STARKVILLE — Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen was pleased with what he saw from his team Thursday night.
Two weeks into fall camp, the Bulldogs had their first scrimmage three nights ago at Davis Wade Stadium. Many of the older players saw few repetitions, including senior quarterback Dak Prescott.
“It went good and bad,” Mullen said Saturday night. “For our first scrimmage, it was good. There were some real positives, some older guys performing at a high level. I think Dak was pretty sharp.
“On defense, I like the energy our defense played with. I thought they did fairly well. Did a good job of creating three-and-outs.”
It was a closed scrimmage and statistics weren’t released.
MSU has 28 freshmen in camp, and for many it was their first scrimmage as a Bulldog. Offensive lineman Michael Story and wide receivers Deddrick Thomas and Malik Dear enrolled before the spring semester started, so they had chances to scrimmage in March and April.
Many of the freshmen struggled in their first scrimmage.
“As it gets going into the scrimmage, some young guys in there, a lot going on for them,” Mullen said. “Some guys, it was their first time in the stadium. A lot of errors and things you can’t have when you get ready for a game. Some blown coverages led to some big plays, some critical penalties, some false starts. Silly things like that, that we’ve got to get cleaned up.”
MSU starts classes Monday, so things will change in practice as the countdown continues to its season opener at 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, at Southern Mississippi. Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the game live.
Mullen said most of the installation is done for the offense and defense. He said the freshmen have an idea of where they stand after two weeks and one scrimmage.
“It’s their opportunity to just see where they’re at in the stadium when things are expected,” Mullen said. “It’s also one of of our first time doing game situations. If there is a big play, we don’t just run the ball back and run the next play. You better be running, chasing to the ball and snap it.”
MSU will have another scrimmage Thursday night. Mullen wants to see many of the mistakes that were made three days ago corrected.
“We can’t have those type of issues,” Mullen said. “You want to play good football in the second scrimmage, clean football, where guys are executing and somebody makes a play more than the offense had a big play because there was an MA (missed assignment) on defense or a false start penalty ruined a drive.”
The game situations weren’t as elaborate in the first scrimmage, but the coaching staff will take it the next level Thursday.
“That’s when we’re going to simulate a lot more,” Mullen said. “This one was really letting them go play even though it is a game situation. The next one, we’ll create two-minute situations, we’ll create momentum. The next one we’re going to have kicking game in there.”
This week’s scrimmage also will be closed to the public.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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