Everything head coach Jeff Lebby said during Tuesday's media gathering

With a much-needed open date, Mississippi State continued to hit the practice fields this at the midway point of the season. The Bulldogs will also use the open date to hopefully heal some bumps and bruises.

Following Tuesday’s practice, head coach Jeff Lebby met with the media to discuss the health of his team among other topics:

Q: Any update on Fluff Bothwell?
Lebby: We got some good news back on Fluff. As we move forward with this thing, there’s not a hard timeline for us right now. But all the pictures came back positive so I feel really good about that. We will continue to evaluate and it will be a day-to-day deal. Feel really fortunate the images came back the way they did.

Q: What is your philosophy on having key players in the game late when the result has been decided?
Lebby: We are trying to go finish the right way. That’s why. You get minimal opportunities to go play this game, and we’re trying to finish the game the right way. We are still as a program incredibly green and incredibly young. As we are sitting here six games into Year 2, it’s still about how we do what we do. Finishing is going to be a huge point of emphasis. It has been. If you want to go back, you can go back, but playing in the fourth quarter and winning games in the fourth quarter is a real thing in this league. Our guys have to understand how we need to sustain to be able to go get it done.

Q: How do you feel about your running backs room while Fluff is out?
Lebby: We still feel really good about that room, we’ve talked about the depth. We’re going to need some guys to step up and that’s important. The stress and strain becomes more as (Xavier Gayten) has a little more impact at running back as he’s been a core-four guy for the first six weeks. So there’s some shuffling going on there. We’re going to need osme guys to step up and own their role.

Q: When you reviewed the Texas A&M film what stood out to you?
Lebby: Offensively, for us, we couldn’t get out of our own way. The negative plays on first and second down, we averaged third and 11 on our third downs and you got no chance to go win a football game, offensively, when you put yourself in those situations. Again, that was the most frustrating part. We had some things that we felt like we were in great position and we did not execute. It’s all over the tape and we took turns doing it.

That was the thing for us as we watched the tape. Every single position from the second play of the game to play No. 51. It was every single group, offensively. Defensively, the first eight series of the game we played winning football, gave us the opportunity to go win. We didn’t finish the way we needed to. Again, the sustaining part of how we need to go finish games is going to be a huge piece of it. Really hard and not an excuse but the reality for our defense to go play the way they did the first eight drives and being on the field as much as they were on the field.

That’s us, offensively. From a special teams’ standpoint, no penalties, had a couple of game-changing plays with a tackle inside the 15 on a kickoff. Ethan (Pulliam) has been doing a great job so from a special teams’ standpoint, we’re playing winning football. We got to execute, offensively. That’s been the biggest thing. We’ve got to make sure we are doing everything we can to put our guys in position for success to go win.

Q: How has the team responded in the days following the loss at Texas A&M?
Lebby: Our team understands we got everything out in front of us. That’s the reality. The first six weeks we’ve played three top 15 football teams. We’re 4-2, we got an open date to reset. We’ve got the ability to control what we can control. We got everything out in front of us. Our guys understand that. They are excited about the next opportunity. Excited about getting better every day.

Q: What are your goals for the bye week?
Lebby: We want to get healthy. We want to get fresh. We understand the back half of our schedule and what that looks like. That’s the first part of it. The second piece is we did some situational work today. Again, just leaning into those situational parts of the game where we’ve got to be able to stay on the field, offensively. A lot of that is first and second down piece. Then protectionally, being able to do what we need to do on third down to stay on the field. Making great strides in those situations is important, as well.

Q: What’s the schedule like for this week?
Lebby: We were team meetings and lift yesterday. We were on the grass this morning and met this morning. Same thing tomorrow. Then Thursday, get another great lift and meetings. So just practice Tuesday and Wednesday with good workouts. Then having the ability to get three lifts in, a ton of meetings. Then those guys will get out of here once we finish up Thursday. We’re back in the building Sunday.

Q: Your thoughts on punter Ethan Pulliam?
Lebby: He’s done a great job. He’s done a great job hitting the ball and flipping the field, giving us the chance to put the defense in really good position. I am proud of our special teams, the way we’ve played the last two weeks. We had one week where it was messy but man, we have rebounded the right way. We have to continue that trend and that’s going to be important for us.

Q: How does having a kicker like Kyle Ferrie help your play calling?
Lebby: Just knowing you have the ability to go make field goals from a real distance, that’s a weapon. That’s going to be a huge piece, as well.

Q: We saw a lot of decommitments on Monday in recruiting. What was that situation about?
Lebby: There is a lot going on, obviously from a roster standpoint, whether it’s the five-for-five piece of it. As we move forward with things coming down the pipe, we have to be ready to go adjust. That’s all very fluid as we get closer to the December signing day.

Q: How is Albert Reese and his situation?
Lebby: Albert’s better, did not practice today. He’s making great strides. Our hope is to be able to see if he can go practice next Tuesday. As we get ready for a physical practice that Tuesday, if he can, that will give us the ability to get him back.

Q: With the injuries up front it has affected your rotation. How close do you feel you are to getting that back?
Lebby: We’re not there. This past week, obviously, we played two tackles the entire game. We played two guards the entire game, the same five guys. As we get through this week, we’ll be able to see exactly where Albert is and when he gets back ready to roll. But those five guys were the five that gave us the best opportunity to go win.

Q: What will you and the staff do this weekend when the guys leave?
Lebby: We’re recruiting. I’m leaving early Thursday. I’m in the building, I’ll have a couple of meetings, then I’m headed out on the road. Everybody is getting out of here Thursday morning or right after meetings, and get on the road to recruit Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Q: Blake Shapen has been frustrated after games the past two weeks. What are your conversations with him like after those games?
Lebby: It’s just him continuing to control what he can control. You go back and watch the film, he was 15 of 20, unbelievably accurate. He has two plays that I want back. It was the exchange when we had the fumble on second and three, and then he had the ability to dirt the ball on one of the sacks at the start of two minutes. Outside of those two plays, that guy played incredibly clean. If he’ll play like that, we’re going to have a chance to go win. Just continuing to go control what he can control and inspire the 10 guys that are out there with him and continue to figure out exactly who it is going to be with and these front five really need to play well as we move forward.

Q: How about Isaac Smith?
Lebby: He didn’t practice today. The goal for him and Albert is the same. Having a real evaluation next week Tuesday morning and see where those guys are to go have the ability to go play.