Mississippi State football promotes Drew Hollingshead to inside receivers coach role

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football has decided to promote from within.

The Bulldogs are raising Drew Hollingshead, an offensive quality control assistant, to the vacant inside wide receivers coach role, the program announced Monday. Hollingshead is replacing Dave Nichol, who joined Lincoln Riley in December at Southern California.

Former Mississippi State wide receiver Chad Bumphis was another consideration for the position, but coach Mike Leach opted to stay internally with his choice.

"Drew is one of the rising offensive minds in college football and a tremendous coach, teacher and tactician of the game," Leach said in a school release. "He is incredibly detail oriented, brings a great deal of energy and passion to our program, and has played a pivotal role in our offensive success over the years. He will continue to make a positive impact on our team, and we are fortunate to have him at Mississippi State."

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The Bulldogs also made other coaching changes, making Matt Brock the lead on all linebackers. Eric Mele became the new special teams coordinator, replacing Brock. Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett coaching safeties, and Jason Washington coaching running backs.

Steve Spurrier Jr. added passing game coordinator to his duties, and offensive Mason Miller adds run game coordinator to his role.

Hollingshead has worked with Leach as an offensive assistant for the last six seasons, primarily working with quarterbacks. He helped develop Will Rogers into one of the top passers in the country in 2021.

Hollingshead played quarterback at Houston before joining Leach at Washington State as an offensive graduate assistant. He became the quality control coach in 2018, grooming Gardner Minshew into a high-level passer, before following Leach to Mississippi State.

"I'm incredibly thankful for this opportunity," Hollingshead said. "I want to thank Coach Leach and Mississippi State for putting their trust in me. I'm excited to continue helping develop our program, coaching our players to reach their full potential, and working with this incredible staff."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State football promotes Drew Hollingshead to inside receiver coach role