David Murray, who covers Mississippi State for Dawgs Bite, tells McElroy & Cubelic why the QB room might be a concern & what the teams plans to accomplish in fall camp
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McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, Thursday, August 1st, 716 a.m. Listen online, joxfm.com, apps in your app store, iPhone, Android. You can always download those for free.

We're going to go to David Murray here in just a moment. Talk Mississippi State opening fall camp today. First, say about your CBD store. If you need products to help wake you up a little bit better, get a better start to your day, better focus throughout the course of your day, maybe even just a better night's sleep, they have products that can do that. Largest brick-and-mortar CBD retailer in the world. They focus their attention on being the best plant science company out there. First company to have USDA-certified organic oil supplements. They have products for your pet as well. Arthritis, anxiety, gut health, skin care, all for your pet. Go to www.cbs.com.

Go into your CBD store today, see what they can do for yours. They've helped a couple pets in my household be able to move around a little bit better. They can do the same for you. Visit one of their four locations. Highway 280 by Bailey Brothers, 150 by the Cajun Cleaver, Trustful Just Off 459, and now downtown in Five Points, your CBD store, where good health hits home. David Murray with us now on the Buyer's Right Hotline. Is Mississippi State set to open fall camp today? David, from the quarterback situation, we know what Blake Chapin is. What are your expectations after him as this season

I believe, is a pretty important position based on how Jeff Levy and company will actually handle the first-string quarterback. Well, you get right to when I did my pre-camp five questions, my first question was, who's the backup quarterback? Because I think that matters. I was talking yesterday with a member of the staff and said, you know, if this team –

succeeds, it's because Blake Chapin steps in and does his job immediately. If something were to happen to him, you're looking at an uphill battle for those guys. Now, Chris Parsons, based on experience, would be the number two at this point because he has a little bit of seasoning. I'm not saying it was good seasoning if he saw his game at Texas A&M, but still, you've been on the field. That's

That said, I think Michael Van Buren is the future of the position. The guy has come in here from Maryland first year. He managed to get through spring ball. He's looked good. He got a grasp of the offense right there. So to me, that's going to be the competition. Who's going to be your number two behind Chapin? But let's be honest, guys. This season hinges on keeping Blake Chapin upright and him performing as he's expected to in Levy's offense.

The offense should be pretty good, right? I mean, I don't... Sometimes it's hard when you watch spring games to assess, all right, is the offense good or the defense bad? In this particular case, I really think the defense looked worse because the offense really does have a chance to be excellent offensively.

We all know Zach Selman flat out just came out and said, we want it to be an exciting brand of football. So what's exciting? Points scored. So I get the sense that Jeff Levy's been brought in to score points and then hopefully over the course of time address the defense and allow them to get better and better and better over the next few years. So how much would this team lean on the offense? And was the spring game, is that something that you should put a lot of stock into given how good they looked relative to their defense?

I think you can put a lot of stock in the spring game and how they approached it with the mix of the run and the pass. I mean, yes, it's exciting because he does push the ball downfield and Chapin has the arm to do it. And now he's got some receivers do it, bringing in Kelly directory, bringing in Mario Craver, bringing in Will Coleman, some new receivers, young receivers. They're making a difference. And let's not forget Creed Whittemore, who's going to do his job, both at split and slot and at Mississippi state any year, you know,

Yes, Levy was hired for his offensive mind, and as I've told many people, we're going to see, is he Dan Mullen or is he Joe Morehead? I think much more likely he's closer to the Mullen end of things, a hot young coordinator promoted to a head coaching job at Mississippi State.

I like their approach, but I'm going to tell you too, and Cole can certainly echo on this, offensive line, plug and play. Three transfer guys are immediately on your starting line, another one your second offensive line. That's going to be what makes it possible for Chapin to get done what he's done.

I think it's good news, though, that you at least have a couple of those offensive linemen coming in that have been in a very similar scheme system. Obviously going to help. So Murray talked with us in the virus right hotline. The running back position is one that I think is intriguing. I know they were trying to attack another one, but there is some talent there. Do you expect there to be a breakout back or this going to be shared carries? How dynamic can anyone at that position be in this offense this fall?

