Maroon-White Game MOPs (Most Outstanding Players)

130 days.

That's the amount of time left until Mississippi State plays another game of football. The void-filler known spring practice came to a close Saturday for the Bulldogs as they played in the annual Maroon-White "game" in front of 22,604 people at Davis Wade Stadium. Calling a game played on a 55-yard field with a stage in one end zone a football game seems like an crime against the sport of football, but for the purpose of a spring scrimmage it worked. With the teams split based on draft by the coaches, it's difficult to gauge how good the Bulldogs will be in 2012 but it is a good indicator of how individual players are progressing. A few players really stood out:

Offensive MOP: Jameon Lewis - 10 catches, 144 yards, 1 TD

I could have easily given this honor to Tyler Russell, but it was Lewis who really opened things up for Russell. The majority of the veteran receivers suited up for the White team, but it was Lewis who gave Russell and the Maroon team an automatic catch pretty much every time he was targeted. Lewis is listed at 5'9 185 lbs, but played much bigger on Saturday as he consistently went across the middle and made catches to keep drives going (ala Wes Welker). Lewis also showed off his knack for making the spectacular play when he caught a Tyler Russell pass in the slot, broke a tackle, stiff-armed another defender, and skated into the end zone for a 40-yard TD. Hell, he even ran the ball two times for 20 yards, and threw a near-perfect first down pass to Perkins that was dropped.

Defensive MOP: The Defensive Line

This is a unit I was really interested in watching and came away impressed with a number of guys. Highly-touted newcomers Quay Evans and Denico Autry looked as good as advertised, picking up a handful of sacks and pressures. Josh Boyd was constantly around the ball with 6 tackles and a sack, and Corvell Harrison-Gay had the best stat line of all with 5 TFLs and 3 sacks of his own.