WATCH: Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby talks Jimmy Bell, improvements and spring game

Mississippi State continued its third week of spring practice on Thursday and got closer and closer to the annual spring game, which is on April 20th. Following Thursday’s practice, head coach Jeff Lebby met with the media to discuss his squad and other aspects of spring football:

Q: Did Jimmy Bell practice today and if so, how did he look?
Lebby: He joined us, which is exciting, obviously. We will give him some good work. We’re going to take some baby steps with him and make sure we are setting him up for success. It will be a little slower of a process than some other guys obviously, him coming off the hardwood. But love the fact he wants to be out here after a long season. He’s ready to get out here and get going. So that says a lot about him.

Q: How did that process play out with Jimmy wanting to join the football team?
Lebby: He mentioned wanting to do it and had interest in it. So we were able to get together and have a conversation and this is the point we got to. We will see where it goes from here.

Q: What stands out to you about Jimmy Bell?
Lebby: The obvious right? He’s a giant. Natural length, big guy, and big people tend to have success in this game. That’s where it starts.

Q: You trying to get Cam Matthews out here next?
Lebby: I don’t want (Chris) Jans mad at me (laughing).

Q: On the offensive line, how are transfers Makylan Pounders, Ethan Miner, Marlon Martinez and Jacoby Jackson doing so far?
Lebby: These guys have done exactly what we’ve asked them to do. We’e nowhere close to where we want to be. I like the fact we’ve got guys that have played a lot of football, maybe not here but at other places. So they understand the expectation. They’ve done a really good job. We’ve got a ton of work to do and they’re bought into that.

Q: Halfway through spring practice, how would you access where you are health-wise?
Lebby: There’s the natural things that are happening right now. Shout out to Thomas and he is as good as there is in the business. He’s done an unbelievable job in trying to get our guys back on the grass to get all the reps. That’s the stress for everybody and then making sure we are getting better when we are not on the field. Trying to get that done with guys that are maybe not practicing every day right now.

Q: A lot of the receivers have talked about how exciting this offense is. Your thoughts on that group?
Lebby: Similar to what we talked about the guys on the Oline, we’ve got some guys at the receiver position that have played quite a bit of ball that have quite a bit of production. Again, maybe not here but at other places. I think that helps, without a doubt. They’ve done a really nice job as they’ve got going.

Q: One of the first things you did when you got here was hired speed coach Jarwarski Beckum. What kind of difference has he made so far?
Lebby: I don’t have anything to compare it to from last year with it being year 1. But I do think we have a faster football team than maybe we did on January 1st. We’ve got to keep developing that. This league is built with length and speed, and we’ve got to continue to do a great job in that area.

Q: What have you seen from defensive line transfer Kedrick Bingley-Jones and Sulaiman Kpaka so far?
Lebby: They’ve both done a really good job. KJ has had eight really good practicesand Kpaka has done a good job, as well. Both guys are going to be players for us. Both guys are going to be really involved in helping us be able to have a group that rotates and play multiple snaps. At the same time, an interior guy in this league having to play 60 snaps is not what we want by any stretch. So we are creating depth at that position, which is going to be good.

Q: What’s the baseline you want to see from your quarterbacks at this point?
Lebby: From a benchmark standpoint, we don’t necessarily put a number on it. We want guys that can create predictable outcomes. I like calling the play and knowing what’s going to happen before the ball is snapped. For that to happen, they’ve got to think just like me. From an execution standpoint, we’re nowhere close to where we want to be. There’s been incredible growth and I think we’ve got some guys in the room that are going to be able to get it done. Like everybody, we’ve got to keep getting better.

Q: You and tight ends coach Jon Cooper were together at Oklahoma. How important is that trust factor there?
Lebby: It’s huge. Obviously Coop and I have a ton of history, played together, coached together, been around each other for a long time. So he’s one that definitely knows what I’m thinking while I’m thinking it and can anticipate some things and create some shortcuts for our guys and for me, which is great.

Q: I know he’s not back to 100 percent yet but how much of a boost can JaKobi Albert give this secondary when he returns?
Lebby: I think he’s going to be another guy that adds depth and create some juice for us. Excited about his return. Once we get him back that will be great. We’ve got some guys on the back end that are playing at a high level right now. There’s great competition on the back end, which has been fun to see.

Q: Your thoughts on the running backs room?
Lebby: As we sit here today we’ve got to continue to get better. We don’t have a ton of production in that room. It’s not just the backs, it’s everybody. We’ve got to continue to get better every day. But I like where Keyvone (Lee) is at. Keyvone has done a really good job. He’s coachable. He takes to coaching and he’s detail-oriented and he’s a big, physical guy that can do some things. But we’ve definitely got to get better at that position.

Q: With the spring game coming up later this month, what are you wanting to see from your guys on both sides?
Lebby: I’m looking to see guys take care of the ball on offense and I’m looking for the guys on defense to go get the ball. So there’s kind of a balance there. We want to see great energy, great toughness, great effort, great physicality. I want to see guys flying around and not having to get coached on any of those things. The execution, we will coach all day and every day. But our effort, our toughness, our physicality, those are things we want guys to take and go do.

Q: Do you expect to have running back Seth Davis this season?
Lebby: We will see. He’s actually got a couple of appointments coming up that will be telling and we will see where that is.

Q: What will your format be for the spring game?
Lebby: We will announce that to the public. There will be a scoring system but we will just go offense vs. defense. We won’t draft guys or do any of those things. As we look at it, it will be something of 1s vs. 2s, 2s vs. 1s. And again, our depth chart right now is so incredibly fluid that when the spring game gets here, that will be the format of it. But we will announce it but there will be a scoring setup for the offensive side and the defensive side that will take place. So we will keep score and have some fun with it.