Mike Leach’s session with the media changed course this afternoon, as hours before the press conference, it was reported that Mississippi State’s upcoming contest with Auburn has been postponed because of a COVID-19 breakout within the MSU program.

“This is kind of unfolding,” Leach said. “We were close to having to cancel last week, but fortunately, we didn’t have to. We hoped we wouldn’t but knew there was a pretty good chance we’d have to cancel this week just because we were that close.”

When asked about a possible timetable when the team can get back to practice, Leach said that it’s still unfolding and he isn’t sure yet.

While describing the team’s current state of morale in response to the game’s postponement, Leach said there is a sense of disappointment but excitement is still present.

“I don’t think anybody wants to be postponed, but I think everybody’s excited to go out and practice. We haven’t had a meeting yet because it just happened, and this is their off-day.”

Leach also said that the team was one scholarship player away from not meeting the threshold for cancellation last week against Vanderbilt. Leach was asked about his opinion on the SEC’s COVID protocols, and he declined to comment but did provide a resemblance of his thoughts.

“Our country is quickly becoming less free than it used to be, so I’m not gonna share my thoughts on that, but I definitely do have some thoughts.”

A slight revelation was given by Leach, as he says he thinks he had COVID-19 in March after coming back from a sports symposium at MIT in Boston.

“I’m fairly certain that I had it in March because I had all the same symptoms that other people had,” Leach said. “I was on a plane full of Boston people coming and going and went to spring break, and a day and a half after I got back, I got sick. That was back in a time when it was impossible to find a test, they were unreliable, and they were kind of expensive, so I didn’t get tested.”

Football as also discussed, as Leach was asked about his thoughts on the performances of Will Rogers and the entire team in State’s 24-17 win over Vanderbilt last Saturday.

“I thought it was very split,” Leach said. “I thought at times he was really good and at other times he was not very good. It’s just what I said after the game, I think we played in segments. One position will play and another won’t. We’ve got to be a tougher team. Yeah, fine, we’ve got some new faces, but that doesn’t change the fact that we have to be a tougher team, and everybody came here to play, but you gotta be ready to do it. You gotta be ready to play, and we just have to be able to take steps in that direction.”