Kevin Barbay shares importance of having veteran leaders in tight end room

Kevin Barbay doesn’t take his leaders for granted. On Saturday, the Mississippi State offensive coordinator broke down the benefits of boasting experience in the tight end room.

“Those guys are really, really experienced, man, and very, very smart individuals,” Barbay said. “It’s been really good for them, being able to help some of those younger guys that are adjusting to the position.”

While Barbay might be happy to see his young tight ends get up to speed, they’ll have difficulty catching up with veterans Geor’quarius Spivey and Ryland Goede.

Spivey spent his first two seasons at Mississippi State before transferring to TCU. Nonetheless, in March, the 6-foot-5 tight end announced he would return to where it all began. With him, Spivey brings 52 career appearances and eight starts, five of those being with the Bulldogs.

Goedes is another fresh face with plenty to prove. The 6-foot-6 graduate student transferred from Georgia this offseason. Although Goedes struggled to find playing time at UGA, he was a four-star prospect in high school and the No. 9 tight end recruit in the 2019 cycle.

Spivey and Goedes bring veteran wisdom to the table. Yet, Barbay isn’t scared to experiment with his tight ends.

“That’s the fun part about tight ends, right, is those guys have a different skill set? Half offensive lineman, half big receiver,” Barbay said. “Creativity-wise, you can do a whole bunch of different things with those guys. You’re asking them to block. You’re asking them to run an RPO, or spread out and be a flex receiver. To me, that only adds to the creativity.

“Defensively, they got to sub for those tight ends, right? They got to match your personnel. And then you figure out if your guy is a better athlete, we’ll put him out there, and let’s throw the ball to him and make a big guy cover.”

Barbay knows his stuff. Mississippi State hired the 40-year-old OC this offseason. Barbay brings quite a resumé. He ranks No. 1 among active FBS offensive coordinators in career average pass game efficiency. Additionally, in the last two seasons, Barbay’s offenses combined to average 448.01 yards per game and rank in the top 20 nationally.

Barbay is happy with where his tight end room stands.

“We’re making great progress with the tight ends and again growing the offense,” Barbay said. “It’s all about adapting to the strengths of your players that you have each week because the reality of college football is that each week is a little bit different.”