Not About The Stat Sheet
September 05, 2023 | Football, Joel Coleman
Ryland Goede says success of State’s tight ends won’t be measured in personal numbers.
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State tight end Ryland Goede and his wife, Bulldog volleyball player Alexa Fortin Goede, are incredibly busy these days. Both of the Goedes' seasons have started. It's literally left the Goede family cupboard a bit bare.
"We haven't made a grocery store run in about a month," Ryland said. "I don't see one coming anytime soon either."
While they wait for the opportune time to restock the fridge, the Goedes are feasting in other ways. Alexa has piled up the digs for the VolleyDawgs, meanwhile Ryland filled himself with the satisfaction of helping State football to its season-opening win last Saturday – even if a cursory glance at the stat sheet might not have shown his impact.
Ryland didn't find the end zone last week. In fact, he didn't catch a single ball. But he didn't mind one bit, because he and the rest of the MSU tight ends were key cogs in the wheels of State's offense that racked up 525 yards, including just shy of 300 on the ground.
"Man, we saw that [rushing yardage total] get put up on the scoreboard and we were really excited," Goede said. "That's something we wanted to do was establish the line of scrimmage and so as part of the tight end position, that's big for us. We were pumped to see that. That's as good as a touchdown or 300-yard passing game for us. We want smashmouth football. We were very pumped about that."
It was an incredibly satisfying start for the tight end position's return to Mississippi State. Saturday was the first time since 2019 the Bulldogs played a football game with tight ends. You couldn't tell it by watching though. The guys made their presence known all day.
Freshman Creed Whittemore's electric 53-yard touchdown run that put the exclamation point on the victory? It was aided by the blocking of another freshman, tight end Malik Ellis.
Quarterback Mike Wright had a 53-yard scamper of his own earlier in the game, sprang by the lead blocking of redshirt sophomore receiver-turned-tight-end Antonio Harmon.
As senior running back Jo'Quavious Marks totaled 127 rushing yards to become State's first 100-plus-yard rusher in nearly four years, Goede and his position mates were right there helping make it all possible.
Goede says the whole tight end room has adopted a mentality of simply doing their job, all in the name of team success.
"It only takes one guy to mess up and it blows up the entire play," Goede explained. "We have a saying [head coach Zach Arnett] has put on us and it's, 'It's about us.' It's about the 11 on offense when we're out there. It's not trying to be perfect, but it's trying to get dang-near close and if you can do your job and trust your brother to do the job next to you, then you're going to have a good play."
In a moment of honesty, Goede admits he was probably a little off his game early on during last Saturday's affair. Despite playing in 19 games as a Georgia Bulldog prior to transferring to MSU, last weekend was Goede's first-ever start. It came with some anxious nerves.
"The butterflies were definitely rolling in the stomach," Goede said. "I heard some cowbells, and I was like, 'Man, this is awesome.' As the game went on, I settled down a little bit."
Goede settled down and settled in. As did Harmon. As did Ellis.
It was a strong start for all of them. But it was just that: a start. The best for the group is yet to come.
"I think we're starting to build an identity in the tight end room," Goede said. "[Tight ends coach Mike Schmidt] is doing a really good job at implanting that in us – just toughness. His thing is, be the hardest working position group on the field at all times. So that's the culture we're trying to create in that room and it's definitely starting to get established.
"Just looking forward to building on that in the coming weeks."
