Will Rogers Interview

[Reason2succeed]

https://youtu.be/_bRqa4piQwA

[msudawglb]

Great interview. I tell you what....between Dak, Nick, and now Will, we have been blessed and spoiled with our quarterbacks over the past 10 years. I know there are many opinions on Will, but damn, he's a great kid and leader for this team. I'm proud of him.

[Cowbell]

My hope with the offensive change is that it will take some pressure off of Will needing to be near perfect and it will allow him to establish his legacy here at Mississippi State.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Hopefully, the new offense will train Rogers to be more aggressive with the ball downfield and not rely on the outlet to the backs so much.

[NWADAWG]

Hopefully, the new offense will train Rogers to be more aggressive with the ball downfield and not rely on the outlet to the backs so much.

I think this offense is the best thing that could possibly have happened to Will's NFL draft stock. If he succeeds, and I think he will, he will end all of the questions about being a system quarterback. He will also have the opportunity to show a lot of different throws that he would have never thrown in the air raid.

So, Will, go make some money this fall.

[CadaverDawg]

I worry about Will in this system. I really hope he succeeds, but I'm worried about his lack of mobility and lack of arm strength in a non-Air Raid system. Time will tell. I just wonder what type of leash he'll be on if it's not a fit, and who would be our next best option in that scenario. My heart thinks Will can adapt and succeed...but my head thinks the Vandy transfer will be the starter by game 7-8

[RockyDog]

I think this offense is the best thing that could possibly have happened to Will's NFL draft stock. If he succeeds, and I think he will, he will end all of the questions about being a system quarterback. He will also have the opportunity to show a lot of different throws that he would have never thrown in the air raid.

So, Will, go make some money this fall.

If he has success, appreciate him for what he's giving his COLLEGE team. He doesn't have a draft stock. He's going to end up like a list of previous QBs that put up huge college numbers and didn't get drafted...Graham Harrell, Timmy Chang, Case Keenum. Whether Rogers throws for 400 or 4000 yards this season is not going to change anything regarding his NFL draft status. And that doesn't have to be a bad thing. It just is what it is.

[Cowbell]

If he has success, appreciate him for what he's giving his COLLEGE team. He doesn't have a draft stock. He's going to end up like a list of previous QBs that put up huge college numbers and didn't get drafted...Graham Harrell, Timmy Chang, Case Keenum. Whether Rogers throws for 400 or 4000 yards this season is not going to change anything regarding his NFL draft status. And that doesn't have to be a bad thing. It just is what it is.
This isn't accurate at all

And never forget that the cowboys drafted Kellen Moore and Ben Dinucci....

[Cowbell]

I worry about Will in this system. I really hope he succeeds, but I'm worried about his lack of mobility and lack of arm strength in a non-Air Raid system. Time will tell. I just wonder what type of leash he'll be on if it's not a fit, and who would be our next best option in that scenario. My heart thinks Will can adapt and succeed...but my head thinks the Vandy transfer will be the starter by game 7-8

I'm not as worried due to the fact that Barbay is willing to cater to his strengths. Will is going to be sacked less and have more rushing yards than he ever has due to spreading the field more and less predictable run/pass scenarios. He is still more mobile than either of the mannings were.

[BuckyIsAB****]

I worry about Will in this system. I really hope he succeeds, but I'm worried about his lack of mobility and lack of arm strength in a non-Air Raid system. Time will tell. I just wonder what type of leash he'll be on if it's not a fit, and who would be our next best option in that scenario. My heart thinks Will can adapt and succeed...but my head thinks the Vandy transfer will be the starter by game 7-8

Well. There is a better chance we win the Super Bowl than that happening. Barring an injury or act of God

[gtowndawg]

If he has success, appreciate him for what he's giving his COLLEGE team. He doesn't have a draft stock. He's going to end up like a list of previous QBs that put up huge college numbers and didn't get drafted...Graham Harrell, Timmy Chang, Case Keenum. Whether Rogers throws for 400 or 4000 yards this season is not going to change anything regarding his NFL draft status. And that doesn't have to be a bad thing. It just is what it is.

