Harvey makes plays for Bulldogs during scrimmage
Rufus Harvey is showing the type of playmaking ability this spring for Mississippi State that made him an All-state wide receiver for Starkville High School.
During the second scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, Harvey had three catches for 43 yards and caught two touchdown passes.
“Rufus is kind of an uncanny guy,” MSU head football coach Mike Leach said. “He's competitive and has some intangibles. He's definitely getting better.”
Quarterback
Chance Lovertich connected with Harvey on a 21-yard scoring pass, then Daniel Greek found Harvey for an 18yard completion for the final touchdown of the scrimmage.
Leach saw some good mixed in with the bad during the two and a half hour workout inside Davis Wade Stadium.
“I thought it was competitive,” Leach said. “We ran around hard and we battled. We were sloppy on offense. The defense played with a high level of urgency. Any time you play hard it may mask some errors you might make. Defense played harder than offense. The offense did some good things, (but) inconsistent though.” That pretty much showed on the first offensive series when quarterback Will Rogers was intercepted by Emmanuel Forbes.
Rogers completed 16of-27 pass attempts for 164 yards and a touchdown, but he had two interceptions. His touchdown was a 30-yarder to Jaden Walley.
“He is a work in progress,” Leach said of Rogers. “I think they are all works in progress. He does some good things. I didn't think this was his best work today, but he has been relatively consistent throughout the spring.”
The first touchdown of the scrimmage was a 34-yard pass from Jack Abraham to Christian Ford, then Lovertich tossed two back-to-back scoring passes with an 18-yarder to Brodie King to go along with the one to Harvey.
Following the Rogers to Walley touchdown, Abraham had a 19-yard pass for points to Caleb Ducking.
Running backs Dillon Johnson and Jo'quavious Marks got in on the scoring fun with a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, then Lovertich threw his third touchdown pass with an 18-yarder to Geor'quarius Spivey and Greek finished the scoring with his toss to Harvey.
Abraham completed 11-of-13 pass attempts for 121 yards and a pair of scores, while Lovertich was 11-of-16 for 127 yards and three touchdowns and Greek was 6-of-17 for 43 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown. Walley was the leading receiver with four grabs for 77 yards and a score.
Walley was not the only Jaden catching passes as defensive lineman Jaden Crumedy picked off Rogers. It was one of four interceptions during the scrimmage to go along with plays by Jay Jimison, Decamerion Richardson and Forbes.
“I think Forbes is getting better,” Leach said. “I think what they did defensively was run to the ball. Everybody is trying to have perfect execution on a play, which you don't get very often, but if you run to the ball, you solve a lot of problems.”