MSU receivers enjoy productive day
There were notable performances by the Mississippi State wide receivers during Saturday’s 55-10 win over Tennessee State to allow quarterback Will Rogers to break the records that he did.
Along with Rogers setting new season marks for passing yards and touchdowns for the Bulldogs, Makai Polk tied the single-season mark for receptions with 88 and Austin Williams had the first three touchdown receiving game for MSU since Donald Gray did it against Samford in 2016.
Williams caught scores of 21, 5 and 30 yards from Rogers and finished with four catches for 75 yards.
“He’s not the fastest guy and not the strongest guy,” Rogers said of Williams. “He knows where to sit in the defense and knows where to be.”
Polk had nine catches for 110 yards and now has four 100-yard receiving games of the year. His 88th grab of the season was a 50-yard touchdown from Rogers in the third quarter.
“He does a great job when he gets open,” Rogers said of Polk. “He’s probably one of the greatest route runners I’ve ever seen in person. He does a really good job for us.”
Another receiver Malik Heath had a 56-yard scoring catch, which stands as the longest play from scrimmage this season for the Bulldogs.
Former Starkville High School player Rufus Harvey had a couple of catches himself for 15 yards in the MSU victory.
For the season, Harvey has five catches for 39 yards and one touchdown.
MSU running back Jo’quavious Marks has shown that he can be a valuable piece to the passing game as well.
He has caught 73 passes this season, which is tied for fourth in Bulldogs singleseason history. He is now just one catch behind the 74 of David Smith in 1970.
Marks said being a part of the passing game can present a great opportunity for a running back.
“It’s pretty fun because sometimes we get open field,” Marks said. “That’s pretty fun for a running back with one on ones.”
In his MSU career, Marks has 133 catches, which is tied for sixth in school history with De’runnya Wilson. Marks has a reception in all 22 games of his career.
Bulldog head coach Mike Leach reached 150 wins in his career.
He reached that total during stints with Texas Tech, Washington State and now MSU.