I agree with the overall point but in fairness, Case Keenum has played in the NFL for 11 years. But you're correct, he went undrafted.

[RockyDog]

I agree with the overall point but in fairness, Case Keenum has played in the NFL for 11 years. But you're correct, he went undrafted.

And that's great. Let's hope that WR has that opportunity. But lets be real and stop pretending that MSU's success or lack thereof this upcoming season will have ANY effect on his draft stock.

and Cowbell, Ben Dinucci? OK. He was drafted at the end of the 7th round. That's your argument?

[TrapGame]

I'm not as worried due to the fact that Barbay is willing to cater to his strengths. Will is going to be sacked less and have more rushing yards than he ever has due to spreading the field more and less predictable run/pass scenarios. He is still more mobile than either of the mannings were.

Bingo.

Just the simple fact a defense has to prepare for us to run the ball opens up Will's options. When the defense can pin their ears back and come after you every other snap b/c they know the odds of a run play are next to zero it limits the progression of the offense. I think Barbay is also a wild card. He's going to mix up the looks and use motion.

[Offshore Dawg]

Personally, I do think this new offense will be better for the Dawgs to run. CML loved the pass first, but balance too me will be better at keeping a defense guessing. Anyway, this subject has been beat to death. I am looking forward to seeing how it works.

[DownwardDawg]

I worry about Will in this system. I really hope he succeeds, but I'm worried about his lack of mobility and lack of arm strength in a non-Air Raid system. Time will tell. I just wonder what type of leash he'll be on if it's not a fit, and who would be our next best option in that scenario. My heart thinks Will can adapt and succeed...but my head thinks the Vandy transfer will be the starter by game 7-8

Brother, if the Vandy transfer takes over, we in BIG TROUBLE. Like, wishbone offense every play trouble.
Will is going to have his best year.

[Tater]

Brother, if the Vandy transfer takes over, we in BIG TROUBLE. Like, wishbone offense every play trouble.
Will is going to have his best year.

Wright is a gadget player. It'd be someone else taking over the offense instead. He's not a starting caliber guy, but he's amazing practice squad material and with a little more arm strength will find himself a home in the NFL being the tackling dummy / gadget play QB if he lets himself.

Gotta think he's gonna be super instrumental is our future upset win over LSU and Jayden Daniels.

[DownwardDawg]

Wright is a gadget player. It'd be someone else taking over the offense instead. He's not a starting caliber guy, but he's amazing practice squad material and with a little more arm strength will find himself a home in the NFL being the tackling dummy / gadget play QB if he lets himself.

Gotta think he's gonna be super instrumental is our future upset win over LSU and Jayden Daniels.
Agree. If we use him correctly he could be very valuable this year.

[Todd4State]

Bingo.

Just the simple fact a defense has to prepare for us to run the ball opens up Will's options. When the defense can pin their ears back and come after you every other snap b/c they know the odds of a run play are next to zero it limits the progression of the offense. I think Barbay is also a wild card. He's going to mix up the looks and use motion.

There are two sides to it. The thing about Leach and his offensive system is you had to sit back in zone and hope we screw up. So as far as Will he was seeing the same defense for the majority of the game every week. I think it's going to be a challenge for him because people are going to be blitzing and showing different looks and when we played Alabama who threw some different looks at him it didn't go well at all. But the key to me is the offensive line and if they can adjust and whether Barbay really will adapt the offense to the strengths of our personnel which in my opinion is Will and our WR's. So if we're running it the majority of the time and "establishing the run" I'm not sure that we're really adapting to our personnel. At the same time maybe Barbay will use Will and our receivers the majority of the time so it's wait and see for me as far as he goes. Also we looked very sloppy in the spring game. Wasn't very clean at all so that's a concern to me as well. And yeah, I know it was the spring game but still it didn't give me warm fuzzies watching it. Tells me that we have a lot of work to do. The looks we saw with Barbay aren't really anything a SEC team hasn't seen before I don't think we're going to dumbfound anyone with motion or a two TE formation.

