Three days after bailing on a plan to seriously evaluate his team’s running game due to defensive injuries, Rob Ash again hopes for a long and meaningful look at the ground attack when the Bobcats conduct the final major scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday at 2:30 pm in Bobcat Stadium.
“That’s what I’d really like to accomplish, getting a good look at the run game,” said MSU’s fourth-year head coach. “We need to sort out our situation at running back, and the only way we’re going to get that done is by live work.”
While CJ Palmer missed time this week due to a leg injury, he may join veteran Blayde Becksted, redshirt freshman Cody Kirk and new transfer Orenzo Davis in the heated running back competition on Saturday. MSU’s offensive line is also expected to be intact. “I’m looking forward to seeing where we’re at,” Ash said.
Saturday’s scrimmage will also feature a dose of the kicking game. “We’re going to try to have three or four live kicking plays, kickoffs and punts, not so much for the kickers but to find out who the return guys are,” Ash said. “We need to find who can field a punt in a live situation, and return a kickoff in a live situation. I don’t usually do live kicking plays, I don’t always do live kicking plays, but that’s the plan right now.”
While the ground game needs attention, Ash is happy with the development of the aerial attack under new offensive coordinator Brian Wright. “I think our passing game is really coming around. Both Cody Kempt and Denarius McGhee are throwing the ball sharply, on-time, and that’s a description of how Coach Wright wants the passing game to look. They get it out on time, they’re throwing it well, the receivers have been catching the ball well, and I’m still very happy when our defense is healthy and we have our first guys out there, they’re playing fast and they’re playing very sound football. Where I have concerns is our depth on defense and the run game.”
Football schemes aside, Saturday’s scrimmage provides Ash and his staff a chance to rehearse the mechanics of the team’s first game, which is two weeks from Saturday. “We’re going to work on some situations, the four-minute (and) two-minute drills, the end of the game siatuations. We’’ have some red zone situations. But most of all we want to practice our game organization. We’ll have coaches upstairs, we’ll have everybody off the field, we’ll have a ready area for special teams, we’ll try to simulate game day as much as possible.”