Mississippi State football will have a touching on-field tribute to the late Mike Leach on Saturday.

The Bulldogs will honor the former coach by painting a cowbell decorated with a skull and crossbones. State fans are known for making noise with cowbells and Leach was a noted pirate enthusiast.

The coach’s signature will also be painted on the field surrounding the cowbell.

Leach passed away unexpectedly back in December before the team’s bowl game. Zach Arnett, formerly the defensive coordinator, assumed head coaching duties and led the team to a 19-10 ReliaQuest Bowl victory.

Arnett is now set to begin his first full season as the Bulldogs’ head coach. Arnett knows that his team will be emotional on Saturday, but the coach thinks everybody will be ready to play.

“Obviously we’ve had 9 months to mourn, grieve, and for our players, obviously back in December getting ready for the bowl game, that was completely different time and they were in a completely different emotional state than right now,” Arnett said this week. “Now obviously I’m sure Saturday will be emotional for some. I know there’s going to be something to honor Coach Leach there at the game. But we’ve had time to process the tragedy that did happen.”

Arnett stressed the importance of keeping around some of the philosophies introduced by Leach but also realized that Leach was one of a kind.

“Obviously losing Coach Leach, not only who he was as a football coach, but as an individual and he’s certainly one of a kind,” explained Arnett. “He is for sure, in my opinion a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

The Bulldogs will kick off against the Southeastern Lions on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.