Mississippi State Receivers Aren’t Your Dad or Granddads Receivers

You know the names and you can probably count them on one hand of all the great Mississippi State receivers through time.  Names like Moulds, Love, Prentiss, Bumphis, Jenkins – after that, much like the Bulldogs quarterback history, there’s just not much you can hang your hat on – until now.

It’s a new day in Starkville and Billy Gonzalez’s receiving group is a big reason why Mississippi State is averaging over 500-yards of offense per game.

But – for this group, it’s way more than catching passes.  They can do that, no doubt, but this group of deep, talented receivers can do much more than that.

Eleven different receivers have caught passes for the Bulldogs this year, that’s not counting the running backs that can catch em as well.

It’s one thing to catch a pass or to catch a pass in wide open space, but it’s another thing to catch passes in traffic or to skate the boundary, keeping your feet in bounds, all the while hauling in a pass with a defender draped over you.

These Bulldogs can do it all and when have you ever been able to say that in Starkville? Jameon Lewis is the leader of this group and we all know what he can do with the ball in his hands.  But, unlike any other year the Bulldogs have more than that one go-to guy.

In the past, you take out Eric Moulds and you shut down Mississippi State’s passing attack.  You blanket Kevin Prentiss and the Bulldogs are grounded via the air.

Not this year my friends as the Bulldogs have a host of young, big talented pass catchers.

De’Runnya Wilson has been a man child on the edge catching just about everything thrown his way.  Quarterback Dak Prescott has all the faith in the world to throw the ball in areas where only Wilson can catch it, and he typically hauls it in, much like this touchdown against LSU.

But we are just getting started when you talk about pass catchers on this team.  Sophomore’s Fred Ross and Fred Brown are averaging 19.2 yards per catch.  Ross and Brown have both shown signs of big play making ability, like Brown’s acrobatic catch and run last week against Texas A&M.

Gabe Myles and Jamoral Graham are both showing they can spare Lewis when needed and Malcolm Johnson and Robert Johnson are steady and quiet seniors that get things done.

Even Joe Morrow has re-emerged as a passing threat, like last week’s big catch on third down early in the ballgame.

But these guys do way more than make fantastic grabs, these guys are a key reason the Bulldogs running game flourishes.

Much like the 2010 receiving group for Mississippi State, this group loves contact and loves springing blocks down field.

Malcolm Johnson continues to be a wrecking ball down the field in the run game.

The offensive line and game plan has been stellar up to this point for the Mississippi State running game, but once a back like Josh Robinson or when Dak Prescott decides to tuck and run with the football and they get to the second level of a defense, all they need is a block and these receivers are doing that for them constantly.

Much like this run by Josh Robinson last week, everyone is sealed off except one guy and this makes it a one on one matchup for Robinson or any back which nine times out of ten they will win the battle.

Every day we hear about Dak, the front seven on defense, Dan Mullen and more and rightfully so.  But, let’s not lose site at the job this receiving group is doing, not only in the passing department, but in the run game.

This group of receivers is nothing like we’ve seen in Starkville and they are a key reason your Bulldogs are sitting at Number-3 in the country today.