Arnett Building Bulldogs' Program One Player At A Time
July 18, 2023 | Football
NASHVILLE, Tenn., - Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett experienced his first SEC Media Days at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Tuesday 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?" Arnett asked.
He quickly provided the answer.
"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."
