STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen used words like “comfortable” and “experienced” to describe his starting quarterback Tyler Russell.
After the first day of fall camp for the Bulldogs 2012 season, the fourth-year head coach said Thrsday he’s enjoying the maturation process of his junior signal caller.
“I see a guy who is obviously going to make mistakes, but when he makes a mistake, he knows the mistake he made,” Mullen said. “Sometimes you’ll tell them and you can see, well I didn’t get that at all, so you’ve got to go back and teach it on film. With an experienced guy like Tyler he sees it.”
Russell, who is expected to the starting quarterback for the 2012 season, has been getting a majority of the reps in practice as Mullen tried to explain the math involved in the coaching philosophy of monitoring only two scholarships quarterbacks on the roster.
“Mathematically you spend a lot of time preparing for training camp on repetitions,” Mullen said. “Where the ones are where we have calculated have 500 team reps, right around that against the defense. So you take those 500 reps and then you’re doing to break them down into what you’re going to practice. That’s where you’re trying to match the numbers with what we’re going to emphasize.”
Mullen did give an indication that backup quarterback Dak Prescott would see some early action in anticipation of possibly getting the redshirt freshman ready for a potential injury situation to Russell.
Similarly to when Russell was the backup for Chris Relf, Mullen said Thursday that Prescott, a three-star will see action in specific situations against Jackson State for the season opener on Sept. 1.
“Dak Prescott is going to play early in the season because I have to get him reps in case he has to become the guy,” Mullen said. “I want to make sure we broke him in a little bit.”
The only problem is during the current month of practices, Mullen and the offensive coaching staff will have to monitor the contact in the scrimmages to avoid any injuries to the players in the precautionary red jerseys.
“Yeah, I’ll protect them,” Mullen said. “I guess people come in on the spring time, a lot of times I let those guys get hit and beat up every once in a while. I was much more protective of them this spring, where if you have more of them, I kind of let them have a little bit more freedom and play a little bit more live to get ready to go.”
Bulldogs receive votes in preseason USA Today coaches poll
Mississippi State University football is not ranked in the 2012 preseason USA Today coaches’ poll.
The Bulldogs, who finished 7-6 last season with a season-ending victory over Wake Forest University in the 2011 Music City Bowl in Nashville, received 21 voting points and places them 33rd in the national standings. The coaches’ poll is part of the BCS formula used to determine its national champion.
Seven Southeastern Conference teams (LSU 1, Alabama 2, Georgia 6, South Carolina 9, Arkansas 10, Florida 23 and Auburn 25) were a part of the preseason poll, which was the most of any league.
This preseason poll will put added emphasis in MSU’s contest in the second week of the season when No. 25 Auburn comes to Davis Wade Stadium for a SEC matchup (11 a.m., ESPN).
“One thing is that first conference game is critical,” Mullen said at SEC Media Days in July. “That first conference game really sets the tone, no matter who it is you’re playing. You’re looking at a two-game swing with that team. We win that game (and) we’re two games ahead because we’re one game in the rankings and the tiebreaker. You’re two games ahead of Auburn, or two games behind Auburn week two of the season.”
LSU secured the top spot in the coaches’ poll but only received 18 of 59 possible first place votes. It is the first preseason number one ranking for the Tigers program since 1959. The defending champion Alabama received the most first place votes with 20 but ended up second in the preseason poll. USA Today says first time that has happened since they took over poll in 1991.
University of Southern California, who ended last year unranked but returns one of the nation’s elite quarterbacks in Matt Barkley and just secured Penn State tailback transfer Silas Red, received 19 first-place votes and placed third in the poll. The University of Oklahoma and defending Pac 12 Conference champion Oregon round out the top five in the poll.
Banks and Bumphis named to 2012 Paul Hornung Award watch list
A pair of Mississippi State seniors were named to the preseason watch list for the 2012 Paul Hornung Award, which is presented to the most versatile player in major college football.
Johnthan Banks and Chad Bumphis led a group of 12 Southeastern Conference players on the list and the Bulldogs were the only team in the 14-team league to have multiple players on the list.
The award was created in 2010 by the Louisville Sports Commission has a list of three criteria to be eligible for the honor. The eligible players must be at multiple positions on offense and/or multiple positions on defense. The players must play a significant role on special teams and perform as a two-way player who starts either on offense or defense and is used on the other side of the ball in some capacity.
Banks and Bumphis are expected to compete for special team return spots on this 2012 MSU roster and Banks even got a pair of receptions in the spring football game but it is unknown what his offensive role could be in his final season with the Bulldogs.
Last season’s award winner was University of Georgia defensive back and kick return specialist Brandon Boykin.
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