Head coach Mike Leach breaks down Mississippi State football's first preseason scrimmage

Leach saw several good things as the Bulldogs competed in a game-like atmosphere

Three weeks ahead of its first game, Mississippi State conducted its first scrimmage of the 2020 preseason on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. What did Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach think of what he saw? Here are a few highlights from what Leach said in his post-scrimmage media session:

- K.J. Costello and Will Rogers impressed at quarterback: "I thought K.J. had a really good day today," Leach said. "I thought Will did an admirable job. A lot of times a freshman goes out there, first scrimmage, and they'll flinch a little, but he came out of it fast and I thought he did some good things. The others I thought were competitive. They can line up and play to a point. I thought those two had the best scrimmage."

- Secondary results were mixed: "One thing I was impressed with was how well we open-field tackled," Leach said. "I thought we did a good job of tackling. A lot of times at this point, you don't tackle as well as you want. Now I haven't seen the film so I don't know as far as what, defensively, our thoughts are as far as guys being in position. But I thought they tackled well. I also thought our receivers, at times, did a good job getting separation and making some plays."

- Offensive line first-teamers were strong: "I thought it got mixed after that," Leach admitted. "But we were able to play and it look like football with three groups. We were able to play three full groups and it looked like football and I can't say that it always does."

- Some things stood out: "I thought the defensive line did a good job getting push," Leach said. "They played the run really well. Some of the key plays, whether it be third down or fourth down, we traded blows. We had some good plays offensively there. Had big plays defensively there. The most positive thing is I think we played together as units when you consider where we're at in the course of things."

- Receiving production was spread out: "We spread the ball around pretty good today, which I think is a good thing," Leach said. "Malik Heath had a really good catch. I mean one that was contested that he fought for and took away. And then I'd have to look at the numbers. I thought (Jaden) Walley had some good catches. Austin Williams had some good catches. Tulu (Lideatrick Griffin) had a big catch. I thought our backs were steady. We played a number of them. I thought they were steady."

- Special teams were worked on "a lot": "They had a meeting before," Leach said. "They worked on it quite a lot. Not just the fit-type of stuff where they run downfield. There was a lot of work there. As a matter of fact, I would say as far as just one solid period, (it was) our most competitive special teams work. And I thought it was pretty good. And then I thought field goal looked pretty good, too."

- Trying to determine a depth chart comes next: "You try to channel the reps around the guys that are starting to separate themselves," Leach said. "There are no scheme overhauls. If anything, we'll probably cut some plays rather than add plays as we try to figure out what we're really good at and then polish that up."

- Overall, a seemingly productive day: "All sides – both offense and defense – have plenty to be pissed about," Leach said. "That's usually pretty good news for a competitive team as long as (the scrimmage) isn't just some slop-fest and it was not. There were some well-executed things out there and a lot of plays where either side won by just a couple inches. The competitiveness, I was very pleased with."

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