Mississippi State coach Jeff Libby talks about first preseason practice

“We got a ton of work to do,” the second-year coach said after Thursday’s practice. “I think our leadership is in a much better place and that, to me, is what help as much as anything.”

To be fair, the work has never stopped.

One thing Lebby talked about at the end of spring practices was getting the right players with the right bodies to Mississippi State. And there was a definite difference in the size of the offensive and defensive linemen.

“Yeah, I mean body type-wise we're where we want to be,” Lebby said. “Again, we've got a ton of work to do and these guys are understanding how we practice, how we do what we do, the physicality that we have to play with to give us an opportunity to go win. Those are real things and they haven't been with us. So, excited about that group and the potential.”

Most of that work will have to be done in blazing hot Mississippi summer, something that Lebby said they just have to push through.

“I did think guys strained when it got really, really hard,” Lebby said “We're going to have to continue to do that. It's going to be hot August 30th. I think we're all aware of that as we go to kick it off.”

Pushing through obstacles like the heat was one of the topics Lebby said he discussed with the team during its morning meeting.

“You've got to put yourself in a position to push past exhaustion and have the ability to make the play and to execute when you're really, really tired,” he said. “So it's a completely different kind of strain even from summer workout. Those are the things that we want to see now. We want to see improvement from today to tomorrow. It's that simple. If we'll do that, we'll be where we need to be.”

As mentioned in a previous story, defensive tackle Kai McClendon was at practice but doing individual work on the side of the practice fields. Unfortunately, Lebby’s news wasn’t good.

“Right now, Kai’s going to be out for a while,” Lebby said. “He tore his ACL in the spring, so he’ll be out for a while.”

The Bulldogs will practice again Friday and Saturday before having Sunday off.