Zach Arnett explains Mississippi State's slow start

Mississippi State came out of the gates slow against Southeastern Louisiana, but the Bulldogs ended up roaring to a 48-7 victory in their season opener.

Speaking with the media ahead of Week 2, Mississippi State leader Zach Arnett explained the Bulldogs’ slow start last Saturday, and highlighted how their planning to avoid a similar start this upcoming weekend against the Arizona Wildcats.

“You’ve got to finish drives obviously, which is execution,” Arnett started. “Had a couple opportunities for you know, some play-action shot plays, and you know, the thing about offensive football is, and I hate saying this as a defensive guy, because I’ve always heard offensive coaches say offense is harder to cleanly execute, because all 11 guys have to do exactly their job right, for a play to be successful. On defense, one guy can make — you know, you can bust a coverage and one guy in the pass rush can win and cover that up. To an extent, that’s true. So every little detail, in terms of your offensive execution, is critical to the success of a play.

“Quarterback being in the exact right spot in the pocket at the exact right depth. How you set those guys. Sustaining and staying on your blocks in the run game. Driving on the correct angle. The different between four and five yard gains, and explosives in the run game are sometimes how you sustain on a block, and driving at the right angle. So then a guy isn’t able to fall off late, kind of muddy-up, make the running back stop his feet before he can accelerate through the hole. So yeah, we’ve got to finish better. We’ve got to execute better.”

Alas, Zach Arnett recognizes starting quick will be essential to his teams success come SEC play, so he wants Mississippi State to have all their kinks ironed out come time. If they’re able to get rolling by then, the Bulldogs could be a sleeper team in the conference.

Zach Arnett anticipates Zavion Thomas back in Week 2

Continuing, Mississippi State fans can expect to see a familiar face return to the gridiron on Saturday. On Monday, Bulldogs head coach Zach Arnett provided an update on wide receiver Zavion Thomas.

“We anticipate him [to be back],” Arnett said. “Zavion probably could have went even last week some but, obviously, if something unfortunate happened in the game, then you lose him for one or two games afterward. So, we wanted to see if we weather the storm without him. But, yeah, we expect him to be back.”

Thomas missed MSU’s 48-7 win over Southeastern Louisiana in Week 1 after suffering an ankle injury in fall camp. In his freshman campaign, Thomas recorded just two catches for four years. Despite limited playing time at WR, Thomas found success in other areas on the field.

In 2022, the Louisiana native boasted the second-most yards per punt return in the SEC. His impressive return resumé was highlighted by a 63-yard return for a touchdown against Georgia. Thomas seemingly won’t be limited to a special teams role this season.

The 5-foot-11 wideout was listed as a starting wide receiver on Monday. Thomas’ first game in 2023 won’t be an easy one. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will square off against Arizona. Although most experts expect MSU to squeeze out a win, the team will be forced to fight for every point.

On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.