STARKVILLE — Jaden Walley is never late.
It’s one of the attributes Austin Williams sees in his fellow Mississippi State wide receiver: Whether it’s practice or a team meeting, a treatment session or recovery, Walley is always on time.
Going into his junior season in Starkville, Walley has begun to make the transition from young player to leader, and his teammates have noticed.
“He’s grown a ton,” Williams said. “He’s really matured into a leader. He works really hard.”
It remains to be seen if that growth will translate into production for Walley, a junior from D’Iberville.
After one of the best seasons by a freshman wide receiver in Mississippi State history, Walley’s production took a slight step back in 2022 instead of the expected leap. Walley totaled 718 yards on 52 catches as a freshman but had just 628 yards — as well as six scores — last season.
Part of that drop-off was due to a deeper wide receiver room led by Cal transfer Makai Polk and featuring another standout freshman in Rara Thomas.
Inside receivers coach Drew Hollingshead on Tuesday noted Walley’s total production thus far — over 1,300 yards and eight scores in just two years.
“That’s really impressive, but just like everybody else, there’s always something you can get better at, right?” Hollingshead said.
That’s what Walley and the Bulldogs’ inside receivers have been trying to do all preseason, gearing up for their Sept. 3 season opener.
“I’ve got a pretty experienced group of guys who have played a lot of football,” Hollingshead said. “For me, it’s really just finding something to work on every single day. Those guys know the offense. They know what to expect. It’s the little things, the details within routes, that we can always get better at.”
Walley has his own goals for 2022. The Bulldogs wideout had games of 9 (LSU) and 3 (Alabama) receiving yards in 2021 and hopes to erase those poor showings from the ledger.
“I just want to be more consistent, catch more balls, be a better team player,” Walley said.
He’s part of the experienced crew Hollingshead mentioned on the inside. Williams is in his sixth year with the Bulldogs, while Jamire Calvin is also a graduate student.
The three are joined by Christian Ford — who has been limited at practice — and Starkville’s Rufus Harvey, entering his redshirt sophomore season.
Harvey wore a yellow no-contact jersey at Tuesday’s workout but made a couple nice catches toward the end of practice.
He could be poised to see more action after totaling 39 yards and a touchdown on five receptions in five games last season.
“Rufus is really good, man,” Hollingshead said. “He’s got good ball skills — probably one of the better sets of ball skills on the team. We used him a little bit last year. (He’s) a guy who comes to practice every single day, and he flashes. We’re trying to find ways to get him the football, and today you kind of saw that, which is good.”
Besides freshman Jarnorris Hopson, Walley isn’t much older than most of his position-mates.
But he still plans to keep showing up on time — and everything else he can do to be the leader he hopes to be.
“I try to lead by example as much as I can,” Walley said. “I feel like a lot of guys follow me and try to do some stuff that I do as far as being a good team player.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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