Mississippi State football: Cody Kennedy issues statement after being hired by Jeff Lebby

Jeff Lebby made the decision to hire Cody Kennedy as the Bulldogs’ offensive line coach and it sounds like Kennedy is excited about this Mississippi State football coaching opportunity.

Mississippi State football’s Jeff Lebby is still assembling his coaching staff and he recently picked up an offensive line coach who has a thorough understanding of the way this offense is supposed to be run.

Cody Kennedy joined Lebby’s first Mississippi State football coaching staff and he left the Arkansas Razorbacks in the process. Kennedy is leaving an offensive staff that was most recently led by Dan Enos (a big shift away from Kendal Briles, who was the OC when Kennedy was hired) and will be led by Bobby Petrino moving forward.

Now Kennedy sure seems intrigued by the opportunity to coach in Lebby’s inaugural MSU Bulldogs coaching staff to help Miss. State move forward.

Mississippi State football: Cody Kennedy ‘excited to contribute’ to Lebby’s coaching staff

Here’s the statement Kennedy had after being hired by Lebby and the Bulldogs:

“I am thrilled to join coach Lebby’s staff at Mississippi State University. Coach Lebby has proven himself at various stops throughout his career as one of the top offensive minds in the game. I’m excited to contribute to coach Lebby’s vision for the future of Mississippi State football, and I look forward to building a legacy that Bulldog fans across the nation will take pride in.”

There’s got to be something encouraging for Kennedy to be rejoining this sort of offense and moving away from the system that Arkansas was recently running.

When he was hired by the Razorbacks, Kennedy was initially hired to join Arkansas as their tight ends coach (replacing Jon Cooper who moved on to join Lebby with the Oklahoma Sooners), but Kennedy then moved to coach Arkansas’ offensive line.

And now he’s reuniting with the system he was hired to help run at Arkansas.

It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. In addition to the familiarity he has with this offense, Kennedy brings some valuable recruiting experience throughout the South. And as Mississippi State focuses on building this program in a more successful and sustainable manner, Lebby will need to utilize a broad recruiting footprint. Kennedy can (theoretically) help provide that.