Mississippi State, Zach Arnett release statement on addition of Will Friend to staff

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•01/06/23

Mississippi State made a number of moves with their coaching staff on Friday, including the hiring of their new offensive line coach, Will Friend. They made his hiring official with a press release the team issued on Friday evening. He hails from Philadelphia, Mississippi and is an excellent recruiter with experience at three different SEC programs. According to the football analytics website College Football Matrix, Friend has been considered a top 20 percent graded offensive line coach in the nation.

Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett was excited to welcome Friend to Starkville in a press release that was issued by the Bulldog football program. “We’re excited to welcome Will Friend back to his home state,” Arnett said. “Will is an outstanding coach with a proven record of recruiting and developing players on the offensive side of the ball in the toughest conference in the sport. He knows the SEC inside and out from being a player and a coach and will be another great addition to the staff.”

There were reports earlier in the week that Friend was headed to the Memphis Tigers, but he’s instead heading back to the SEC. He spent the last two seasons as Auburn’s offensive line coach. Before that, he was the offensive line coach for the Tennessee Volunteers from 2018-2020. Friend also served as the offensive line coach and the offensive coordinator for Colorado State (2015-2017) and the offensive line coach for the Georgia Bulldogs (2011-2014).

This past season, he guided the offensive line at Auburn to rank third in the SEC and 18th in the country in rushing.

More background on Will Friend

Courtesy of the Auburn Athletics website, here is the bio blast for Friend’s coaching career:

“Will Friend was in his second year as Auburn’s offensive line coach when he left. Friend spent the previous three seasons as the offensive line coach at Tennessee and, prior to that, was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Colorado State. 

“While at Tennessee, the Philadelphia, Miss. native mentored two-time All-SEC first team lineman Trey Smith. In 2019, UT offensive linemen Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright were both selected to the Freshman All-SEC squad, while Morris was tabbed a Freshman All-American. 

“Friend came to Tennessee after a three-year stint (2015-17) as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Colorado State. In 2017, he led an offense that ranked 11th in the nation in total offense at 492.5 yards per game. Colorado State’s 33.4 points per game in 2017 led the conference and ranked 31st in the nation.

“Prior to Colorado State, Friend served as the offensive line coach at Georgia in 2011 before adding the title of running game coordinator in 2013. During his final season in Athens in 2014, Friend helped guide a Bulldogs’ offense that averaged 41.3 points per game, which ranked eighth nationally, and racked up 457.8 yards of total offense per game.”

On3’s Alex Weber also contributed to this article.