Will Rogers' father says Zach Arnett 'flat out lied to us' after Mike Leach's death
The end of the 2022 season was an emotional one for the Mississippi State program with the death of head coach Mike Leach. In response, the program quickly went to promote defensive coordinator Zach Arnett to head coach. Meanwhile, quarterback Will Rogers decided to return despite the change.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the team took a step back in 2023 and Arnett was dismissed before the end of the season while Rogers decided to transfer following the season. Now, Rogers’ father is saying that Arnett lied to the quarterback’s family following Leach’s passing.
“[Arnett] flat-out lied to us, sitting in our den,” Wyatt Rogers said. “He said they would be crazy to change offenses after all the success we had had.”
The Air Raid is an offense that Rogers thrived in. He has a completion percentage of 69.3 for 12,315 passing yards and 94 touchdowns. Still, Mississippi State did move away from the Air Raid. That was always going to happen to some extent because nobody is Leach in regards to how he ran his offense. However, offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay ran a pro-style offense that struggled in its transition and Rogers put up his worst numbers since his freshman season.
It wasn’t the offense that Will Rogers wanted to play in and he may have used the Transfer Portal had he known the change was coming. Then, following the 2023 season, that’s exactly what Will Rogers did, transferring to Washington.
“It’s time to put all that other stuff behind him,” Wyatt Rogers said. “I think he’s learned some valuable lessons, not just about football but about life. I just want him to enjoy this last year of college football, see another part of the country, meet new people, play in new stadiums, enjoy the experience.”
Even at Washington, Will Rogers has had to deal with major changes, after Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama shortly after Rogers got to Seattle. However, he ultimately decided to remain at Washington despite another coaching change.
“Will’s had the rug jerked out from under him more than once in the last year or so. I told him it’s time to put blinders on and go to work. I believe that’s just what he will do,” Wyatt Rogers added.
Joel Klatt calls Will Rogers a big win for Jedd Fisch
Retaining Will Rogers is something that analyst Joel Klatt thinks will be a big win for new head coach Jedd Fisch.
“And now he’s removed his name from the portal and he’s gonna stay at Washington. I think that is a big win for Jed Fisch, because now I can look at Washington and say, okay, you know, I think that they’re going to take a little step back, but now you’ve got some players,” Klatt said.
“I mean, you can’t have this type of coaching change and not lose at least a couple of guys there. They lost some guys but they’re getting some reinforcements and I think the same can be said about Kalen DeBoer [at Alabama]. The bleeding has stopped. All right now we’re back in school, we’re into offseason strength and conditioning like I was just talking about. And we’ve got a quarterback with Will Rogers.”