Mississippi State QB Will Rogers Talks Manning Passing Academy, Offseason Work

Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers is focused on becoming the best version of himself in 2022.

Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers recently attended the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodeaux, Louisiana, which featured several of the nation's best and most quickly rising passers.

In addition to continuing to work on himself as a passer overall, Rogers said he also enjoyed the opportunity to meet and build relationships with other quarterbacks from all over the country.

One of the conversations Rogers said came up at dinner on Friday night there was being an Air Raid quarterback and what that entailed.

"We were actually talking about this... how quote unquote different the Air Raid offense is," Rogers said. 

"The Air Raid offense has taken a big step. It's definitely in the NFL and a lot more people are doing Air Raid concepts. I think people kind of bash on the Air Raid when it comes to talking about the next level, but I think if you can throw the ball into into drop eight [coverage] and windows that are that small that you'll be able to do it at any level so that's my take on it."

One of the things that's different about Air Raid offense is that it doesn't put a ton of emphasis on footwork -- it's more about instinctually and trigger time on routes.

Ahead of the upcoming season, Rogers has been putting in offseason work to improve his footwork -- which differs in some ways from quarterbacks in other schemes -- and is taking the time to fine-tune other parts of his game as well.

Part of that has been working with David Morris of Quarterback Country in Mobile, Alabama.

"I went to Mobile at the end of May to work with David Morris just working on my fundamentals, just trying to get more velocity on my ball and things like that," Rogers said. 

"I'm working on being more consistent with my footwork. "Obviously we do things differently on our offense so my footwork is not always matched up like some of these other guys. But I think if the ball is coming out well and coming out on time then I'll be just fine."

The work Rogers has put in overall has paid dividends as he enters his junior season as presumably one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC after he broke both school and conference records in 2021.

His focus isn't on that, though, but rather on giving the Bulldogs the best chance they can to win every game with toughest schedule in the nation in 2022.

"I've definitely taken steps over the past two years, but obviously there are guys that think they're better than me right now. I don't really get into that talk -- I think if I can put the team in a position to win on Saturdays, then I've done my job.