At this point, going into camp, it's a shared position. Keevon Lee ended up as your main guy in the spring game, but I think that had more to do with the health of Johnny Daniels, who was brought in as a juco and then a spring ball. Got himself a little bit hurt, and he should be healthy here for the start of camp. That's the guy who I think, and I'll repeat,

think has the best chance of being that balance back who can run, who can catch, do other things in the offensive system that Levy wants to get done. Of course, you have Jeffrey Pittman back there, and it's kind of regretful that Seth Davis is out for the full year, injured in the final game of the season. So I'm not sure there is a true lead dog back at this point. Now, maybe by August 31st we have one. At this point, I think it's going to be by committee and by mix and match positions there. I believe...

believe that this is somewhere that Levy's going to keep recruiting for the future, whether it's in the portal, high schools, and by the way, guys, I know he brought in something like 19 portal players and many of them quarterback, offensive line, linebacker, other positions. They're going to play immediately. That's not how he wants to recruit. He

He wants to be a developmental program. He wants to sign guys, but not say the two and three stars and develop. He wants to sign the three, four and five stars and develop them and try to retain them in the system and then use the transfer more, more sparingly. This is going to be a unique year and how many transfer guys are not just coming into play, but have to play for Mississippi state because they got to get it off the ground. That was his phrase in Dallas at media days, shaping transfer, lineman transfer, defensive guys,

give you a chance to get off the ground in year one. I think they're definitely going to be able to get off the ground. I'm not sure many people are concerned about that. The question is,

uh where what is their role right now in the ecosystem that is the sec i think at this point a post-season bowl birth would be a tremendous accomplishment uh especially given some of the turnover and the change in identity offensively and defensively so how are you know how will the fans react to a six win season is that kind of the hope there in starkville

Six wins is the target this season. And you look at it, too. The state should start out 3-0. I mean, let's be honest. Eastern Kentucky, an Arizona State team that is struggling to rebuild itself entirely, and then Toledo coming in.

You should be 3-0 going into the Florida game, which is your first conference game, and it'll be on Scott Field. That's going to be kind of the hinge game to me. For State to get to six wins, they should sweep their non-conference games. Your matchups that you're looking at as you've got to win are Florida and Arkansas at this point. That's no insult to either team, and by coincidence, that's the two hot seat teams in the league right now.

You win those games, you get a bowl bid against this schedule when you're playing, what, the two top contenders, not just for the SEC, but in the country, in Georgia and Texas. You're playing Texas, their first SEC home game ever.

that's a tough schedule we've been handed, and plus it's not a home-friendly schedule either. So that's the factor they're going against. But again, they should start out 3-0. They should start getting some momentum there, figure out who they are offensively, and more to the point, I think, defensively with Coleman Hutzler coming in, first-time coordinator, and putting a defense together that's got to just give the ball back to the offense a few times, and I think he can get the job done this season.

What's the key defensively? Is it Stone Blanton coming in, maybe understanding the scheme? Is it the defensive line trying to find a little bit more bulk up front, holding the point? Is it an edge rusher like maybe Don Terry Russell being able to be effective getting the quarterback? If there's a key to them maybe being a little better than we think, what would that be for you this fall?

I think it's safety position, and that's been true for the last couple of years. The state has gone to the portal for so many safeties over the last five years and still have struggled. Let's be honest, they have struggled at all three of those safety positions, and they're going to run a variation on the 3-3-5 again this year. What was it Hutzler told us and then was backed up by old David Turner? Defense is defense. Everybody's doing pretty much the same thing schematically.

And Turner, who's been around this SEC loop a lot, when we talked to him on Tuesday, he said it's going to now just be the players you plug in, how fast they grab your system, and can they execute. I think it's going to be the safety positions more than anything. I think they'll be decent at cornerback.

Linebacker, as much as you're going to miss guys like Jet Johnson, Nate Watson statistically and leadership-wise, I think you're more athletic now, can do more things with them. Edge is going to be a mix and match at this point, whether it's another outside backer, defensive lineman, that sort of thing, as you mentioned, Ontario Russell, other players.

