Video: Mississippi State Back on Practice Field for 2015

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) — Mississippi State football completed its first practice of preseason camp with a workout in helmets and shorts that lasted just over two hours on Monday afternoon at the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex.

The entire 105 roster practiced together for the first time since the April 18 spring game. It was the first of 29 workouts leading up to the Sept. 5 season-opener at Southern Miss. Seventh-year head coach Dan Mullen was enthused about the energy surrounding Monday’s return of football.

“It’s good to be back out there,” Mullen said. “As a coach this is part of the stuff you love, being out on the field and coaching football, especially coming off of summer. You have been away from a break; you have a lot of new faces out there, some young people and some older faces that you’re going to see hopefully take a step forward in their careers this year. It’s a pretty exciting time. It was good energy out there today.”

Making his return to the practice field was senior safety Kendrick Market. Market, who suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in last November’s Egg Bowl, was full strength after missing the spring rehabbing the injury.

“He’s played a lot of football for us,” said Mullen. “It’s great to see him back there and feeling healthy and confident. We want to make sure we take care of him so he will be ready to play.”

The veteran Market has been a steady leader throughout his career, starting 16 games and seeing action in 37 contests dating back to 2012.

“I was excited,” added Market. “I have rehabbed every day, up to three times a day. So I knew I would come back fast. I was jogging and running on it. I made it through the summer pretty well.”

Mullen said he is eager to see the competition play out at running back. The group of Ashton Shumpert, Dontavian Lee and Aeris Williams features contrasting styles.

“It’ll be interesting to see if someone separates themselves,” said Mullen. “Guys are competing for reps at this point, but if someone separates themselves as it continues to go they’re going to get the majority of the reps. I think with the different skills sets the guys have they bring something different to the table.”

The Bulldogs will go through split-squad practices on Tuesday with the majority of the veterans participating in the morning followed by a more teaching-intensive workout in the afternoon with the younger players. Both practices will feature helmet and shorts.

Head Coach Dan Mullen

Opening Statement…

“It’s good to see everybody. It’s good to be back out there. As a coach this is part of the stuff you love, being out on the field and coaching football, especially coming off of summer. You have been away from a break; you have a lot of new faces out there, some young people and some older faces that you’re going to see hopefully take a step forward in their careers this year. It’s a pretty exciting time. It was good energy out there today. Everybody is still trying to figure it out. Even the older guys are still getting used to being in the flow of practice. I like the energy. We do have a younger team in a lot of ways even though we have older players, so we’re going to roll a lot of guys through during training camp and give a lot of guys experience. The preseason schedule is weird this year. We have three weeks in school before we play game. We will have two full weeks in classes and then a week of game week before playing a game. It will be a different deal of how we go through things. It was fun to be out there.”

On safety Kendrick Market returning from injury…

“It was good to see him out there. We are going to be careful with him. He’s clear and he’s ready to go, but I still want to be careful with him. Missing a couple reps today isn’t going to hurt him. He’s played a lot of football for us. It’s great to see him back there and feeling healthy and confident. We want to make sure we take care of him so he will be ready to play. He will be ready to play that game come Sept. 5 mentally, physically we have to make sure he is ready to go.”

On quarterback Elijah Staley returning from spring injury …

“His is still a little bit longer because his was a little bit later. It’s an extended injury, especially a guy his size. It’s good to see him out there. He is still not at full speed, but it’s good that he’s back doing things. He can do just about everything he’s just not at full speed. We have to protect him a little bit. When you have some of those more significant injuries you really have to protect guys. Some of the guys who have injuries that can cause longer term issues, you’re going to be more careful with them.”

On experience returning…

“I think there’s a lot. You’re held to a much higher standard. If you were in the rotation you have to be considered a starter, and you’re going to be treated and expected to act that way. When you look at certain positions where there are multiple starters, it’s great for the young guys because they say, ‘hey, for me to crack this lineup, I have to play like a third starter at this position.’ At other positions where guys know they aren’t going to get handed that role, we might have to move somebody else in to take that role if you’re not going to be ready to play at the level we need you to. I think it is an advantage that those guys have that experience, and when they get out there on the field there is a lot of familiarity. We’re kind of a weird team; not a lot of seniors and not a lot of sophomores. There are a lot of juniors. So if you combine the juniors and seniors, there are quite a few numbers of players that have played in football games who are older guys. Then you look and there a lot of young guys. It’s an interesting break. These guys are going to set a standard, and these guys are going to have to get up to that level if they want to crack the lineup.”

On the freshmen size on first day of camp…

“They have good length. I like long, athletic players. Year-by-year sometimes it changes, but you look and we’ve had bigger linebackers. I like being big on defense. I watch Kentucky basketball and they are a long, big-time defensive units. You take the field on us and we look kind of like the Kentucky basketball defense out there.”

On running back battle…

“It’ll be interesting to see if someone separates themselves. Guys are competing for reps at this point, but if someone separates themselves as it continues to go they’re going to get the majority of the reps. I think with the different skills sets the guys have they bring something different to the table. The big adjustment, especially for young players, is not what they do with the ball in their hand; it’s what they do without the ball is what is going to judge how fast you are going to play.”

On linebacker Gerri Green…

“I think he’s got really good leadership potential. He does things the right way. He’s a hard worker. He worked to improve his athleticism in getting bigger, faster, stronger throughout the offseason. What we need from him is translating that on the football field and translating that to being a better football player. He’s a guy we would like to see do that quickly to get himself in the rotation.”

