole Smith, Kameron Jones and Kwatrivous Johnson will all be redshirt seniors. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College transfer Percy Lewis will be in the mix at tackle, too.

“He’s worked really hard,” Leach said of Lewis. “He’s lost quite a bit of weight, which he needed to do. He’s got naturally good feet. If somebody comes right at him, he just flat out stops them. He’s still kind of getting the scheme of things, so there’s some growing pains there.”

Lewis, Reese and Co. will protect junior quarterback Will Rogers, who Leach said has steadily improved over the course of the offseason so far. Leach said the Brandon native “looked pretty sharp” Thursday.

“I know that one of his strengths is that he doesn’t have any huge weaknesses,” Leach said. “He’s just got to keep enhancing himself overall and just tune in and acclimate himself with the receivers around him so he can bring out the best in those guys.”

Of course, that’s what the next five-plus months until the Sept. 3 season opener against Memphis will be for. As of now, Mississippi State is on pace — if not ahead of it — but there’s work to be done.

“There’s always a lot of improvement between (the bowl game) and spring, and we’ve had a good offseason, so that’s kind of where some of the surprises come,” Leach said. “Then you’ve got to try to take their strengths and what they can do and get it out there on the field.”

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