Head coach Jeff Lebby discusses Saturday's second scrimmage of training camp

Mississippi State concluded its second scrimmage of training camp on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. It also marked the conclusion of the third week of training camp with the focus now starting to shift to the season opener at Southern Miss.

Following Saturday’s scrimmage, head coach Jeff Lebby met with the media to discuss what he observed along with other topics:

Q: What changes from a game-plan strategy from the first scrimmage to the second scrimmage?
Lebby: The installs continued to build as we move through camp. The calls you see today were different on both sides of the ball than it was last week. So I think that is natural. For our guys, we are trying to create some stress for them, make it as hard as we can right now in the moment so when we get to game plan, they are able to dial into and it streamlines it and makes it easier.

Q: Did you see any progression from the first week to now?
Lebby: You do with a bunch of the guys. Sitting in the chair I am sitting in, you want more, you constantly want more. That is never going to change. We’re going to stress it regardless of who is out there, whether it’s the 1s, the 2s, the 3s or whoever it is. The stress is being able to execute. So there’s been this great amount of growth for a bunch of guys and there’s a bunch of guys that have to get a heck of a lot better. That’s where the strain is. I think that is part of coaching, part of leading and trying to find ways to get the most out of them every single day and get these guys where they need to be.

Q: What caught your attention in today’s scrimmage?
Lebby: I think again, defensively, we had some great energy and made some huge plays in some short-yardage situations where we were able to get off the field, defensively, to end a couple of drives early in the scrimmage. That created real momentum and once again, I thought that was great to see. I thought the energy, the toughness, the attitude, the edge, man, we are getting close to where we want to be from that standpoint. We got to continue to play cleaner and play better and create depth. But the mentality and the edge right now, I am proud of where our guys are, defensively.

Q: You have some experience on the backend of the defense. Are you seeing those guys compliment the defense?
Lebby: Yeah absolutely. A guy like JMan (Jahron Manning) who has come in and has played a bunch of ball and has been very productive. He is going to have a great year for us. Excited about who he is and where he’s at right now as he’s fitting into it.

Q: You added a lot of spring portal guys and then added some freshmen this summer, too. Do you feel like those guys are about as further along as they can be at this point?
Lebby: Yeah it’s a race. Those guys that have now practiced with us 13 times, they’ve got to get every rep. They’ve got to get walk, they got to get every minute of every day to be ready to roll to be able to go play the way we need to be able to play on August 30th. So there has been. The process for those guys has been sped up. But again, we’ve got a bunch of new offensive linemen that we’ve got to come together as a unit. I think physically we have the bodies. We’ve got to continue to come together inside that room to be able to go play 7-8 guys and play winning football.

Q: In the portal you took some guys that didn’t have a lot of production before like Anthony Evans and Brenen Thompson. How have those guys performed so far?
Lebby: My expectations for both of those guys is to not be good players but great players for us. Again, I love their skill set. I love how they’ve attacked every day, practiced every day, taking care of themselves. They’ve had really good production so excited about both of those guys.

Q: When do you start finalizing the installs and start preparing for the first opponent?
Lebby: Tomorrow will really be a day when we are in the office to dial in on depth charts and from a special teams standpoint, guys that are going to be on the bus and this is exactly where we are going to end up. There’s going to be great competition as we move through next week.

There will be a lot of scout work next week as we get ready for the first few opponents and that will be important for our guys to be able to, again, have this great amount of growth and get ready to go while some of our guys’ roles are going to be changing. That is something we talked about after the scrimmage just a minute ago. Some guys we got to make sure are buying into their role as we get ready to go change the format of practice and do what we do.

Q: Anybody on offense catch your attention today and how did Blake Shapen do?
Lebby: Von (Davon Booth), Fluff (Bothwell), Kolin (Wilson) did some good things. Johnnie (Daniels) did some good things and I thought all four of those backs had a pretty solid day and were productive. Blake was solid, took care of the football and I thought that was good to see. From a decision-making standpoint, he was in a really good spot. Then the other two guys – Luke (Kromenhoek)and KaMario (Taylor) – both those guys had solid days. Again, it is all about the ball and taking care of the rock. Those guys did that today. We had one fumble on an exchange and there was an issue. Outside of that we were much cleaner, which we needed to be.

Q: Any guys on both sides of the line starting to separate themselves?
Lebby: Yeah I think on the defensive line when you think about it whether it’s Will Whitson or Jaray (Bledsoe), Jamil (Burroughs) as those new guys have gotten in. They’ve done nice job for us. Then you think about Deonte (Anderson), Bam Bam (Trevion Williams) and Dink (Kalvin Dinkins) and KJ (Kedrick Bingley-Jones) and Malik (Sylla), Malik is the only new one of those guys I just named. But guys that I believe can go play winning football for us. At that position you got to play multiple guys. I’ve said it before and probably what I am most excited about, is feeling as if we have 9-10 guys go play winning football with. That’s where there has been this great amount of growth. We are nowhere close where we need to be but that’s going to give us a chance.

Q: A lot of new guys think they are going to impact right away and then have to go to the scout team to start out. How do you relate that to the players?
Lebby: Through conversation, meeting with those guys. It is coming from me every single day. Everybody on our football team inside that locker room, inside our building, has a role. Embrace that role and become the best version of yourself you can possibly be. To me that’s life. That is the real world. So if I can get guys to just buy into doing that every day, they are going to practice the way we need them to practice and they are going to have great energy and appreciation for their opportunity. We are stressing that non-stop and it is through conversation and time.

Q: You mentioned often on signing day you need to get enough guys to just practice the right way. How has that process gone now that you’ve experienced it?
Lebby: Today we were over 110 snaps, which was really good. I am not certain but I want to say last year’s second scrimmage we were around 80-85 and it was 1,000% because of bodies. Again, we are going to practice the way we need to go practice just to give ourselves a chance. That is going to be big for us.

Q: The offensive guys said earlier this week they wanted to take ownership and be better in the second scrimmage. Did you see that today?
Lebby: I think with our guys, offensively, there is incredible accountability. There’s been leadership in that room and now it is a game of doing it. It always will be. That’s going to be thing for us. Game execution, game of doing and our guys feel that. They understand that and that is something they’ve continued to preach and will continue to preach as we get closer.