STARKVILLE, Miss. – Heading into a four-day recess for the Easter weekend, the Mississippi State football team practiced for more than three hours on Thursday. Head coach Sylvester Croom put his troops through a practice period of just over an hour before conducting 87 plays under scrimmage-like conditions.

“We did some good things,” Croom said of his team’s performance during the session. “But our concentration wasn’t what it needs to be. We had too much jawing back and forth. Some characteristics I saw that I didn’t like.”

The practice was interrupted near the end as the head coach put his team through conditioning drills before resuming the scrimmage.

“We put a little extra conditioning in and then we started to focus a little bit better,” Croom said. “We’ve got a long, long way to go, but I’m not concerned about our talent level right now. I’m more concerned about the intangibles.”

Several players continued to draw the praise of the head coach, including running backs Robert Elliot and Wade Bonner, wide receivers Jamayel Smith and Co-Eric Riley. On the defensive side of the ball defensive back Derek Pegues and linebacker Dominic Douglas caught the coach’s eye.

The Bulldogs will return to practice on Tuesday as they participate in a scrimmage at Davis Wade Stadium.

Earlier this week, rising sophomore quarterback Wesley Carroll was selected for the NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference taking place in late May. Carroll was selected from four submitted Mississippi State nominees, and he will join nearly 700 other student-athletes representing schools around the nation.

The conference, held over two sessions in late May, provides student-athletes with a forum to openly discuss issues that affect them on their campuses and in their communities, while also providing them with the opportunity to enhance their leadership, communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills.

The conference also promotes better communication among student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty and communities.  This year, the event will be held in Orlando, Fla., at the Walt Disney World Resort.