Mullen Pleased With Effort, Intensity In First Full-Contact Day
STARKVILLE, Miss. - After a pair of practices in helmets only to begin the spring, head football coach Dan Mullen put his team through an intense day of work on the first day in full pads. While he was pleased with some aspects of the team's work, he noted there is still a lot of room for improvement.
"Our intensity and effort were good today, but we were sloppy in our execution," Mullen said. "We've got to take the things we work on in the individual periods and carry them over to the team work. And that's something that will come along as we get more repetitions."
The day started quickly as Mullen whistled everyone together for a full-speed goalline period immediately following stretching, and practice ended in a similar fashion with the two sides battling from inside the five yardline. The defense dominated the offense in the first showdown, but the offense scored several times in the last period of the day, including a one-yard Vick Ballard plunge on a do-or-die final play.
The Bulldogs will have the remainder of the weekend off before returning to the weight room on Monday. The squad's next practice will be Tuesday afternoon, as they begin a week of four scheduled practices, hitting the fields on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as well. All practices are open to members of the Bulldog Club and students.