WATCH: Leach Meets With Media Following First Week

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State football head coach Mike Leach met with the media on Saturday afternoon following his team's first week of practice.

Q: Can you take us through this pride in Mississippi message to your team?
ML: "A lot of it starts with why did I come to Mississippi State, and that would be that for years I've understood some of the best football in the entire nation is played in the state of Mississippi. I know the emphasis of it, and I know what it means to the people here. Per capita, oftentimes, more players go to the NFL from the state of Mississippi than from any other state. I think along with that and the greatness on the football field that's come from that, players need to understand the legacy that they're a part of and take ownership of upholding that. That comes from the hard work, and there's none of this 'Aw, shucks, I'm from Mississippi' stuff. This isn't one of those deals where I figure I'm average and half the states are better and half the states are worse. No, great players come from here and greatness comes out of here on the football field. I wanted all of them to realize that."

Q: What's one encouraging thing you've learned about your guys and one thing you've seen that needs to be worked on?
ML: "They really like football, and they really embrace football and the challenges of football. They like playing football, and I really like that. I think we've got to be more polished. Right now, we're not as polished as we could be. We're explosive, but we're not polished. We've got to execute. Not just where to be when, but also the technique that we need to do it – all sides of the ball."

Q: How do you feel like your receivers are grasping the offense in the first few days?
ML: "I think they're motivated because they like having the ball, and they like seeing their friends have the ball and the ball spread out over the field. I think if we drop a ball, we've got to take that a little more personally, but I think the volume of balls is probably something new. They haven't seen quite this many balls flying around. I think they're adjusting to the pace right now. I have thought they picked up the offense quite well. I'm not saying we had a perfect route, but in general I think it happened a little quicker than I expected."

Mississippi State University Athletics

WATCH: Leach Meets With Media Following First Week

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