CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It had been a week since Dan Mullen had seen his team.
The Mississippi State coach dismissed his players from practice on campus Saturday, Dec. 19, and most went home to spend time with family and friends for the Christmas holiday. The Bulldogs arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, late Friday night and hit the practice fields Saturday afternoon. Mullen made sure his team was ready for practice before they left the hotel.
“We ran a bunch at the hotel a little bit this morning, got everybody up, sweating, moving and stretching,” Mullen said. “You spend the morning kind of watching film from our last practice. We didn’t watch the last practice before we left with the kids. They get an opportunity to watch all of that stuff. You install it like it’s a game week.”
The Bulldogs practiced for the first time in a week Saturday afternoon at Ardrey Kell High School in preparation for their sixth-straight bowl game. The Bulldogs (8-4) play North Carolina State (7-5) 2:30 p.m. (ESPN) Wednesday in the Belk Bowl at Bank of America Stadium.
The Bulldogs had nine practices on campus in December before they were dismissed for the Christmas break, but that gave the players about a week off. Even after having to report back on campus the night of Christmas Day and board a plane with bad weather all around the southeast, the players were happy to be preparing for one more final game for the 2015 season.
There was an upbeat attitude from the team as they got off the buses and were greeted by a small group of Bulldog fans at the practice site.
Mullen was extremely pleased with the attitude he saw during practice.
“I thought everyone came out pretty good,” Mullen said. “Everyone had a positive attitude. Guys are working and getting ready to go.”
During the nine practices on campus, the Bulldogs used the latter ones to work on preparing for the Wolfpack. Mullen said when the team left MSU, they should be ready to go and play in a game. Mullen likened Saturday’s practice to a Tuesday practice during a regular week. He said he and the coaches will look at the positives and the negatives from the practice and work to correct those in the next one.
The Bulldogs found out their opponent Dec. 5 and have had ample amount of time to scout and prepare for the Wolfpack.
Mullen said there are some positives to having a long time to prepare for an opponent, but he said there are some negatives as well.
“I think you have to be careful because I think too much time can be too much,” Mullen said. “You think too much. In a game week, you look, you get a plan, you have to go execute that plan and you go. Sometimes you overthink yourselves when you have this long break, but we try to keep the plan simple for our guys and execute at a high level.”
MSU was originally scheduled to practice at Charlotte Latin School, but due to field saturation from heavy rains, the practice was moved to Ardrey Kell, which has a turf field. Mullen said there was no problem for he, his staff and his players to adapt and said they had no problems.
Hughes to coach
MSU safeties coach/recruiting coordinator Tony Hughes will coach the Bulldogs one last time.
He was hired as the newest Jackson State coach earlier this month, and his status for the bowl game was unknown. After missing much of the last week of practice on campus, he showed up at the last one.
He arrived in Charlotte with the team and was on the practice field Saturday.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for me to close out my career at Mississippi State with the kids that we recruited and I’ve coached here for the last four or five years,” Hughes said. “It means a lot to me and I think it means a lot to the kids.”
Hughes said the last two weeks have been hectic and said he couldn’t even describe what he has gone through. This is his first head coaching job. He said he hopes to have his coaching staff in place by Jan. 4.
Hughes said he has received a positive reaction from MSU players.
Hughes’ mind may be on his newest team, but he said he is trying to do his best this week to make sure the Bulldogs win.
“What you just try to do is coach as hard as you can, enjoy the process, enjoy coaching and that’s what I do,” Hughes said.
Clayborn injured
During the first 20 minutes of practice that were open the media, starting center Jamaal Clayborn was helped off by trainers.
The trainers heavily wrapped his right foot/ankle. He was helped into the end zone, where he did sit ups, but he never returned to practice.
Mullen joked that Clayborn might be overweight coming back from Christmas break, but said he didn’t know what the problem was.
“I think he’s fine,” Mullen said. “Our trainers think he’s fine. The trainers kind of gave me the shrug. He pinched a nerve or something, but there wasn’t something that they saw right off the bat that could cause a major issue. But he was in some pain. I guess we’ll get an MRI.”
Mullen said senior left guard Justin Malone moved to center. Junior right guard Devon Desper moved to left guard and Deion Calhoun filled in at right guard.
The Bulldogs attended the Charlotte Hornets/Memphis Grizzlies National Basketball Association game Saturday night as a team. MSU will go to the Charlotte Motor Speedway this morning before practice and participate in a three-lap ride-along experience from the Richard Petty Driving Experience.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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