Earned And Not Given
March 09, 2023 | Football, Joel Coleman
Zach Arnett using spring to make sure Bulldogs know nothing will be handed to them.
(Click the image above to watch full post-practice interviews with head coach Zach Arnett, offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay and defensive coordinator Matt Brock.)
STARKVILLE – If you click on the Mississippi State football roster on this very website at the time of this writing, you might notice something unusual.
More than 20 Bulldog newcomers don't have a jersey number beside their name. That's no accident.
This spring, head coach Zach Arnett is teaching a valuable lesson to those wearing the Maroon and White for the first time.
"You hear this said a lot in football, but everything is earned and nothing is given," Arnett said after Thursday's practice. "It would seem to me that would apply to number policy, too. Most guys come in thinking they're going to get the single digits or the 21s or all the so-called sexy numbers. You try everything you can [to teach them] the player makes the number and not the other way around."
Now it bears noting that the guys with no official number do have digits on their uniforms while out on the practice fields. It just isn't ones that they picked.
"We thought it would be a good idea as a staff to have every newcomer to the program as angry as possible on day one because they're in the worst-looking number possible," Arnett said. "And I just so happen to believe you play this game a little better when you have a little anger inside of you."
It's all the latest example of how Arnett is making sure his Bulldogs are the hard-nosed, blue collar, tough team he demands and knows is necessary.
In the ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference, there are no freebies to be found. You want something? You better go out and take it.
That's how it'll be in the fall and that's how it's going to be in the spring in Starkville for the new guys if they want the digits they desire.
"I think anything worth getting is worth earning," defensive coordinator Matt Brock said. "Anytime you can eradicate entitlement, it's a good thing."
There will be no handouts of anything. Not even of something as simple as a jersey number.
After a week off next week due to spring break, the Dawgs seeking to earn numbers will get four more weeks of spring work to prove themselves. When the process is over, Arnett is banking on his guys' appreciation for how the key to getting what you want – anything you want – is working relentlessly to get it.
"Hopefully it's a little extra motivation for them to perform better at practice." Arnett said.
