Starkville - The pieces of Jeff Lebby's coaching puzzle are starting to be put together, and the newly hired Mississippi State head coach has now added Arkansas offensive line coach Cody Kennedy to his coaching staff, per FootballScoop.
Kennedy, a former Southeastern Louisiana offensive lineman from 2008-2011 and Florence, Ala. native, has spent the past three seasons on Sam Pittman's Arkansas coaching staff. His official role at Mississippi State has not yet been announced, but it is expected that he will work with either the offensive or the tight ends.
Kennedy got his start in coaching in 2013 as a graduate assistant at West Alabama, and spent time as a Division II offensive line coach at West Georgia and UNC Pembroke. He got his first Division I coaching gig as a graduate assistant at Georgia in 2018 before earning his first on-field role at Tulane in 2019.
During his two seasons at Tulane, the Green Wave offensive line paved the way for a rushing offense that averaged over 200 yards per game in back-to-back seasons. Kennedy initially prepared to coach the 2021 season as the offensive line coach at Southern Miss, but ended up joining Pittman’s staff at Arkansas as the tight ends coach before being switched to offensive line.
In 2021, Kennedy was named a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, given to the nation's top assistant coach. His Razorback offensive line ranked third in the SEC in run blocking and sixth in pass blocking, according to PFF, while the Razorbacks had four different players finish with 500+ rushing yards.
Arkansas' 2022 offensive line was just as strong, paving the way for 6,128 offensive yards which were the second most in school history. The Razorbacks ranked second in run blocking and third in pass blocking among SEC teams according to PFF. Center Ricky Stromberg was named to the All-SEC First Team and star running back Raheim Sanders finished second in the conference with 1,443 yards.
Arkansas' offense struggled in 2023 under offensive coordinator Dan Enos after losing Kendal Briles to TCU, and the offensive line dipped in its production as well. The Razorbacks ranked sixth in the SEC in run blocking and 11th in pass blocking, according to PFF, while allowing 47 sacks which was the most in the conference.
Kennedy is Lebby’s third hire on the offensive side of the ball after adding North Texas offensive line coach Jon Cooper and Oklahoma assistant quarterbacks coach to the staff on Wednesday. Wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis has also been retained from the previous coaching staff. On the defensive side, Lebby has opted to retain defensive line coach David Turner.
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