Air Raid youth movement is creating hope for Mississippi State

Getting old and staying old is what most teams in college sports try to accomplish. Mike Leach is doing the opposite at Mississippi State with his Air Raid offense.

Kentucky has one of the oldest defenses in college football. The Wildcats will start nine seniors on Saturday, and six of those players were in the same 2017 recruiting class. Brad White’s defense has spent a lot of time together. The opposite is happening at Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs will start five sophomores against Kentucky and will be heavily dependent on production from new players in the program. We will see contrasting styles in more ways than one at Davis Wade Stadium.

Quarterback investment

After dismissing Joe Moorhead and hiring Mike Leach, Mississippi State needed to undergo a drastic overhaul on offense. The Bulldogs no longer needed an element of QB run. Leach wants quarterbacks with quick processing skills that can deliver the ball with pinpoint accuracy in the short-to-intermediate passing game.

The program hoped Stanford transfer K.J. Costello could provide that last season, but the experiment with the big-armed quarterback failed miserably due to lack of accuracy. Three-star recruit Will Rogers stepped in as a true freshman.

The Mississippi native came from an Air Raid offense in high school and has the skills to succeed in the system. Rogers went through major growing pains in his first year in Leach’s offense but has shown growth in year two.

The quarterback isn’t getting many explosive completions but has been accurate. Rogers has a strong passing success rate of 50.9 percent on a 73.6 percent completion rate. He is doing his job.

Mississippi State is investing in a young quarterback. Down the road, this will pay off as the Bulldogs get better on offense with each rep.

Exciting skill talent

In year one, it became clear that Mississippi State did not have the necessary personnel at wide receiver to succeed in Leach’s Air Raid. After the losing season, the Bulldogs addressed this in the portal.

Redshirt sophomore transfer Makai Polk came over from California and is putting together an All-SEC caliber season with 58 receptions. However, he is not the only young wideout.

Jaden Walley is in year two, and after leading the Bulldogs in receiving as a true freshman he’s turned into the offense’s top explosive play threat. Both tailbacks Jo’quavious Marks and Dillon Johnson are true sophomores who are heavily involved in the passing game and provide efficient rushing when called upon.

Lideatrick Griffin is a rotational receiver, but the sophomore’s biggest impact has occurred in special teams. The former four-star recruit has a kickoff return touchdown this season and leads the country in kickoff return average (37.67).

The Bulldogs have weapons to be excited about moving forward. Mike Leach now has the pieces in place to grow his offense.

Stud tackle

Charles Cross was a late bloomer in Mississippi who didn’t see his stock rise until late in his high school career. However, it took off like wildfire, and the Laurel (Miss.) High prospect became a five-star recruit.

Cross landed in Starkville, and he’s turned into one of the top offensive tackles in college football this season. The 6-foot-5 left tackle will be a first-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft.

Miss. St. OT Charles Cross is generating first round buzz and rightfully so. He looked the part against Alabama. Easy athleticism, and football IQ, but it’s his hand timing, and accuracy that are easily his two best traits. pic.twitter.com/Vr6M7SiV8j

— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) October 20, 2021

Sophomores make an impact at every level of this Mississippi State offense.

Proof of concept

Year one was bad for Mike Leach, and that was even with a blowout win at LSU. The Bulldogs had issues getting their Air Raid offense up and cranking.

To fix this, Mississippi State went to a full-on youth movement on offense. That is beginning to pay off, but there will still be some growing pains. Those could be exposed against a veteran-heavy defense that is very comfortable dropping into a zone and making offense consistently make correct reads over and over.

However, Mississippi State is on the right track and the future of this offense could turn into a top-notch product due to all of the reps the young Bulldogs are getting now.

Kentucky hopes that the young team will hit one of those rough patches on Saturday night.