STARKVILLE — Mississippi State running back Simeon Price doesn’t like to relive how close he came to scoring a touchdown against Illinois in last year’s ReliaQuest Bowl.
Price’s 28-yard run during the Bulldogs’ nine-play, 70-yard game-winning drive against the Illini fell two yards short of the endzone, instead setting up Massimo Biscardi’s 27-yard game-winning field goal with seven seconds left.
“I don’t like to talk about it,” Price jokingly told reporters Tuesday after MSU’s fall camp practice session. “It eats at me everyday.”
Though Price didn’t find the endzone in Tampa Bay that afternoon, he still produced a strong enough performance to carry confidence into this year’s fall camp ahead of MSU’s season opener against Southeastern Louisiana at home on Sept. 2.
Price, a sophomore, finished the game with a season-high 68 rushing yards on seven carries, while also adding a five-yard reception. He finished his freshman campaign with 150 rushing yards on 30 carries, though he is still looking for his first career touchdown.
“Confidence is key in this game,” Price said. “Anything you can take from last year going into this year is just adding confidence and stacking days.”
Price enters this year’s fall camp in a much more crowded running back room than in years past with two other capable backs in Keyvone Lee and Jeffery Pittman, behind incumbent starter Jo’qavious Marks.
“It makes every one of us better,” Price said. “Any one of us can play at any given moment, no matter who goes out there. Anybody can show up on gameday and that is what we need.”
Justin Robinson is also finding out what it is like to enter a fall camp with confidence soaring.
Robinson, a wideout transfer from Georgia, scored three touchdowns during his first season with the Starkville Bulldogs, two of which occurred late in the season against East Tennessee State and another against Illinois. He finished the ReliaQuest Bowl with a season-high seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.
“I always had the confidence,” Robinson said. ‘But the bowl game really did it for me.”
Robinson, who finished last season with 30 receptions for 326 yards, said he has goals of making this season a breakout year.
As one of MSU’s leading returning wideouts, after losing Rara Thomas and Rufus Harvey to the transfer portal, Robinson certainly has the confidence to do so.
“I feel like I am a leader of that room, especially going into this year,” Robinson said. “Just trying to make the guys follow my role.’
What DeCarlos Nicholson learned from former MSU CB Emmanuel Forbes Jr.
MSU cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson is in the thick of a starting position battle, opposite of Decameron Richardson, the only returning secondary member for the Bulldogs.
Trying to get a step up on his teammates, Nicholson is using lessons from the past, especially ones he learned from Emmanuel Forbes Jr., a first round draft pick of the Washington Commanders this spring.
“For me coming in and being with “Jr.”, just seeing how he went about his work, how locked in he was and you got to be on specific details, knowing your job, your opponent’s film, film study,” Nicholson said Tuesday. “That play (he made) against Kentucky speaks volumes because I saw him going over it and then it happened.”
Nicholson was Forbes’ backup last season, finishing the year with five tackles and one pass breakup. First-year head coach Zach Arnett has already praised Nicholson’s early-camp effort, and how he has been able to use his 6-3, 195 pound frame to make plays in the secondary.
Nicholson and Esais Furdge are the two primary candidates to be MSU’s second starting cornerback opposite Richardson. Knowing that his job is not secure, Nicholson hasn’t been able to waste any of his reps so far in camp.
“It just keeps you hungry,” Nicholson said. “You got to keep improving everyday. That is what camp is about. Becoming that full team and getting both sides of the ball ready to play a 60-minute game. We just get better at something everyday and keep stacking.”
Freddie Roberson adjusting to speed and skill of SEC defenses
Eastern Washington transfer wideout Freddie Roberson admitted Tuesday that he is going to miss playing on the Eagles’ signature all-red turf in Cheney, Washington. The last month in Starkville, however, has quickly gotten the veteran receiver accustomed to his new home.
“The biggest change has been the humidity and the weather,” Roberson said Tuesday. “Coming to Starkville, I think it’s like the same, coming from Cheney, a whole lot of hills, it is plain and kind of an old town. I get the same vibe here. The people here are big Mississippi (State) fans, just like it was at Eastern (Washington). This is definitely like a second home.”
Roberson, a redshirt senior, came to Starkville after a productive four years at the FCS level, capped off by earning All-Big Sky Second Team honors last fall after hauling in 45 receptions for 797 yards and seven touchdowns. He finished his EWU career with 141 catches for 2,266 yards and 17 scores.
Now preparing to play in college football’s best conference, Roberson is quickly learning what is and isn’t going to work for him at the FBS level.
“Just the competition level,” Roberson said. “Coming from the FCS to the FBS, especially to the SEC, you get to play against some of the top DBs in college football, so that is something I get to do everyday in practice. That really pushes me because they are physical, fast and strong, just like me. I just get a kick out of it because you get better through those challenges.”
First-year wideouts coach, and former MSU wideout, Chad Bumphis has also quickly made an impression on Roberson, pushing him to be ready to make an immediate impact if needed this fall.
“He is pushing me in all aspects of my game, whether it comes from getting open, getting separation, yards after the catch,” Roberson said of his position coach. “He believes in me and knows I can make big plays, and everyday he is just trying to get the past out of me.”
De’Monte Russell preparing as if its his final season in Starkville
MSU lost an anchor on its defensive line from last season in Cameron Young, who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.
De’Monte Russell, appears to be the guy to step into that role for the Bulldogs this fall and has goals of doing it for only one more season in Starkville.
“I have been here for a good minute and just being here has just built the characteristics of being a leader more and I know that I got to make this my last ride, even though I have another year to come back,” Russell said Tuesday. “But my plan is to make it my last one.”
Russell, a senior from Jackson, has played in 28 career games for the Bulldogs, while tallying only one start, a number that will surely go up this year along the starting front with Jaden Crumedy and Nathan Pickering, also returning from last fall. During that time, Russell has tallied 30 career tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and one sack.
Russell said that being a part of a veteran front seven, along with returning linebackers Jett Johnson and Nathaniel Watson, has made for quick defensive adjustments so far through camp practices.
Russell, who redshirted during his 2019 freshman year, could return in 2024, due to an allowed extra season from COVID. However, if he has the productive year he expects from himself, this will be the last fans will see of him in Starkville.
“Knowing that I have another year, I can’t think like that,” Russell said. “All it takes is one year.”
Tuesday practice standouts
Despite playing all 12 of their games on natural grass fields this fall, the Bulldogs moved to the practice turf for Tuesday’s practice. The change of scenery did nothing to slow down MSU’s offense.
Quarterbacks Will Rogers and Mike Wright both had strong days combining for five passing touchdowns in the media-watched portion of practice. Those scores went to Jordan Mosley, Justin Robinson, Geor’Quarius Spivey, Tulu Griffin and Antonio Harmon.
Jeffery Pittman continues to have a really strong camp since transferring from Hinds Community College, scoring two touchdowns, including running over an MSU defender to find the endzone for one.
“Jeffery is tough, man,” Price said of his fellow running back, “ If I could put toughness above everybody, I think I would put Jeff up there. He runs the ball hard, shoulder down, north and south and that is what you want in a running back.”
Defensively, Hunter Washington looked good in MSU’s secondary with two pass break-ups, while Jett Johnson added two camp “sacks” during 11-on-11 reps.
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
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