Cross honored by SEC
Mississippi State head football coach Mike Leach isn’t handing out sympathy cards to the Memphis coaches this week because of their young quarterback situation.
The Tigers trot out freshman Seth Henigan to run their offense every week and he’s gotten off to a solid start this year with 265 yards in week one and 417 last week against Arkansas State with five touchdowns. This week will kick up a notch for Henigan against a Southeastern Conference defense and that’s the same situation that Leach was in last season with Will Rogers as his starter through an all-SEC schedule.
“The biggest thing is you’re trying to teach a lot in a short period of time,” Leach said about coaching a freshman quarterback. “He threw a lot in high school, too, so that will help him. The biggest thing is you do what you do, and hopefully keep it all in control at the same time. You’re talking to the wrong guy if you want any sympathy on starting a freshman quarterback. He seems to be doing a good job, two games in a row throwing for a lot of yards.”
MSU and Memphis square off on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Memphis as the Bulldogs make their return to the Liberty Bowl for the first time since the bowl game in 2013. It’s the first battle between the two teams since the Bulldogs won in 2011.
Both teams enter with a flawless 2-0 record through a couple of weekends. The Tigers have been most impressive on the offensive side of the football while MSU has done it with defense.
As the Bulldogs continue to try to improve in Leach’s Air Raid, this is a week that he’s hoping the show some more consistency. Memphis gave up over 50 points last week to Arkansas State in a 55-50 shootout and won 4217 in week one against Nicholls. The unit will get a boost this week as former Starkville High All-Area player Jalil Clemons makes his debut this season after missing the first two games.
“Memphis defense runs around good, fast,” Leach said. “The biggest thing that jumps off is experience. They’ve all been there, all seniors. Some of those guys have started more games in college than our guys did in high school. We’ll see how it goes.”
The Tigers also have former Starkville Daily News Player of the Year Rodrigues Clark of SHS, who has rushed for 18 carries and 146 yards with a touchdown in the first two games.
After producing one of his best performances as a Mississippi State Bulldog, Charles Cross was honored by the SEC on Monday.
The conference selected the redshirt sophomore left tackle as its Offensive Lineman of the Week after he preformed at an extremely high level in the 24-10 win over North Carolina State. Cross had 51 pass protection snaps on the blind side out of 65
Mississippi State wide receiver Malik Heath (4) celebrates a touchdown against North Carolina State as teammate Charles Cross (67) turns to join him. Cross was recognized as Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week. (Photo by Jason Cleveland, DTL)
total snaps and didn’t allow a pressure on quarterback Will Rogers.
Pro Football Focus gave him a 73.6 overall grade and his 88.8 passing grade was third in the conference this week and led the team. It was a great bounce back from Cross after the offensive line had its struggles in week one against Louisiana Tech.
Against a much tougher defense in the Wolfpack, MSU’s offensive line routinely kept a clean pocket for Rogers. The Bulldogs gave up one sack in the first quarter and Rogers was safe for most of the rest of the ball game.
“I thought he played bet
ter this week,” Leach said of Cross. “I didn’t think he had a particularly good game last week. He would have some big plays, but then he tried to do too much. I think he graded out at the top of our O-line group this week.”
The selection for Offensive Lineman of the Week was the first for the Bulldogs in the Leach era. Darryl Williams was the last to get the nod back in 2019 when he had two Offensive Lineman of the Week honors. The Laurel High School product started all 10 games a year ago in his redshirt freshman season and was fourth in the country in pass blocking snaps with 528.
The work he put in earned him Freshman All-SEC honors.
Cross was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and the highest rated offensive lineman in MSU football. His projection since his All-American high school days has been to be a first round draft pick in the National Football League and he’s begun to already hear that buzz this season as he becomes draft eligible.
LSU game time set
It’s going to be an early morning for Bulldog and Tiger fans when LSU comes to
town on September 25.
The SEC announced on Monday that the LSU game time will be 11 a.m. as the two teams will meet on ESPN. It certainly puts a damper on what could have been an electric night time atmosphere and it doesn’t line up with Leach’s favorite time slot.
“That window between 2 and 4 is about the best time,” Leach said. “Most of them are that 6:30-7:30 range. (UCLA coach) Chip Kelly wants the people in Manilla to see his games. I’d like to think some of my teams are pretty popular over there too.”