Jo'quavious Marks hopes depth helps Mississippi State mix in the run more often this season
Aug. 9—STARKVILLE — It takes a different mindset to play running back at Mississippi State, but it's a mindset embraced by Jo'quavious Marks.
In the Air Raid offense of coach Mike Leach, Bulldogs backs know not to expect too many carries.
The Bulldogs ran the ball just 270 times on 974 plays last year, or 27%.
"It takes a special running back. Sometimes you've got to get in the trenches and block linebackers, might have to block a D end. Running back is hard anyway. You get hit and take a pounding on your body every play every game," Marks said.
After running backs do the blocking and other dirty work the carries are like the cherry on top.
Marks believes Leach will mix in the run more often this year because of the improvement of the offensive line.
"They've upgraded their level of play tremendously," he said.
The experience of his top-level guys plus depth at running back might tempt Leach to run more too.
Depth showed up in a big way Monday when the Bulldogs worked out in shoulder pads and shorts.
Simeon Price, a redshirt freshman from Pensacola, was a standout.
He had a long touchdown run when he took a handoff up the gut. Later he showed his elusiveness in the red zone when he went off the right side, made a defender miss at the 5 and scored.
"He's a baller. He's got the quickness to get in and out of cuts and make people miss, plus getting downhill and being more physical," Marks said.
Ke'Travion Hargrove, another redshirt freshman, also had some nice reps.
This is the third year in the offense for Marks and Dillon Johnson, both juniors.
Between them they rushed for 901 yards and 10 touchdowns last year, 416 yards and six touchdowns by Marks.
Both are threats in the passing game as backs have to be in this offense.
Marks' 83 receptions were second on the team last year; Dillon was right behind with 65.
Collectively the Bulldogs rushed for 63.2 yards per game and 3.0 per rush last year.
Those numbers represented a slight increase from 43.9 rushing yards per game and 2.4 per attempt in Leach's first season at MSU in 2020.
Marks is confident the running back room will be strength for the Bulldogs.
"It's a stacked group. Anybody can go in and do their job," he said. "That's the big thing we've got in our room."
PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@journalinc.com.
