Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers has been a statistical machine during his first three college seasons. While piloting Mike Leach’s famed Air Raid attack, Rogers has thrown for 10,689 yards and tossed 82 touchdowns, putting him at the top of Mississippi State’s record book and #8 in SEC history in both categories.
The senior signal caller is now in for a different year in 2023 after the legendary Leach passed away at age 61 last December. Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett is now leading the charge after taking over as head coach and former Appalachian State offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay is calling the shots on offense. Rogers must now take on the challenge of shifting from the Air Raid to a more pro style approach.
“Just becoming more consistent, more familiar with the offense. Obviously new offense, new system, new terminology… all of that was kind of different for us. So just becoming more and more familiar with that. We kind of dove into it in spring ball, but we’re going to be adding more stuff and we already have for the fall and fall camp," Rogers said. "The more I can become familiar with that and what Coach Barbay wants me to do with the progressions on each play and the change versus coverage I think I’ll be more ready for fall camp and then roll onto the season.”
Rogers has strictly run the Air Raid ever since his days playing for his father at Brandon High School outside of Jackson, so the transition is one of the biggest storylines in the SEC going into the season.
Compared to the Leach's offense which was predicated on short and intermediate passes, Barbay's offense is one that's focused on establishing the run to create explosive plays in the passing game.
“I think the biggest difference in this offense is just going to be a more balanced attack maybe. 11, 12 personnel, more designed runs and more runs in the run game schematically, RPOs. I mean, just a normal pro style offense for us,” Rogers said. “I think we really look forward to accepting that challenge and maybe expanding our offense a little bit.”
What Rogers is excited about is the freedom to take some deep shots down the field in Barbay's offense. It's something that's new for the MSU quarterback who had only 35 attempts of over 20 yards last season, but he's confident in the arm talent he hasn't been able to showcase quite yet.
“Just a little more play action, more designed shots down the field. Coach Barbay did a really good job of scheming that up. It's something we're really looking forward to this year,” Rogers said. “I think the most exciting thing… I’m ready to take some shots, honestly. A lot of people say I can’t throw the ball deep so I’m definitely gonna take care of that.”
Rogers had the chance to get his feet wet in Barbay's scheme during the spring. He now feels comfortable in the system and is ready to dive in deeper.
“I’m extremely comfortable in this system and our offense. When we went through those OTAs in spring ball we were kind of just getting out feet wet with the offense and trying to learn it, but now we’re really worrying on details… what we’re gonna do against this and how a motion can affect them,” Rogers said. “There’s just so many things that we’re working on now that make a big difference, so we’re working on that and trying to get everyone more comfortable with the offense, not just myself.”
The Bulldogs will get to unleash their new offense on September on September 2nd against Southeast Louisiana, and how Rogers performs will be at the catalyst for Mississippi State's success.
