Youngsters Hope To Show Growth In Opener
September 03, 2021 | Football, Joel Coleman
Now a year older, last season’s freshmen are geared up to show off development.
STARKVILLE – In virtually all walks of life, there's just no substitute for experience. It's certainly the case in big-time college football, where there's a tremendous jump from the Friday night lights of high school, to stages like the ones in the Southeastern Conference.
As Mississippi State gets set to kick off the 2021 season at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday, the Bulldogs have all kinds of reasons for optimism, but perhaps none more than simply the fact that many of MSU's key contributors now have a year's worth of SEC action under their belts.
"A bunch of these guys didn't play football at the college level before [last year]," State head coach Mike Leach said. "From that standpoint, we're definitely further along [this year]."
Players are a year older. They're a year wiser. They've all had a full offseason to work with head strength and conditioning coach Tyson Brown and staff, getting their bodies in better shape than ever before. Now, facing Louisiana Tech inside of Davis Wade Stadium, MSU's kids get their first chance to show off the new versions of themselves. Oh, and let's not forget, these guys were already showing flashes of playmaking ability even as first-year pups.
Offensively, true freshmen accounted for a whopping 22 of State's 29 total touchdowns last season. Receiver Jaden Walley set a new freshman receiving yardage record on the way to earning Freshman All-SEC and All-American honors. Quarterback Will Rogers broke nearly every freshman passing record last year. Running backs Jo'Quavious Marks and Dillon Johnson both shined as pass catchers in 2020 and got stronger running the football as the season progressed.
It wasn't just offensively where freshmen shined. Defensively, Emmanuel Forbes led the SEC in total interceptions with five, and led the nation in interceptions returned for touchdowns with three. On special teams, Tulu Griffin was electric, particularly late in the year. He finished the season averaging 37.3 yards per kick return and was chosen as the Armed Forces Bowl MVP after totaling 138 kick return yards.
As astounding as it is to remember how good MSU's true freshmen were last fall, it also bears remembering everyone else gained experience too. In all, 26 Bulldogs made their first career start last year and over half of MSU's snaps were taken by first-time starters. In 2021, 15 of State's 22 starters are back.
And they're back more prepared than ever before. They went through the grind of perhaps the most difficult schedule in Mississippi State history as the Bulldogs faced a 10-game, conference-only regular season slate ahead of a bowl game against nationally-ranked Tulsa. Unlike in 2020, this year the Bulldogs had normal spring practices and a traditional offseason and preseason training camp.
The kids aren't so much kids anymore. They've grown up and on Saturday against Louisiana Tech, in front of thousands of clanging cowbells, they'll finally have the opportunity to show it.
They'll have to keep showing it too, because as a new year kicks off, the next batch of Bulldog youngsters can now start nipping at the now-veterans' heels.
"We still have some guys kind of emerging out there," Leach said. "It's exciting, and I do think there will probably be some movements as the season goes on with the way it appears and how quickly some of the young guys are picking things up."
