STARKVILLE — With spring commencement at Mississippi State now officially passed, summer has arrived in Starkville.
And while the MSU football team has yet to endure its usual regimen of spring practices due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there remains a growing optimism a 2020 football season will be played — though when that would happen and the logistics behind such an occurrence remain unknown.
Over the next week-plus, we’re going to dive into the Bulldogs’ depth chart heading into the summer and what it might look like once competition is allowed to begin.
Following last week’s three-part look at the defense, let’s flip sides of the ball, starting with the running backs.
In the four months since Leach landed the job at MSU, he and his assistants have beleaguered the point that running backs are in fact the key cog in the air raid system. And though their handoffs may dip significantly from Joe Moorhead’s run pass option attack, expect the Bulldog backfield to receive ample touches in Leach’s high flying offense.
“If you have a special player, you’re trying to get the ball in his hands as many times as you can and devising ways to do it,” Leach said at his introductory press conference in January. “What I like about what we do offensively is you have some flexibility in how to do that.”
Leach and his staff received massive news early in their tenure in Starkville when senior running back and Columbus native Kylin Hill spurned the NFL draft after previously announcing his intention to enter. Returning for his final season at MSU, Hill led the Southeastern Conference in rushing last year and finished just 41 yards shy of Anthony Dixon’s single-season school rushing record.
Now playing in an offense that could see as many as 75 passes in a game, Hill could see his stock soar should he continue to flash the propensity for pass catching he’s shown in limited spurts throughout his career.
An electric athlete with the ball in his hands, the former Columbus High School standout has made 44 career receptions for 394 yards and five touchdowns. For context, starting running back Max Borghi led Washington State with 86 receptions for 597 yards and five scores during Leach’s final year in Pullman.
Should Hill replicate Borghi’s production in the pass game while improving his pass blocking ability — which currently stands as the biggest knock on his game translating to the next level — the one-time Falcon should hear his name come off the board early in next year’s draft.
“We’re not playing phone booth football,” running backs coach Eric Mele said in February. “You gotta catch every pass. You don’t drop a ball — that’s like fumbling a handoff. So they gotta understand that part of it too. You catch it first and then tuck, turn, get your pads square to the defender, make him miss or run through the tackle.”
While Hill should continue leading the way into 2019, fellow senior and former four-star recruit Kareem Walker will finally get his chance to play in the maroon and white. A former Michigan product, Walker spent time at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas before committing to MSU. But with a slew of administrative issues delaying his arrival to Starkville last fall, he was academically redshirted this past season.
Now finally eligible entering his final season at the collegiate level, Walker should offer a bruising option alongside Hill at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds after tearing up the practice field on scout team a season ago.
Other names to watch in the MSU backfield this fall include sophomore Lee Witherspoon and freshman Jo’quavious Marks.
Drawing comparisons to former Georgia all-SEC selection Nick Chubb from teammates, Witherspoon finished with 22 carries for 101 yards and one touchdown and tacked on three receptions for 19 yards as a freshman.
As for Marks, he comes to MSU as the highest-rated recruit in the Bulldogs’ 2020 class at No. 137 player in the 247Sports composite rankings. After rushing for 1,961 yards and 23 touchdowns as a senior despite missing two games and carrying the ball just 168 times, Marks boasts a shiftier body type to that of Walker at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds. He’ll need to add weight to his frame in the offseason once practices and strength programs begin again, but has enough talent to make an impact immediately.
“I think our skill set is kind of in line with what we do really well,” Mele said of this year’s running back contingent. “So it’ll be fun to see our guys catch a ball in the flat and see an SEC linebacker trying to go one on one out there in space.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.