STARKVILLE — Balance has been the key word on offense in preseason camp for the Mississippi State University football program.
In their first test to make sure the Bulldogs mixed the pass and run, MSU coach Dan Mullen and his coaches were pleased with how the elements complemented each other Saturday in a 56-9 victory against Jackson State University.
Mullen said the tailback rotation of LaDarius Perkins, Nick Griffin, Josh Robinson and, Derrick Milton would continue throughout the season. He said MSU fans can anticipate seeing the Bulldogs use what Mullen called “the hot-hand” to determine playing time in a game.
“I want to keep those guys fresh throughout the game, and that’s kind of why you saw them be so explosive because we were able to keep them fresh throughout the night,” Mullen said.
The emergence of Milton, a redshirt freshmen, as the first option off the bench for Perkins, who found the end zone twice Saturday, was a surprise to some who had Milton pegged as the fourth running back coming out of fall camp. Milton said Tuesday he considered himself fourth at the start of camp after a knee injury hampered his development in his first season in Starkville.
“I know a lot of people had me fourth this fall, and that’s OK because I really needed to just get healthy,” Milton said. “Once I felt like I was back to my old self with my knee, I could focus on everything involved in my job with this team. It took some time to regain that confidence, but once I did, I knew I could be a contributor this season out of the backfield.”
Milton, a former Hargrave Military Academy product, turned down offers from the University of Mississippi, University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina, and Oklahoma State University to fight for playing time this season at MSU. On Saturday, he rushed for a team-high 65 yards on eight carries and had his first career touchdown.
“I couldn’t put into words the excitement of my first college football game last week, and I tried to not let the nerves overwhelm me,” Milton said. “I know the level just goes up this week with the first conference game.”
MSU running backs coach Greg Knox said Monday that he will be more inclined to leave a tailback out on the field for all three downs if he is running off more than 5 yards a carry.
“What I’m trying to monitor is if they look like they need a blow and need to come out, but there’s a momentum factor to how we ration out playing time among the four players,” Knox said. “We feel like with their diverse skill sets it could be any one of the four backs in a given week that has a successful day, so sometimes you have to watch who is having the most success and ride that person and that call.”
Last week, MSU (1-0) used the run game to set up the play-action pass for junior quarterback Tyler Russell. The Bulldogs called 19 first-down plays compared to 11 passes after the chains were re-set. However, the margin of the lead also could have factored into MSU’s strategy later in the game. MSU’s ability to get 5.53 yards per rushing attempt on first and second game eliminated any tricky third-down scenarios between 4 and 9 yards.
MSU figures to face a tougher challenge at 11 a.m. Saturday against Auburn University at Davis Wade Stadium. But Brian VanGorder, the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator, has to be concerned about the matchup considering his unit allowed the fourth-most rushing yards among 117 Football Bowl Subdivision teams last weekend in a 26-19 loss to Clemson University.
“Well, we could tackle. That’ll help,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said Sunday on his teleconference.
Clemson ran the ball 60 percent of the time, and running back Andre Ellington averaged 8.9 yards per carry on his way to 231 yards. On the fast track of the Georgia Dome, Clemson tired out Auburn’s defense for more than 7 yards a carry on first and second down. MSU will try to keep Auburn’s defense on the field like it did last year when it ran 97 plays for 531 yards of total offense.
“I don’t think overall it was a matter of substitutions,” VanGorder said about Clemson’s offense Monday. “We ended up defending 87 plays. That’s a lot of plays.”
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