On backup quarterbacks…

“It’s a ways right now. We have seen guys do different things. I thought Nick Fitzgerald had a really good spring. We have to see that translate and improve coming into fall camp. I’ve seen Damian (Williams) play in games before so he has that experience. Those two guys have the edge over (Elijah Staley and Nick Tiano) right now just on experience alone. We’ll see as camp goes. I don’t think I have ever had five quarterbacks in camp before. The great thing with Dak (Prescott) and his experience, they are all going to get experience to go with the ones. We’ll pull Dak and on different days let different guys go with the ones for certain drives to see how they do.”

On defensive end Ryan Brown compared to former lineman Preston Smith…

“I guess they look similar in a lot of ways because they are both real tall, long, athletic players. They are a little bit different. Ryan is probably a little bit stronger and maybe technically sound. Preston had a lot of natural ability. A little bit different player even though they are some similarities.”

On defensive lineman Chris Jones’ expectations…

“He gets a lot of the preseason hype and all of this stuff. But you have to play that way. I think the worse people are preseason All-Americans. If you are a preseason All-American you better finish a postseason All-American. If not, you have done a really bad job because people thought you were supposed to be good and then you didn’t do it. With a guy like him, we need him to play like a big-time player. We need him to play with a sense of urgency to try and dominate games.”

On defensive backs Will Redmond and Taveze Calhoun…

“The great thing is that they both have experience. Will is not officially a returning starter even though he has made a lot of plays. We expect a lot out of those guys. I feel pretty good about those guys. The keys are the next two guys because we want to be able to roll people through. That’s what we are going to be looking more than those two. I think we expect big things out of both of them.”

On wide receiver Gabe Myles…

“He’s dynamic with the ball in his hand, which we knew that. As a former high school quarterback, if you put the ball in his hand he can make things happen. It’s going to be him improving as an all-around wide receiver, which we really hope this is the year he takes a step forward in that role.”

On young players progressing in camp…

“It’s so different. Not only will they be physically tired because they are probably going harder than they have gone before, it will be tougher competition out there on the field. Then there’s the speed and mental aspect of adjusting to that. I think everyone is going to go at a different pace. There are a lot of times if someone has the physical ability to go play when that mental part will catch up, or if they have the mental part are they going to get ready physically? Sometimes at camp you don’t get to see. A lot of them might not start, but a guy right now who hasn’t been through training camp before and will be exhausted physically doesn’t look as good but mentally has it, the all of a sudden you get into where you’re back in school and they physically come back and mentally have it, and you say this guy is going to be ready to play. It’s such a hard deal until you get much closer to game week to see if when they will have that opportunity of when it clicks for them.”

On being voted last in the SEC West preseason…

“It’s the same thing with preseason awards. None of that much means a lot to me. What is going to determine it is so much. I guarantee you the history of the program over the last 100-plus years has something to do with where we get picked. People just look at the number of returning starters. Will Redmond is not listed as a returning starter yet we just said he’s a preseason award candidate. I don’t know what weighs in to everyone’s idea. It comes down to who has it as a team. Who can stay healthy at key positions? You have guys you’re really going to depend on and if you can keep them healthy then you’re going to have a chance to be successful. I don’t think there is any team in the west that doesn’t think they can win it. If you look at the SEC West you could probably make an argument of how every team could win.”

MSU Player Quotes

DE Ryan Brown

On Chris Jones…

“I do not think I need to tell him anything. Everything that he has worked for is right in front of him. He sees that and I think he is going to play up to his potential this year.”

On depth on the defensive line…

“That is the reason we rotated a lot last year. We have talent and depth, and the guys behind are just as good as us. I am very comfortable with all of our guys. I know those guys are ready to ball, and I am ready to ball with them.”

On what he has seen from the true freshmen…

“I wanted to see if they were ready. Everyone in the country is doing the same thing they are. Everyone in the country is trying to bench press the highest they ever have. They have to make sure they have a hunger, because they can use their youth to their advantage. You can go as hard as you can and play higher than your potential. Hopefully, those guys step up like we saw at practice.”

On being picked last in the SEC West…

“People judge what they see. I heard someone mention that [being picked last] 10 times today at practice, so that is going to help and motivate us each and every day. It is all about who is hungry and who executes the most. We are trying to build on that and have fun.”

LB Beniquez Brown

On getting back on the field for the first time since the spring…

“It was exciting. We had a lot of energy. The plan is to come out to all the practices and give that same effort every day.”

On playing without Benardrick McKinney…

“Some people would look at it like pressure, but I do not. I just come in everyday and do the same things I did last year. I just want to be a more vocal leader than I was last year.”

On what he learned from older players when he was a freshman…

“I had guys like Cam Lawrence and Deontae Skinner to lead the way. It was a process knowing that when they left the opportunity was going to be there for me to lead. I feel like it is my time now. Our young guys are great listeners. If the coach tells them to do something they do it. It is great to have guys like that. They follow us and when it is their time to lead, they will be ready.”

On Gerri Green…

“I tell him every day not to let the comparison of Benardrick McKinney get to him. At the end of the day, he is not Benardrick McKinney. He is Gerri Green. He comes in every day and works hard and is very coachable.”

S Kendrick Market

On practicing for the first time since last season…

“I was excited.  I have rehabbed every day, up to three times a day. So I knew I would come back fast. I was jogging and running on it. I made it through the summer pretty well.”

On Jay Hughes missing a year due to the same injury…

“I was scared. I did know how long I would be out, so I just made sure to rehab every day. I talked to him every day. He is like a big brother to me.”

On having to sit out the Orange Bowl after playing the 2014 season…

“It was crazy. I was jumping up and down on my scooter because I knew what plays were coming.”