Assistant coach Anthony Tucker encouraged by Mississippi State's running backs room

First-year Mississippi State running backs coach Anthony Tucker has a mixture of backgrounds in his room this season. Tucker returns a couple of backs from last year’s roster and also brought in 2024 signees Xavier Gayten and Johnnie Daniels along with former Utah State transfer Davon Booth.

All in all, Tucker wants to get as much as he can from every one of his guys in the backfield. Tucker recently met with the media this week to discuss his group:

Q: How do you describe where your group is now going into training camp?
Tucker: I think we’re in a better place than we were when we got here. We obviously added some depth in the room. I think the spring was really important to just gauge where we were as a room. There’s some older guys in that room that didn’t play a bunch last year but they all had ability. I thought the spring was just invaluable with the reps.

We brought Johnnie (Daniels) in mid-year as a juco product. We had Keyvone (Lee) that returned, we had Jeffery Pittman returned. Then coming out of spring we added Davon Booth, which I think just rounds up to the potential to be a very strong room.

Q: What do you like about Davon Booth?
Tucker: He adds experience. He played a bunch last year and had a really productive year in his first year coming out of juco. He’s someone I was familiar with previously. There’s some speed in there and just the experience level. He’s a mature guy. You like to bring in guys that have experience and maturity that can hit the ground running and went to work. Just excited about where their room is heading into camp.

Q: Jeff Lebby mentioned it may have to be a running back by committee deal. How comfortable are you with that?
Tucker: That’s the goal and that’s the plan. If you have a bunch of guys that can contribute, that’s really good for your team. As much as we’re wanting to snap the football and as important as that position is, you don’t want to have a one-man show. As long as you run a play and how this conference is, you want to have some depth there. You want to have a lot of productivity.

Q: In this offense what do you need to see from your backs?
Tucker: Well, they got to be able to do it all. We’re going to run the football. They have to field the protection and then they have to be able to create mismatches in the passing game. So they have to be well-rounded to operate in this offense.

Q: There’s a lot of speed at receiver, too. How involved could those guys be in the run game?
Tucker: I think we got a few guys with some ideas on how to be multiple and create mismatches and move some guys around. As much as you can do that in this offense and get the ball in the right hands, I think we’re going to be able to do that.

Q: How is Seth Davis coming along with his recovery?
Tucker: Seth’s been great, working really, really hard on his recovery. Really engaged with our guys. He’s been a part of our group and is working to get himself healthy.

Q: What is it that Jeff Lebby does with his offense that allows him to be effective in the run game?
Tucker: I think it’s just a matter of making the defense have to make choices and there’s some hard choices there they got to make. To be able to build this thing the right way, you can hurt defenses in all areas. We are going to run the football. We are going to make guys defend sideline to sideline and go goalpost to goalpost. So to just being able to make defenses make hard choices. They kind of got to pick their poison.

Q: Johnnie Daniels ran with a punishing style last year in juco. Have you seen his style carry over to here?
Tucker: I think Johnnie can be physical when he needs to be physical. Johnnie’s best attribute is he is really, really good in small spaces. He has a good feel for the run game and he’s elusive at the second and third level. He’s done a really good job of changing his body since he’s gotten here and been a part of our strength and conditioning program. He’s got to do a great job downstairs. He can be physical when he needs to be but I don’t need him to be physical. I need him to be in space and go score touchdowns.

Q: How is freshman Xavier Gayten doing learning the offense so far?
Tucker: I think Xavier has a very bright future. When that shows up I think you’re going to be really pleased. He’s a really hard worker, very strong. I know some guys in the room will be mad at this but he is the fastest guy in our room right now. He’s built a little different and I think he has a bright future. He’s working really hard and is learning what we’re doing and is simulating to our team very well.

Q: Is there something specific you look for when recruiting running backs?
Tucker: First, as I said before, you want guys that can do it all. You want guys that are good with the ball in their hands and have good ball skills. Guys that can be physical in protection. To me, that is the most important thing. It doesn’t come in a specific body type. But you want those attributes. You want those guys to operate, especially in the box, with what we do in the run game. It doesn’t have to come in a specific body type but they have to fit those things that we do.