Will Rogers was one of the best quarterbacks in the country as a sophomore and junior at Mississippi State. Unfortunately, according to his father, a bald-faced lie kept him from seeing the same success as a senior.
Rogers had the worst season of his career while battling injuries in 2023. Even when he was healthy, it just wasn’t the same. Head coach Zach Arnett is apparently to blame!
A former three-star recruit from Mississippi, Rogers arrived to Starkville in the Class of 2020. The Bulldogs fired Joe Moorehead shortly after his enrollment and hired Mike Leach as his replacement.
Leach split time between Rogers and K.J. Costello during the pandemic-effected season. It was ultimately the freshman who emerged as the more effective of the two, which propelled him into the starting quarterback job in 2021.
Mississippi State loved Rogers’ potential in Leach’s air raid system. He quickly blossomed into a star!
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound signal-caller completed 73.9% of his 683 pass attempts for 4,739 yards with 36 touchdowns in 2021. Rogers followed it up with 3,974 yards and 35 touchdowns on a 68% completion clip in 2022, and broke school records for career passing yards, completions and touchdowns as well as SEC records for single-season and career completions.
Unfortunately, Leach tragically passed away prior to his senior season. That left him with a decision.
Rogers could have transferred to find a similar Air Raid system. However, according to his father, Arnett — a defensive-minded coach — promised that nothing was going to change on offense so he stayed.
And then everything changed on offense. The Bulldogs abandoned the Air Raid for a more conservative Pro-Style approach that rarely worked.
(Arnett) flat-out lied to us, sitting in our den. He said they would be crazy to change offenses after all the success we had had […]
Nobody is ever promised a life without scars, but that was tough.
— Wyatt Rogers, via Mississippi Today
Rogers ultimately entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer after his fourth year of college football. He committed to play for Kalen DeBoer at Washington. DeBoer left for Alabama. Rogers then re-entered the portal, but withdrew his name and recommitted to the Huskies under Jedd Fisch.
Will’s had the rug jerked out from under him more than once in the last year or do. I told him it’s time to put blinders on and go to work.
— Wyatt Rogers, via Mississippi Today
Hopefully Fisch won’t lie to Rogers like Arnett, who was fired at Mississippi State after one season.