The best thing we have going for us is all of the veteran players we have. So that should help. At the end of the day I expect our offense to be about the same in terms of overall production. Probably about 3 points difference better or worse. We'll probably beat our OOC teams pretty easily, put up some points on the bad defenses in the league and then struggle against the LSU's and Alabama's of the world.

[Todd4State]

Personally, I do think this new offense will be better for the Dawgs to run. CML loved the pass first, but balance too me will be better at keeping a defense guessing. Anyway, this subject has been beat to death. I am looking forward to seeing how it works.

The biggest thing that is going to improve our offense is all of the these four stars we've been recruiting. Of course I kind of doubt Barbay will be here when that group are juniors and seniors.

[Todd4State]

Wright is a gadget player. It'd be someone else taking over the offense instead. He's not a starting caliber guy, but he's amazing practice squad material and with a little more arm strength will find himself a home in the NFL being the tackling dummy / gadget play QB if he lets himself.

Gotta think he's gonna be super instrumental is our future upset win over LSU and Jayden Daniels.

Like who? I don't think they would throw Parson out there if Will got hurt. I absolutely think they would go with Wright if Will got hurt. And yes, that would be less than ideal and not a good thing for us.

[basedog]

Will Rogers will be fine, mainly his ability of a leader and his work ethic will be the main reason for success. I'm not worried about him in the new offense.

[TrapGame]

There are two sides to it. The thing about Leach and his offensive system is you had to sit back in zone and hope we screw up. So as far as Will he was seeing the same defense for the majority of the game every week. I think it's going to be a challenge for him because people are going to be blitzing and showing different looks and when we played Alabama who threw some different looks at him it didn't go well at all. But the key to me is the offensive line and if they can adjust and whether Barbay really will adapt the offense to the strengths of our personnel which in my opinion is Will and our WR's. So if we're running it the majority of the time and "establishing the run" I'm not sure that we're really adapting to our personnel. At the same time maybe Barbay will use Will and our receivers the majority of the time so it's wait and see for me as far as he goes. Also we looked very sloppy in the spring game. Wasn't very clean at all so that's a concern to me as well. And yeah, I know it was the spring game but still it didn't give me warm fuzzies watching it. Tells me that we have a lot of work to do. The looks we saw with Barbay aren't really anything a SEC team hasn't seen before I don't think we're going to dumbfound anyone with motion or a two TE formation.

The best thing we have going for us is all of the veteran players we have. So that should help. At the end of the day I expect our offense to be about the same in terms of overall production. Probably about 3 points difference better or worse. We'll probably beat our OOC teams pretty easily, put up some points on the bad defenses in the league and then struggle against the LSU's and Alabama's of the world.

Spring games aren't for fans. They're for coaches.

When a SEC defense knows there's only a 5% chance you're gonna run the ball on any given down that benefits them greatly. Then throw in the delayed LB blitzes (like Kentucky did) and Will got rattled. Forcing these defenses to defend the run with Barbay opens Will up to use his accuracy.

And c'mon man, most everybody struggles against LSU and Bama.

If we have just an average SEC offense we'll win 8 games.

[Lord McBuckethead]

By us taking the Vandy guy, you would imagine we have something in mind on how to use him, unless we took him only for depth. I mean, Will has one more year to play after this season. Will is going to have two seasons to show what he can do and I believe if he gets within 15-20% of his yardage totals from his previous seasons he will improve his draft stock.

So I disagree, he has a huge opportunity to increase his draft stock. Win the west and he gets drafted. Simple as that.

