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Coach Zach Arnett
Building Bulldogs’ Program One Player At A Time
Logan Lowery
Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett experienced his first SEC
Media Days at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on July 18, where he was
asked dozens – if not hundreds – of questions from various news
outlets from across the country. However, Arnett asked a question
of his own during various stops throughout the afternoon.
“You want to know what makes some of the brightest
minds in all of football?” “Really good players,” Arnett said with
a smirk. “When you have really good players and they’re executing
and playing at a high level with the right intensity level and effort,
that’s what makes you a pretty good coach. It has very little to do
with the scheme.”
Asking questions was how Arnett arrived at the decision to hire
Kevin Barbay as his offensive coordinator during the offseason.
Arnett spoke to numerous candidates for the position and began
each interview with the questions ‘what is the identity of your
offense and what does it look like when you run it out there?’
“It was really refreshing to hear Kevin say that he couldn’t give
me that answer until he knew who the best 11 players are,” Arnett
said. “When you have that level of humility it’s not about the coordinator
or the scheme, it’s about identifying the best players and
getting them on the field. Every year you’re going to have a whole
different identity because it’s all about the players. Coaches and
scheme don’t influence players, players influence and affect the
scheme.”
Barbay has proven his offense can adapt to the personnel
available to him during his previous stops at Central Michigan and
Appalachian State. Over the past two seasons, Barbay’s offense
ranks in the top 20 nationally averaging 448 yards and 33.6 points
per game.
In 2021, Barbay’s offense at Central Michigan produced leading
rusher in the country in Lew Nicholls III with 1,848 yards. This past
season at Appalachian State, Barbay dialed up 21 plays of 40-plus
yards (14 passing, seven rushing) which ranked eighth nationally
while also finishing fifth in fewest negative yardage plays allowed.
“Kevin’s done a really good job wherever he has been,” Arnett
said. “They’ve been very efficient on the offensive side of the ball
and very good at creating explosive plays. Everywhere he’s been
it’s looked a little different because the players are different. Your
job on offense is to get the ball in the most explosive
player’s hands in as much space possible so they can
do what they do. He recognizes that and has done that
everywhere he has been.”
Arnett has plenty of experience back on both sides
of the ball with 11 starters returning, including the most
experienced quarterback in the conference in Will Rogers, versatile
running back Jo’Quavious Marks, four offensive linemen and the
top two tacklers in the SEC in linebackers Jett Johnson and
Nathaniel Watson.
“We had a whole lot of guys who could have put their name in
the transfer portal coming off of great seasons and didn’t,” Arnett
said. “I think that speaks volumes about how they feel about our
program and the direction that it’s headed.”
Although MSU was forced into making an abrupt head coaching
change in December following the tragic passing of Mike Leach,
Arnett wants his Bulldog team to embody the same blue-collar
characteristics that the program has earned a reputation for under
Leach and his predecessors.
“I hope our identity is a continuation of what Mississippi State has
always had in our program – tough, hard-nosed and disciplined,”
Arnett said. “That’s been acknowledged for a long time that when
you line up to play against Mississippi State, you’d better pack a
lunch box and hard hat because it’s going to be a physical game.”
In order to do that, it’s imperative that Arnett and his staff recruit
the right players to fit the program. Their intentions are to sign the
homegrown talent within the borders of the Magnolia State and
then expand their recruiting efforts out into the surrounding states.
Of the 27 players Arnett brought in during his initial signing
class, 16 came from programs within Mississippi and only Australian
punter Keelan Crimmins came from outside of the Bulldogs
deliberate recruiting footprint.
“We live in the most fertile ground that there is for college
football players in the state of Mississippi,” Arnett said. “Then you
expand out from there into Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee,
Texas and Georgia…We’ve got to do a good job in the evaluation
process and the recruiting process of showing them that they can
achieve all of their dreams and everything is there for them at
Mississippi State.”
Numerous times throughout SEC Media Day, Arnett pointed
towards some of the NFL’s elite players such as perennial Pro
Bowlers Fletcher Cox, Dak Prescott, Darius Slay, Elgton Jenkins,
Chris Jones and Jeffery Simmons along with the five first-round
picks the Bulldogs have had in the past five seasons as players
the program has consistently churned out year after year.
Arnett is hopeful to continue that tradition of producing talented
players and providing the Bulldogs’ fan base – one that he deemed
“the most loyal in all of college football” - a team they can be proud
to call their own.
“Starkville, Mississippi and Mississippi State University
are special places and they deserve to have a football
team who is ready to line up, compete and is prepared
to win some football games,” Arnett said. “That’s what
our job is and what we’re all about so let’s get to work.”
Hometown MADISON • 39