STARKVILLE — Dan Mullen is all about keeping things fresh.
The Mississippi State football coach doesn”t want players to get complacent after the team went 9-4 and thrashed the University of Michigan in the Gator Bowl last season.
Usually, his innovation comes in schemes and play-calling, but this spring it comes in the form of a different practice schedule.
The Bulldogs opened the 2011 spring campaign Thursday, 22 days earlier than they did last season. MSU will have four practices before taking off 14 days for spring break.
MSU was scheduled to open spring ball today, but inclement weather in the forecast pushed the team to open a day early.
“It”ll be interesting to see how this plays out for us,” Mullen said. “I”ve never done this before. I know a lot of people do it. You can talk to people and find pros and cons in doing it every different way. We”ll see how it works out.”
Getting on the field quicker is the biggest benefit of opening spring practice three weeks sooner. The Bulldogs have been idle — at least in terms of practicing — for a little more than two months. Playing in the Gator Bowl and opening practice earlier means the Bulldogs will have been away from the field for just two of the past eight months when they play the Maroon-White Spring Game on April 9.
“I”m hoping it gave them some foundation that they”re ready to pick up right where we left off,” Mullen said. “I think they got a lot of reps we used in that week as a prep week that they weren”t gonna get if we didn”t go to a bowl game, or weren”t gonna get even in game-prep week. Hopefully that got them a lot of extra snaps that keeps everything fresher in their mind and gets them a little bit closer to being ready to play in September.”
The Bulldogs practiced for two hours in shorts, shirts, and helmets Thursday, and concluded the workout with a 60-play team session.
MSU will return to the practice field Saturday morning. Start time is to be determined.
—-Defense runs team session
As is typical in early practices, MSU”s defense controlled the team scrimmage with four interceptions of three of the team”s four scholarship quarterbacks.
Charles Mitchell intercepted Chris Relf on the first play of the session, redshirt freshman Ferlando Bohanna intercepted Tyler Russell, and Jay Hughes and Johnthan Banks picked off Dylan Favre.
The defense had a bit of an advantage not being in pads, as both the offense and defense were geared toward passing.
MSU rotated Relf, Russell, Favre, and mid-year freshman enrollee Dak Prescott after each had run three to four plays.
“It should be a wide-open race,” Mullen said. “You”re gonna see everybody reppin” with every group and us just rolling quarterbacks through. (Offensive coordinator) Les (Koenning) and I talked, every three plays a new guy goes through. If we”re going six reps with the ones, there”ll be two different quarterbacks during that series just to see them get thrown in a lot of different situations and see how they respond to that.”
—-Players out / limited
MSU”s injured list isn”t as deep as it was at times last season, but a handful of players will be held back this spring as they work their way back from offseason surgery.
Guard and Columbus High School graduate Tobias Smith won”t participate in spring drills due to shoulder surgery he had in January. Smith injured his shoulder during the 2010 season but held off surgery until after the bowl game.
Smith has battled a string of ankle injuries in his career at MSU, but Mullen said he”s running fine and should be ready in the summer.
Tight end Marcus Green, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament last season and played in just two games, will be limited this spring.
The senior has missed the greater portion of two seasons due to hip and knee surgeries.
Wide receiver Chad Bumphis is “full go” after successful surgery and rehabilitation to repair a broken collarbone he suffered in the Egg Bowl.
Redshirt freshmen Curtis Virges and Sam Watts will practice this spring but will be limited. Watts, a center, was wearing a walking boot Thursday.
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