Greg McElroy raves about Zach Arnett’s first offseason at Mississippi State

The Mississippi State Bulldogs have been flying under the radar this offseason as the program and new head coach Zach Arnett prepare for life without Mike Leach.

The Bulldogs hired from within following Leach’s passing, as Arnett was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach. And although hiring from within isn’t always the flashiest move, college football analyst Greg McElroy believes it was the perfect move for Mississippi State.

“Interesting situation here, because I don’t think nationally a lot of people know a whole lot about Zach Arnett. But they need to familiarize themselves with this young head coach that has done a great job at Mississippi State the last couple years,” McElroy said on ‘Always College Football’. “Two top 15 defenses in the past three years and did so with an air raid offense. Now, Mike Leach altered his approach. It wasn’t your traditional air raid where they’re gonna run a ton of tempo, gonna run a ton of plays, and gonna hang their defense out to dry.”

McElroy elaborated on how Leach’s willingness to adapt was a huge benefit for Arnett and his defense. Schematically the Bulldogs have a defensive recipe for success that has proven to work, and those same schemes and philosophies will continue to be implemented as Arnett continued the trend of hiring from within in Starkville.

“But when you look at how he attacks, you look at how he tries to go after the opposing passer, I really like this hire, I like the energy that comes with the hire as well. I also already really like his coordinator hires. Goes out, gets Matt Brock, that was his right-hand man the last couple years. He just gets promoted from within so they keep continuity on the defensive side,” McElroy explained.

However, offensively Arnett sought after some outside help and someone to revamp the Bulldogs’ offense. Arnett chose former Appalachian State offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay, who led the Mountaineers offense to a 455.3 yards and 34.9 points per game average last season behind a balanced attack.

“And then offensively, he looked at the bigger picture and said right now in the SEC it’s going to be very difficult to maintain competitiveness being one dimensional. We have to create balance offensively,” McElroy said. “He goes out and he gets Kevin Barbay from Appalachian State, if you look at Kevin Barbay’s work the last few years, Kevin Barbay is one of the best of creating both run opportunities and then building his pass opportunities off the run.”

McElroy believes that Barbay won’t completely abandon some of the air raid principles, especially the ones that veteran quarterback Will Rodgers is very comfortable and effective in. And that adding an off-tackle stretch run game with some physicality on the offensive line could bode well for the Bulldogs as soon as this upcoming season.

“He’s gonna do good things there in Starkville, I think they’re gonna return to being a very dangerous, very physical football team. They’ve been that the last couple years, but I think that could even be amplified with how they’re gonna control the line of scrimmage offensively,” McElroy concluded.