Staying Fresh: True Freshmen Have Impressed In Year One

STARKVILLE – Sixty-one percent. That's how much of Mississippi State's offense came at the hands of true freshmen last week as the Bulldogs gave No. 13 Georgia all it could handle in Athens.

It was the second time this season that the youngsters had shown up and provided more than half of the team's offense. Against Arkansas, it was 54 percent of the team's total yardage. In both games, freshmen produced 217 yards, but the Georgia game was perhaps even more impressive.

Yes, it was against a defense allowing the second-fewest yards per game instead the league's 10^th-ranked unit, but what made the most-recent game stand out was the fact that a youngster was on both ends of the connections.

Will Rogers started against Vanderbilt and at Georgia. Jo'quavious Marks joined him in the backfield at running back in both contests, and Jaden Walley lined up at wide receiver. There's a youth movement underway in Starkville, and the last two weeks have been eye-opening.

First there's Rogers. He's just the seventh true freshmen to ever start a game for MSU, and he's set freshman records for completions in both of his starts. Against the Commodores, he threw for more yards (226) than any of the six freshmen who came before him had in their first start.

Against Georgia, he tossed the ball for 210 yards in the first half alone. Rogers finished the night with 336 yards, which is the second-highest single-game total by a freshman in school history.

A trio of his classmates have been on the receiving end of Rogers' historic passing efforts. Marks, Walley and running back Dillon Johnson are the top three freshmen in the SEC in yards after catch, and all three are among the top 20 freshmen nationally.

Marks' contributions have been noticed for most of the season. He leads all FBS running backs with 44 receptions and is second nationally among all freshmen. The Atlanta, Georgia, native has already set school records for catches by a freshman and by a running back.

Walley broke out against the Bulldogs. In his first start against the Razorbacks, he made six catches. At Georgia, he caught a career-high seven balls for 115 yards, leading the team in both categories. It marked MSU's fourth 100-yard receiving game of the year and the first by a freshman since 2009. He is just the sixth true freshman to reach the century mark in program history, and he capped his night with a career-long 51-yard catch for his first career touchdown.

Johnson has been State's primary ground threat, scoring four times on running plays, but he's been prevalent in the passing game as well. He had a career-high seven catches in Athens, which was tied for the team lead.

For the year, true freshmen have accounted for 760 of MSU's 2,306 rushing and receiving yards, which is 33 percent of State's season total. Rogers has provided 40 percent of MSU's passing and is currently completing 73.8 percent of his passes, which would be a Bulldog single-season record and 7.6 percentage points higher than the present mark set by Dak Prescott.

Staying Fresh: True Freshmen Have Impressed In Year One

Players Mentioned

Dillon Johnson

Jo'Quavious Marks

Will Rogers

Jaden Walley

Mississippi State University Athletics