Transfer Bio Blast: Will Rogers

The first transfer portal window of the offseason officially opens on Monday, Dec. 4 after conference championship games wrap up next weekend. For 45 days, the entire college football landscape will ride the portal wave as teams prepare for bowl games with some being very limited as coaching changes and portal subtractions are made. The silly season has pretty much arrived.

Things can’t officially get kicked off for a couple more weeks, but that is not stopping news from leaking out. Kentucky has already been linked to Texas A&M wide receiver Raymond Cottrell and Yale offensive tackle Jonathan Mendoza early in the process. Another big name emerged on Black Friday.

Quickly after an Egg Bowl loss on Thursday night, reports began to surface that Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers will be entering the transfer portal and playing his final season of college football at another school. Shortly after the report, KSR’s Matt Jones shared that some people around Mississippi State believe Kentucky could be Rogers’ next landing spot.

Lots of people in and around Starkville believe Lexington is a likely destination

— Matt Jones November 24, 2023 Just for the record, I haven’t heard Will Rogers is the guy from any Kentucky folks.

But I have had Miss State people tell me for weeks that is the assumption there

UK will definitely take a transfer QB assuming Leary doesn’t return.

— Matt Jones November 24, 2023

There is a long way for Kentucky to go in this process. But we know that the Wildcats will be looking for a transfer quarterback in December to come in and be the team’s starter next season. Rogers will be one of the biggest names to enter the portal this offseason.

Throughout the portal process, KSR will be here to provide background information and intel on any potential portal targets that pop up on the radar. Let’s take a closer look at the first big name to reportedly hit the free agency market this cycle.

One of the most accomplished QBs in SEC history

Will Rogers was a three-star recruiting win for Mississippi State in the class of 2020. The Brandon (Miss.) High prospect grew up an Ole Miss fan but committed to Mississippi State after his junior season. Rogers decided to stick with that commitment when the Bulldogs made a coaching change from Joe Moorhead to Mike Leach.

Rogers would go on to start six games as a true freshman, and that would start a legendary career at Mississippi State. After four seasons in Starkville, Rogers is currently the SEC’s career completions leader (1,301) and single-season completions leader (505 in 2021). Rogers just passed Missouri’s Drew Lock to move into second place in the SEC career passing yards (12,315) trailing only Georgia’s Aaron Murray (13,166).

The soon-to-be super senior quarterback has played a lot of games, thrown a lot of passes, and has been the center of some big wins for Mississippi State. If experience is high on your checklist in the transfer portal, Rogers clearly can check that box.

This is a quarterback who has operated in a high-volume passing offense in the best conference in college football.

Scheme fit likely matters for Will Rogers

Will Rogers is an Air Raid quarterback. Arm strength and the ability to drive the football vertically are question marks. Rogers has hit on vertical completions throughout his career, but we have not seen the QB drive the ball deep down the middle of the field often.

There appear to be some physical limitations, but this is a player who can dink and dunk with the best of them in college football.

Rogers consistently owned one of the worst average depth of target numbers in college football, but a lot of that was by design. In Leach’s precision-based passing offense, getting the ball out quickly and creating yards after catch was the No. 1 goal for Mississippi State. Rogers accomplished that mission by throwing for 400-plus yards in six SEC games during his career in Starkville. But there were struggles in his first year out of the Air Raid scheme.

Rogers was forced to miss four games in 2023 due to a shoulder injury but struggled whenever he was in the game running Kevin Barbay ‘s pistol wide zone scheme. The veteran quarterback posted a career-low completion percentage (59.9%) this fall. Rogers also owned a woeful passing success rate (36.1%) that was one of the worst marks in the SEC. Throughout his career, the quarterback has struggled to create explosive passing plays.

At his new location, scheme fit will make a big difference. Rogers will be at his best in a pass-heavy structure that will allow him to play in rhythm and get the ball out quickly.

Expect there to be multiple Power Five schools involved

There will likely be more highly-sought quarterbacks to enter the transfer portal this offseason. More than a handful will likely have higher ceilings than Will Rogers. However, results are results. Will Rogers is a multi-year starter in the SEC who has won games and thrown for a boatload of yards.

Many teams will find value in that.

Expect multiple Power Five schools to get involved. A NIL negotiation or two could occur in the recruitment of Rogers. The veteran is the first big name to hit the transfer portal this year, and there should be a strong amount of interest.

Multi-year starting quarterbacks with over 10,000 career passing yards do not grow on trees.