Brendan Smith

Tuesday night, Brett McMurphy reported that Mississippi State, less than a week after losing head coach Dan Mullen to Florida, has hired Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead to fill the vacancy.

Moorhead spent two seasons at Penn State, helping the team to an 11-3 record in 2016, and currently has the Nittany Lions positioned at 10-2, awaiting the results of championship weekend. Currently, the Nittany Lions are averaging 41.6 points per game on offense, good for seventh in the country. Quarterback Trace McSorley and running back Saquon Barkley are two of the numerous players thriving in Moorhead’s run-pass option (RPO) style.

Before he was dialing up plays in State College, Moorhead spent four years at the helm of the Fordham Rams football program, guiding them to a 38-13 record. To put that in perspective, the 2011 season (Moorhead was hired before the 2012 season) saw the Rams struggle mightily en route to a 1-10 record, including a nine game losing streak to end the season.

Mullen’s departure made sense, as he was previously an offensive coordinator for Florida, but it is a particularly uncommon situation. Mullen’s success on the field has brought success on the recruiting trail as well, leaving Moorhead with a difficult task to complete. Currently, Mississippi State’s 2018 recruiting class is ranked 15th in the nation, according to 247sports. Mullen has already made a run at current Mississippi State commits, although quarterback Nick Fitzgerald has taken to Twitter to persuade commits to follow through and attend Mississippi State.

On an unrelated but interesting note, current Georgia commit and five-star quarterback Justin Fields is expected to take an official visit to Mullen and the Gators.

For Moorhead, he will be tasked with keeping as many of the 26 commits the Bulldogs program reeled in as possible. Mullen did not move far, as Florida and Mississippi State both compete in the SEC. An interesting recruiting rivalry for years to come may be developing right before our eyes.

As for returning players at Mississippi State, Moorhead will most likely have leading rusher Aeris Williams, starting quarterback Nick Fitzgerald (recovering from ankle surgery), and leading receiver Jesse Jackson to mold his system around. While it was easy to build around a generational talent like Saquon Barkley at Penn State, Moorhead’s Mississippi State offenses should also be feared. What will be interesting is the integration of the RPO offense into the historically run-heavy SEC. Moorhead’s inaugural foray into FCS head coaching landed him in a desirable situation, so his success at the FBS level should not come with surprise. Look for Mississippi State to reside near the top of SEC standings with Moorhead leading the way.