Mississippi State expected to hire Memphis staffer Courtney Williams to top scouting position

Mississippi State is adding former Memphis staffer Courtney Williams to the payroll as the assistant director of college scouting for the Bulldogs, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. Williams was the assistant director of player personnel at Memphis.

At Memphis, Williams helped assemble one of the top recruiting classes in the AAC for the 2023 cycle. Now his talent acquisition abilities are directed toward loading up the Mississippi State roster.

Williams comes to work on the Mississippi State staff as the program undergoes a bit of an identity overhaul. The late Mike Leach ran a wide open, distilled air raid attack but under new head coach Zach Arnett, who has a defensive background, things are likely to be a tad different in Starkville. Williams will play a significant role in shaping the roster as Arnett and Co. seek to make the program their own.

One change that will be notable is the offense will surely look different under new offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay. While the Bulldogs will still want to keep passing to highlight the receivers and quarterback talent, things will take shape around the players at Barbay and Arnett’s disposal.

“I think my favorite thing about the interview with Coach Barbay, and it hit home with me because it’s kind of what my philosophy’s been on defense, what I learned,” Arnett said. “I asked him, ‘Alright, tell me what you are schematically, personnel, identity, everything about your offense.’ He said, ‘Well, show me who our 11 best players are.’”

As for how the transition is going from the player perspective, quarterback Will Rogers gave his piece on Arnett. All told, the fiery former defensive coordinator is a change of pace from the every-quirky Leach.

Rogers thinks the edge that Arnett has will start to rub off on the team.

“He’s done a really good job,” Rogers said. “He’s kind of brought that same mojo as a defensive coordinator, kind of a fiery guy that really gets after it and really coaches hard. I think if our whole team can have that attitude, we’re going to be a really tough team to beat.”

All of this came after Arnett did his best just to keep the recruiting class of incoming players intact amid the passing of Leach and change atop the Mississippi State program.

“I think it speaks to the young men we have in our program already. And the young men we were targeting and had committed in the class,” Arnett said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “There’s a lot of reasons you sign and commit to a football program. Obviously, the football program, your role in it, plays a big part of that. But there are many other things that go into deciding where you commit and where you sign. Obviously, the university itself, the academic programs.”