MISSISSIPPI ST.

Spring-game recap: The league’s most bizarre spring game took place April 8 in Starkville, when Bulldogs starting quarterback Nick Fitzgerald completed 14 of 27 passes for 127 yards but was intercepted four times. It was an eye-popping stat line, but ninth-year MSU coach Dan Mullen was not sounding any alarms afterward. “That might bother a younger quarterback, but it’s not going to bother a veteran,” Mullen said. “A veteran is going to keep firing. He was trying to make plays, and practice is the time when you take more chances. He understands that.” The White beat the Maroon 21-10 before an announced crowd of 16,630, but the game was halted with seven minutes left after Georgia transfer safety Jonathan Abram leveled reserve running back Bennie Braswell. Mullen immediately sent Abram to the locker room as medics tended to Braswell.

Moving forward: This spring may have been the ninth one for Mullen, but it was the first with Todd Grantham as defensive coordinator. The defense certainly had an impact in the spring game, returning two interceptions for touchdowns. Cameron Dantzler had two interceptions, returning one 81 yards for a score, while Brian Cole had a 54-yard score off a pick. Fitzgerald was among the SEC’s top individual surprises last season, throwing for 2,423 yards and rushing for 1,375, but he now will be without receiver Fred Ross, who had 72 catches for 917 yards. Yet considering the Bulldogs allowed 109 points in consecutive games to Alabama and Arkansas late last season, most worries are on a defense that Grantham now oversees. “We have a lot of young faces on that defense,” Mullen said. “There are not a lot of seniors.”

Opener: Sept. 2 against Charleston Southern at Davis Wade Stadium.