Kevin Barbay shares ‘fun part’ of his offensive scheme

Mississippi State offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay is constantly looking for ways to improve his system. Hired this offseason, Barbay will have a challenge on his hands after the Bulldogs spent the past three years running the Air Raid under head coach Mike Leach.

As Barbay tries to integrate new concepts into the offense, he was asked at what point he will stop installing and focus on what his players already know. He dismissed the idea, saying he wants his team to continue to evolve and learn new things.

“I don’t think you ever stop installing,” Barbay said. “That’s the fun part of this offense. The creative minds and putting everything together and the different personnel groups and the formations. The challenge is you never stop installing. You just kind of keep growing it. Once you get good at something, then you figure out what’s the next presentation. How do we complement that? How do guys stop that?”

This past season, Mississippi State passed on 68.3% of its total plays. That helped the Bulldogs to rank 10th in the FBS in air yards per game as quarterback Will Rogers finished with 3,974 yards passing, 35 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Rogers returns in 2023 and should again play a big part in what Mississippi State hopes to accomplish offensively this season. However, the Bulldogs will also hope to get senior running back Jo’Quavious Marks more involved.

Marks averaged 5.2 yards per carry this past season but didn’t get many opportunities given Mississippi State’s lack of interest in running the football. He ended the year with 582 yards rushing and nine touchdowns on 113 carries (just 9.4 attempts per game). He also had 48 catches for 288 yards receiving.

Thankfully for Marks, Barbay arrives in Starkville with a strong history of making use of his running backs. Last season as the offensive coordinator at Appalachian State, he helped the Mountaineers to ranks 21st in the FBS with 204.4 rushing yards per game. Appalachian State also ranked eighth in the country with 21 plays of 40 or more yards while averaging 6.6 yards per play (20th) and 34.9 points per game (23rd).

All that should have Bulldogs fans excited as Barbay prepares to take over the offense. It’ll certainly look a lot different than last year, but with the constant installation that is taking place, they will be prepared to attack in multiple different areas.

Mississippi State is set to kick off the 2023 season on Sept. 2 against Southeastern Louisiana.