Zach Arnett compares Seth Davis to Deuce Vaughn after scrimmage

This year, Mississippi State welcomed undersized running back Seth Davis to campus. He’s already turning heads, including that of head coach Zach Arnett who compared the young running back to Deuce Vaughn.

Now on the Dallas Cowboys, Deuce Vaughn was a star at Kansas State who was incredibly hard to tackle despite being just 5-feet and 5-inches tall. He ran for 1,558 yards in 2022 to go with nine touchdowns.

“It was the second scrimmage in a row where I think Seth Davis might be our most elusive ball carrier,” Zach Arnett said. “You look at Deuce Vaughn, I think it was, at Kansas State who’s now at the Cowboys, right? And he’s kind of gone viral with what he’s doing. Seth’s kind of looked like that for us.”

Seth Davis was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He stands at just 5-foot and 7-inches. However, since he’s gotten to campus, the staff has already noticed him adding muscle mass.

“He’s a little bit smaller in stature — he’s muscled up — but he’s a little bit smaller in stature. Can kind of hide behind those linemen at times and then see the seam and slip through there and he does a really nice job of there’s never really square contact on him. They’re always kind of glancing blows. So, he’s done some nice things.”

Davis is coming to Mississippi State from Katy, Texas where he played for one of the nation’s best high school programs. Arnett expects him to make an impact quickly.

“He comes from a great program, obviously, and so getting him in early enrolled obviously was huge to go through Spring practice,” Arnett said. “We talked about that whatever, last time I did this, how much further ahead those guys who enrolled in the Spring are. He’s done a great job. He’s done a great job. I’m really excited about his future. That’s added even more depth to our running back room.”

As the Bulldogs shift out of the Air Raid, there is going to be a need to find talented running backs. Davis might be exactly what Mississippi State needs.

Zach Arnett on players adjusting to a new system

With the new system in place, Zach Arnett recently broke down how players are adjusting to it during Fall Camp.

“We’ve got some guys playing new positions, right? Trying to find a faster way to get them on the field. You’ve got guys obviously moving to new positions,” Arnett said.

“Then, yeah, anytime with what we’re doing offensively? When you start getting into those heavier personnel sets? If we stay in our base defense, that forces a lot of DBs to have to come down closer to the line of scrimmage and fill gaps and support the run, which they don’t have as many reps of doing that, right? So that forces you to improve your skillset.”