Mike Leach heaps praise on Rufus Harvey's development

One player that’s been catching the attention of Mike Leach has been Mississippi State wide receiver Rufus Harvey.

Speaking with the media following the Bulldogs’ second scrimmage, Leach heaped a nice amount of praise on Harvey, explaining what he does well.

“Rufus played well. Rufus plays the ball in the air probably better than any receiver we have. That’s what I would say,” stated Leach. “One of the strongest things he does, he comes out of his cuts quickly, and he plays the ball in the air well. That’s a pretty good example for everybody.”

Additionally, Leach revealed that Harvey can expect to see a bigger target share in 2022, earning it throughout the offseason.

“We’ve wanted to play him for awhile, and he does good things on the practice field,” Leach added. “If we were to play today, he would play a lot.”

Moreover, Harvey was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2020, according to the On3 Consensus. The Starkville, Mississippi native also was the No. 225 wide receiver in the nation when he joined the Bulldogs, while being ranked No. 34 overall out of his home state and No. 1333 nationwide.

While playing time has been tough to come by for Rufus Harvey — he only has five catches over his time with the Bulldogs — it’s evident the Mississippi State wide receiver is ready for a bigger role in 2022.

Mike Leach identifies which position group is in serious need of developing toughness

Aside from quarterback, there may not be a position more important in Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach‘s air raid offense than the receiver position. Earlier this month, after the Bulldog’s first scrimmage of fall camp, Leach wanted to see more out of his wide receiver group in regards to physicality and toughness.

“I think we’re getting better, I think we’ve got to get tougher at receiver. I think those receivers spend a certain amount of time being awfully willing to get shoved around, but just overall we just have to have overall improvement, and then we’re still developing depth in the o-line,” Leach said.

This is a good sign for the Mississippi State defense, but not necessarily for the offense. Especially one that’s as reliant on their receivers as the Bulldogs are, as they lead the SEC in total passing yards and passing yards per game last season.

“Yeah we’re better in the secondary and we just have to answer the challenge of receiver. We make too many judgements on when the ball is going to come to us and I think as a team we do it some, but I think the receivers do it even more and we just have to be tougher people. And we’ve got a weird mix, we’ve got old guys and real young and we need to develop some of those guys that are kind of the middle experience guys,” Leach said.