Rob Ash hopes to get a look at game-type situations during his team's live 11-on-11 segment using officials Wednesday morning, but MSU's fourth-year head coach said the session will not resemble a live scrimmage so much as scripted work on situations.
“We’ll work on third downs, goal-line, end-of-game situations,” he said. “We won’t move the ball up and down the field so much as try to get the players acclimated to how we do things in a game. We’re not real deep into fall camp yet, but we only have two-and-a-half weeks until our first game and a week-and-a-half until we’re in game-week preparation mode.”
One thing Ash said he looks forward to evaluating Wednesday is the ground game.
“We have to evaluate the running game,” Ash said. “I like where the pass game is at, but you can evaluate the passing game in half-pads. It’s hard to evaluate the run game unless you’re going all out. We’re going to some third downs, some goal-line, some end-of-the-game scenarios, really try to run the football. It will be tough, not very long, but a tough scrimmage in terms of the physical nature of it, and that’s what we have to have. Then we’ll take Thursday off because I know the guys will be sore. But we have to evaluate who can carry the ball and keep the ball and get that extra yard.”
Specifically, Ash looks to sort out the running back situation, in which returner CJ Palmer is battling redshirt Cody Kirk and junior college transfer Orenzo Davis for carries. Ash said he’ll look for productivity in the form of both ball security and yards-after-contact.
“I’ve got to find running backs that can get tough yards for me, guys that can break tackles,” Ash said. “The thing you never know is if that linebacker made the tackle or if the running back broke the tackle. With running backs I think about plus yards, how many yards does he get after the first defender gets there. Does he break the tackle, make him miss, run him over, whatever it’s going to be. I have to find if I have some backs that will make that first guy miss.”
Another reason Ash looks forward to evaluating the ground attack is unity of the team’s offensive front. Starters Alex Terrien and Ben Tauanuu each missed Saturday’s scrimmage, but the starting five should be together Wednesday.
“(The absence of Terrien and Tauanuu) really threw us out of sync a little bit,” Ash said. “Now they’re back together, they’re functioning as a group of five, and I really like that starting group. I think now they’re starting to understand each other, pass protection’s getting better, their footwork’s getting better. I think we’re going to be solid there.”