Zach Arnett says new staff is doing a 'good job' with transfer portal, NIL

New Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Zach Arnett says that he thinks the staff is doing a good job handling things like NIL and the transfer portal.

This came after the spring game when Arnett was asked about how the new staff is handling changes to college sports.

“I think we’re doing a good job,” Zach Arnett said. “In fact, I failed to mention this in the previous answer, so I’m glad you mentioned the staff but, you know, we’ve got over 100 years of SEC experience between the on-field coaching staff and our off the field staff, and I think you’re seeing that pay great dividends in our recruiting right now.”

As of now, Mississippi State is ranked 36th in the 2024 On3 Industry Recruiting Rankings. The Bulldogs are also 44th in the On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings.

From there, Zach Arnett went on to emphasize the coaching staff’s experience, pointing out that they’ve seen almost everything already. He also let fans know how they can support the Bulldogs during these times.

“You know, we’ve got some former head coaches who are doing a tremendous job for us in off the field roles, and they’re guys that I can lean on and look to [for] advice because they’ve been in situations like this before,” Arnett said.

“And, obviously, it’s an ever changing landscape in football. So, our message to the fans, obviously, is the most important thing you can do right now if you want to support Mississippi State football is support the Bulldog Initiative.”

The Bulldog Initiative is the NIL Collective at Mississippi State. It was founded by Charlie Winfield and has the goal of “helping MSU athletes promote the university and the surrounding area through NIL opportunities.” It is also, clearly, backed by the school’s athletic department.

Zach Arnett is saying Mississippi State is still identifying its identity

Transitioning out of the Mike Leach era was never going to be easy Mississippi State. As spring ball finished up, Zach Arnett admitted that the team is still identifying its identity.

“Obviously I think the coaches are also identifying what do we do best. I don’t think you can establish an identity until you know, ‘Hey, these are our best players and these are what we execute the best.’ We’re still identifying what run schemes are we best in, what type of passing game. Is it play-action pass? Is it run RPO world?” Arnett said.

“We’re doing a whole lot of everything right now so we can evaluate everyone in all the different roles and figure out what we do best.”