Mississippi State tight ends are building culture amid NCAA ruling on Geor'Quarius Spivey
STARKVILLE — When Mississippi State football coach Zach Arnett and new offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay brought in transfer tight ends Ryland Goede and Geor'Quarius Spivey, they were looking for players who could do more than block and catch.
For a position room that had been barren the last three years due to Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, getting on-field production was only part of the goal for MSU’s staff. The Bulldogs needed veterans who could establish a culture to better the future of tight ends in Starkville.
However, the group was met with adversity last week. The NCAA ruled Spivey was ineligible to play this year despite graduating from TCU before transferring for his second stint at Mississippi State. The room was rocked with what Arnett called a, “gigantic blow.”
Despite this, the identity in the tight end room hasn’t changed and plenty of that falls on Spivey’s shoulders as he continues to be involved despite being unable to take the field.
“He’s been a great teammate throughout the whole process,” Goede said Monday. “We love Spivey. He’s an unbelievable human and a great player. We’re supporting him throughout this and just thankful he’s still part of the team, just being here with the guys and still holding a leadership role because he’s important to us.”
With Spivey roaming the sideline, the Bulldogs eclipsed more 300 rushing yards in Saturday’s 48-7 season-opening win against Southeastern Louisiana, though the number dipped to 298 thanks to the game-ending kneel downs.
No tight ends caught a pass, but that didn’t simmer the celebration.
“We saw the 300 bill get put up on the scoreboard and we were really excited,” Goede said. “That’s something that we wanted to do was establish the line of scrimmage. As part of the tight end position, that’s big for us. We were really pumped to see that. That’s as good as a touchdown or a 300-yard passing game for us. We want smash-mouth football.”
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Goede transferred to MSU from Georgia – a program with perhaps the nation’s top tight ends room behind star Brock Bowers. Part of why Spivey ran into issues with his eligibility is due to similar success from his previous school with TCU facing Georgia in the national championship game in January.
Arnett, who hired longtime friend and former Syracuse assistant Mike Schmidt to coach tackles and tight ends, preached throughout the offseason the importance of having players who have seen that level of success on the roster. The value of their experience came to fruition in a win where their numbers didn’t show up on the box score.
“The guys in the tight end room have bought into everything that coach has asked them to do, especially with a lot of guys never playing tight end before until this past year." Goede said. “That buy-in from the culture has carried over to the stat sheet. It doesn’t matter what the stat sheet looks like. We got the (win). We got 300 yards rushing. We’re really pumped about that.”
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State football tight ends building culture after NCAA ruling
