STARKVILLE — Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald took the field for Mississippi State first football practice of the spring and noticed something: absence.
“I was kind of standing out there like, ‘Where did everyone go?'” Fitzgerald said.
MSU enters the spring with just two scholarship quarterbacks, Fitzgerald and early enrollee freshman Keytaon Thompson, plus walk-on Logan Burnett. Being that thin at quarterback has inspired MSU coach Dan Mullen to significantly dial back the contact this spring.
“They’re not going to be getting near the quarterbacks this spring,” Mullen said. “Last year, you guys got to some of it last spring and they got knocked around a little bit; nobody’s touching the quarterbacks this spring. Those guys will get their work in.”
As to be expected for an established dual-threat quarterback, Fitzgerald had mixed emotions about the lack of contact scheduled for spring practice.
“I love playing football, I love running the ball so I love being physical, hitting and sometimes delivering licks, but I also understand the necessity to keep us,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s just three of us, so it’d be tough if one of us went down.”
While Mullen is protecting the few quarterbacks he has, new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is installing his new system and pass-rush techniques in his first spring at MSU. He does not see the lack of contact on quarterbacks in spring as hindrance to his installation.
“I was in the NFL for 11 years and you never touch the quarterback there. I’ve never been around the quarterback,” Grantham said. “First of all, you can coach rush lanes and things like that off tape. It’s really more about safety and taking care of guys, and that’s the most important thing.
“The thing you want to talk to guys about is running past the guy, but you can feel things when you’re in the rush: this is where I would collapse the pocket, and you can coach things off tape. That’s not an issue at all.”
Beyond just not hitting the quarterback, Grantham is taking preventative measures to avoid hand injuries quarterbacks often incur as the end of their throwing motions collide with defenders’ helmets.
“That’s something I’ve dealt with my entire career and that’s the way you have to practice because, what happens is, it’s not so much the hitting of a guy, it’s when a guy stops and ducks that when (the quarterback) follows through, he can hit his hand and get hurt like that,” Grantham said. “You really have to work to run by those guys so you can continue to coach the play.”
Thompson impressed both Mullen and Fitzgerald in his first practice. The freshman from New Orleans comes in as the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana and spurned off interest from other Southeastern Conference to stay with MSU.
“For a guy going through his first practice today, I thought he did a heck of a job,” Mullen said. “Plenty to get rattled about, but I’ll tell you, he never looked confused. You could see it was happening fast for him, but there was never a look of confusion. I’ll be honest with you, most of the time with freshman quarterbacks in their first couple of practices there’s pure confusion on their faces the entire time. I thought he did a heck of a job.”
On the injury front, Mullen did say offensive linemen Elgton Jenkins and Deion Calhoun were limited, as was running back Alec Murphy.
Mullen is trying something different with the spring practice schedule this year.
“It’s always tricky: you kind of start at an end point and work backwards to see how it fits,” Mullen said. “We’ve done it once or twice, splitting it up before (and after spring break). I think last time we only did two practices before going on spring break, this time we’re going up to four and I want to see how that goes. Hopefully keep guys a little fresher, if anybody gets banged up there’s some recovery time in spring practice.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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