Up front, you've got to get Calvin Dinkins and Trevion Williams healthy because had they not gotten hurt in the very first game of last season, maybe they sneak out six wins last year. So help is going to be a big consideration on the defensive side of the ball as well. That's where, for all the strengths we had in the Mike Leach program, recruiting on the defensive side just fell behind. That's not criticizing. That's just fact.

So now it's a rebuilding process there, and you've got to develop those linemen fast. But to me, it's going to be the defensive backfield.

The backfields just had so much turnover the last few years. And with where the league has gone, it's become such a pass-happy league. I mean, what you'll see from Texas, what you'll see from Arizona State, frankly, they're in the non-conference. What you'll see from Toledo, to an extent, they're in the first four or five games of the year. A lot of these teams could throw it around the yard. So will that group be equipped enough to kind of keep things in check after last year kind of falling flat by giving up a lot of completions?

We'll find out. I'm serious. I'm not trying to be funny about it, but as I said, this has been a weak point for several years. Zach Garnett said that was his first concern, the safety positions. Before that, leeches last year, the safety positions. And they've tried a lot of bodies, as I've mentioned. I think this year they'll be more athletic. I think Corey Ellington raised his game. I think Isaac Smith has a chance to be a professional in the future.

But they haven't really done it yet. You've got to get them out there. Just get enough pressure on the edge. And you mentioned the quarterbacks throwing it around. They all do something different, too. This is a bunch that's got to learn a whole lot of offenses in a very short time once they get into each new game week. I mean, Quinn Ewers one week, Bollinger,

Brock, the next couple weeks later, Jackson Dart, all the guys they're going to see who can throw the ball around, receivers who can do so many different things and mixed up with a decent running threat from everybody. These guys have a huge learning curve ahead. So to me, again, that's going to be the key to how this defense works. But as I said, again, the whole idea of defense anymore, and we've talked about this many times,

It's no more just try to stop people outright. Just get the ball out a couple of times. Just make a couple of stops, keep them out of field goal range, and let your offense go to work. Well, David, we appreciate the time. It's great stuff getting us updated on Mississippi State before they take the practice field today. Thanks for joining us. We'll do it again soon.

And the good thing is that Jeff Levy is very big on morning practices. The high today is going to be 97 in Starkville, but it looks like it'll be in the 80s when they hit the practice field at 930 this morning when we're out there to watch them. So put another shot of coffee in me, and it's time to go out and watch some preseason football. And it's time to get going, guys. What is this 80-degree nonsense? It's supposed to be 180.

Hey, Jolie Dunn would thoroughly dislike how they're doing it now. He wanted suffering as much as possible. But let's be more realistic about today's athletes. Let's not wear them out in the first couple of weeks of preseason temperature-wise. And, hey, this old Jones County farm boy, I've gotten to the point that I don't mind being a little bit cooler watching practice than I was in my younger days. I don't blame you. David, thanks for the time. We'll catch up soon.

guys. Good to hear from you as always. Yes, sir. There you go. Uh, talking a little bit of Mississippi state here early in the show practice gets underway today for the Bulldogs. And there are questions. Obviously you turn the roster over, bring in a new coaching staff. Things aren't going to look great. Uh, by the way, you can find David at dogs, bite.com at dogs, bite mag via Twitter as well. Uh,

But that backup quarterback situation seems to be a massive question. You heard David reference safety a couple of times, GMAC. Those are probably two of the bigger ones that Jeff Lebby and his staff have to sort of figure out before this season begins. And I'm not sure they're going to be able to feel great about what they have. It's just with Ellington being the only guy back and him, let's be honest, having some ups and downs last year,

I think that's of concern. You lost, obviously, a couple guys to the league. You had Nicholson transferred to SC. So there are some challenges, I think, for them to not just replace some of the pieces from last year, because I don't think they were great in that part of their structure anyways. But they're going to get thin in a hurry. So they're going to, I think, have to...

some of the rotation back there so guys don't get gassed early in the year. Absolutely. All right, we'll talk a little bit more Mississippi State, some other schools that are beginning practice yesterday, today. Hear from Lane Kiffin and some of his thoughts on practice next right here on JOCS 94.5. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

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