Hughes rejoins Dogs to work with tight ends

Back when he hired Tony Hughes following last season, Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead labeled Hughes a Swiss Army knife.

Hughes, the veteran coach who also worked at MSU from 2009 through 2015, had the ability and know-how to coach pretty much wherever Moorhead needed him.

Moorhead ultimately decided that Hughes' ability to guide tight ends was the tool that best fit MSU. This spring, Hughes is thrilled to get to work on that task.

"I am excited to be able to coach tight ends,” Hughes said. “In coach Moorhead's offense, the tight ends have a very unique responsibility. They have to be blockers and they also have to be receivers. They do a lot of different motions, movements and different things like that. When you go back and look at all the tape from last year, they performed well as a group and unit. You have most of that unit coming back with Farrod (Green), Dontae (Jones) and (Brad) Cumbest and (Geor'quarius) Spivey. I look forward to the opportunity of working with those guys and improving them from what their play was last year, which was really good at times."

It is indeed a veteran group that Hughes inherits after the departure of former tight ends coach Mark Hudspeth, who left the Bulldogs to become the head coach at Austin Peay. Justin Johnson's MSU career wrapped up with the conclusion of last season, but the rest of the unit is essentially back in full, led by Green, who enters his senior year.

Green played in all 13 games last season and caught 11 passes for 81 yards. Hughes says he'll be looking to Green to set the pace for the rest of the tight end room.

“He should be the leader of the group,” Hughes said of Green. “He is the older guy, the elder statesman, and has played a lot and is a fifth-year senior. He has grown up in the position. I will be leaning on him heavily.”

Green might be the headliner of the unit, but Hughes knows Green has talented teammates to support his efforts. Jones could be looking to have a breakthrough year. He played in 12 games last year and caught four passes for 66 yards and a touchdown. His production could very well increase in 2019.

Then there are the youngsters. Redshirt freshmen Cumbest and Spivey have tools to make a splash.

“They have got tremendous size,” Hughes said of Cumbest and Spivey. “They are both excellent athletes and they have a tremendous upside with being that big and athletic. Sometimes you hate to use the word raw, but there is some development there, but that is the kind of program we want to be. We want to take two guys like that and develop them into two of the best tight ends in the conference."

Few men likely know as much about player development as Hughes. He's been coaching football in some facet since 1985. In the period of time since, he's done just about everything. He's been a head coach and he's coached many individual position groups as well.

This will be Hughes' second time in his lengthy career to specifically coach tight ends. He also guided the Ole Miss tight ends back in 2007. His plan this go-around is to mold a dependable group that the MSU offense can count on to help the team win in multiple ways.

“I think that is what coach Moorhead wants in that position – athletes that can do a variety of things,” Hughes said. “Not just be a good blocker or a good pass receiver, but guys that can do a lot of good things is something he wants in that position.”