[Homedawg]

I worry about Will in this system. I really hope he succeeds, but I'm worried about his lack of mobility and lack of arm strength in a non-Air Raid system. Time will tell. I just wonder what type of leash he'll be on if it's not a fit, and who would be our next best option in that scenario. My heart thinks Will can adapt and succeed...but my head thinks the Vandy transfer will be the starter by game 7-8

Not a chance in hell that dude is our starter. Barring injury. If he is, we are screwed

[SpaceBully]

Hopefully, the new offense will train Rogers to be more aggressive with the ball downfield and not rely on the outlet to the backs so much.

Actually saw a few of those downfield passes during the spring game. He surprised me with that. His arm strength looked good too. He has a good year this year, then he shakes the "air raid" anchor from his neck and the NFL may definitely take notice. We can only hope!

[Leroy Jenkins]

By us taking the Vandy guy, you would imagine we have something in mind on how to use him, unless we took him only for depth.

I think its both. He'll have packages, and he was the best available option to keep us from falling back on a rehabilitating true freshman.

[Coach34]

https://draftscout.com/dsprofile.php?PlayerId=1044965&DraftYear=2024

Here is the projection entering the 2024 season

[confucius say]

Spring games aren't for fans. They're for coaches.

When a SEC defense knows there's only a 5% chance you're gonna run the ball on any given down that benefits them greatly. Then throw in the delayed LB blitzes (like Kentucky did) and Will got rattled. Forcing these defenses to defend the run with Barbay opens Will up to use his accuracy.

And c'mon man, most everybody struggles against LSU and Bama.

If we have just an average SEC offense we'll win 8 games.

We ran it way more than 5% of the time.

I'll be shocked if we can run the ball well against solid to good sec defenses.

I think we are way overselling our defense. We have one proven DL, good at linebacker, one proven CB is who average for the sec, and very meh at safety. Could some guys step up? Yes. But that's what it will take, and they've never done it before.

[TrapGame]

We ran it way more than 5% of the time.

I'll be shocked if we can run the ball well against solid to good sec defenses.

I think we are way overselling our defense. We have one proven DL, good at linebacker, one proven CB is who average for the sec, and very meh at safety. Could some guys step up? Yes. But that's what it will take, and they've never done it before.

Some of y'all think installing this offense is like building a nuclear reactor out of two car batteries and a hot tub. Installing the Air Raid was way more out of the ordinary. We are going back to something a lot of these guys were running in high school. This is basic offense 101. We're not teaching them how to speak Chinese.

[confucius say]

Some of y'all think installing this offense is like building a nuclear reactor out of two car batteries and a hot tub. Installing the Air Raid was way more out of the ordinary. We are going back to something a lot of these guys were running in high school. This is basic offense 101. We're not teaching them how to speak Chinese.

My lack of confidence in us running the ball against Bama, lsu, ky, aub, and Aggie is not a lack of understanding the system. It's our OL and the lack of mobility at qb.

[TrapGame]

My lack of confidence in us running the ball against Bama, lsu, ky, aub, and Aggie is not a lack of understanding the system. It's our OL and the lack of mobility at qb.

The OL will be fine. Will will be fine. Barbay is a lot closer to a Dan Mullen than a Mike Leach or Joe Moorhead. He is going to put the best players in the best positions to run his offense.

[MaroonFlounder]

Well. There is a better chance we win the Super Bowl than that happening. Barring an injury or act of God

Will has to win games with his head, making the right decisions, because his physical limitations are glaring.

Look at his last 2 games, the egg bowl and the Reliaquest Bowl. Especially the egg bowl. those games were wins, but how does a 3-year starter perform that bad? They won in spite of him

[MaroonFlounder]

Will is going to be sacked less and have more rushing yards than he ever has due to spreading the field more and less predictable run/pass scenarios. He is still more mobile than either of the mannings were.

If Will is gonna be running the ball, Wright better be ready to go.

Will as a runner = ineffective or hurt?or both.

[Todd4State]

The OL will be fine. Will will be fine. Barbay is a lot closer to a Dan Mullen than a Mike Leach or Joe Moorhead. He is going to put the best players in the best positions to run his offense.

