Will Rogers

William Wyatt Rogers III (born August 19, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Rogers holds Mississippi State program records in nearly every major passing category and Southeastern Conference (SEC) records for single season and career completions. Early life and high school career Rogers was born on August 19, 2001, in Louisville, Mississippi. He spent his early years in Louisville before his family moved to Brandon, Mississippi, when he was in the seventh grade. The second of three children, his mother Judy attended the University of Alabama while his father Wyatt, a football coach, attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). His paternal grandfather Bill Rogers also attended Ole Miss, playing on the school's baseball team with Archie Manning. Rogers grew up an avid fan of the Ole Miss Rebels football team, idolizing quarterbacks Eli Manning and Bo Wallace. A strong athlete, he played a variety of sports growing up, including baseball and soccer. However, he was the most passionate about football, where in elementary school he ran drills with his father's high school players. While in middle school, Rogers would be mentored by future National Football League (NFL) quarterback Gardner Minshew, whom his father coached in high school, with the two forming a bond that continued even after Minshew had left Brandon to play college football. Rogers attended Brandon High School, where he played football under his father who served as the team's offensive coordinator. He became the team's starting quarterback as a sophomore, throwing for 2,476 yards and 18 touchdowns. In his second season as a starter, Rogers threw for 3,009 yards and 23 touchdowns, 14 of which were caught by future 2nd round draft pick Jonathan Mingo, and helped Brandon reach the state semifinals. As a senior, Rogers threw for 3,572 yards and 38 touchdowns and was named a member of the Mississippi AllStar Team. Recruiting Rogers was a 3 star prospect coming out of high school, ranked by 247Sports as the 29th best prostyle quarterback of his class. There was little mutual interest between Rogers and his childhood team of Ole Miss, as the Rebels had hired Rich Rodriguez as their offensive coordinator, whose read option offense typically utilizes a dualthreat quarterback rather than a prostyle quarterback.