Dan Mullen only used his best players if they were juniors or seniors. Our offense with Tyler Russell was a lot more sluggish than it was with Dak or Relf. And then there is Brandon Holloway and trying to turn him into JJ Johnson. To be honest this offense looks a lot more like Moorhead's than anything. Not saying that's a bad thing because Joe is a really good OC. But a lot of fans don't want to admit it.


My lack of confidence in us running the ball against Bama, lsu, ky, aub, and Aggie is not a lack of understanding the system. It's our OL and the lack of mobility at qb.
I'm glad someone else gets it. Sometimes fans criticized Leach for not running the ball when the truth was sometimes we tried and we couldn't. Kentucky went completely off the rails as soon as Dillion Johnson was hurt.


Some of y'all think installing this offense is like building a nuclear reactor out of two car batteries and a hot tub. Installing the Air Raid was way more out of the ordinary. We are going back to something a lot of these guys were running in high school. This is basic offense 101. We're not teaching them how to speak Chinese.

Some of these players are 3-4 years removed from high school and they will not be trying to execute this offense against high school players. Many of them were specifically recruited because they fit the Air Raid. Especially the offensive linemen. So while they may have played in offenses like ours in high school it doesn't mean that it's a fit for them at the collegiate level. So for Barbay to truly play to our strengths were going to have to throw the ball a good bit to truly maximize the talent we have. Again- he may do that but until I see it I'm a bit skeptical.


Spring games aren't for fans. They're for coaches.

When a SEC defense knows there's only a 5% chance you're gonna run the ball on any given down that benefits them greatly. Then throw in the delayed LB blitzes (like Kentucky did) and Will got rattled. Forcing these defenses to defend the run with Barbay opens Will up to use his accuracy.

And c'mon man, most everybody struggles against LSU and Bama.

If we have just an average SEC offense we'll win 8 games.

Leach certainly didn't get a pass for struggling against LSU and Bama (and Georgia) last year so why should Barbay be different? That was the whole point in changing right? So that we could score more points against bluebloods? That's why fans harped on the SEC PPG average even though our numbers overall improved I was told.

The reality is we are going from a Hall of Fame coach to a complete unknown basically who had very similar numbers to us last year at a different school that App State fans weren't too unhappy to see leave at the coaches convention last year and had the luxury of playing two FCS schools.

While it sounds great- it's just simply not as cut and dried as forcing the defense to defend the run opening up the pass. If that was the case we should have been able to pass all over people during the Sherrill era and when Dan was here. The DB's are not going to forget about our receivers because we might run the ball. That's something that they literally do every weekend. Our receivers are still going to have to get separation and make catches. Our line is still going to have to block. And Will is going to be asked to do a lot more than before. In a lot of different ways. As I said new defenses, a lot less catch and throw immediately, a lot more plays, and I assume Barbay is not going to give him carte blance on making play calls. That can be good and bad. People talk about Woody getting blown up running routes well when he is asked to block a lot more that's another big change.

Fans hear things like "Welll if all we did was this everything would work out better" but they don't realize that comes with big adjustments and then our fans wonder why something doesn't work as advertised. Like I see some of our fans that want to run what Arkansas did under Briles- they averaged like 1 PPG more than us and only like 3 PPG in conference.

[Todd4State]

If Will is gonna be running the ball, Wright better be ready to go.

Will as a runner = ineffective or hurt?or both.

After the Egg Bowl especially I have no idea why any MSU fan would want to see Will run the ball some. It was like every time he got touched the ball would go flying out.

[Todd4State]

Will has to win games with his head, making the right decisions, because his physical limitations are glaring.

Look at his last 2 games, the egg bowl and the Reliaquest Bowl. Especially the egg bowl. those games were wins, but how does a 3-year starter perform that bad? They won in spite of him

I think Will's biggest issue is he sometimes tried to do too much. The Egg Bowl being a great example of that. Now that he has secured his lagacy as a player and he's won 9 games and an Egg Bowl I hope he relaxes and had a great season.