Jeff Lebby Lists Some Players, Staff Who Will Get Bulldogs 'Off the Ground Running'

Year 1 is typically a difficult season for coaches, but at the 2024 SEC Media Days on Wednesday, Lebby outlined a few Bulldogs who can help lead the team on the correct path early.

Mississippi State head football coach Jeff Lebby at 2024 SEC Media Days / SEC

Mississippi State hired former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as its new head coach on Nov. 24, hoping to revive the Bulldogs' presence in the Southeastern Conference and the college football world.

Year 1 is typically a difficult season for coaches, but at the 2024 SEC Media Days on Wednesday, Lebby outlined a few Bulldogs who can help lead the team on the correct path early.

"The biggest piece for us to get off the ground the right way, we needed to go get a quarterback that could get it done," Lebby said. "I talked about it nonstop today and we got the right guy. That's a guy that's gonna have an opportunity to engineer an offense that's going to be to the standard that we want it to be at. Without that piece, I think things look a little bit differently."

Lebby is referring to Baylor transfer quarterback Blake Shapen. Although his second season as Baylor's starter was shortened due to an early MCL injury, he completed nearly 62 percent of his pass attempts for 2,118 yards, 13 touchdowns and three interceptions in eight games. Shapen played a full season at Baylor in 2022 and threw for 2,790 yards and 18 touchdowns.

On April 20, Shapen shined during the Bulldogs' spring game as he completed 18-of-22 attempts for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Lebby explained why Shapen is "the right guy."

"There's a ton of things," Lebby said. "Intangibles, as you see Blake play, you see toughness, attitude, a guy who can create and get you out of a bad play--that to me inside our league is more important than probably anything when things aren't perfect up front. He's got great experience, he won a Big 12 Championship and he's a guy that's done it for a while and played a bunch of ball."

Lebby also listed a couple of players on the defensive side of the ball who can help get the Bulldogs off the ground running.

"(Linebacker) John Lewis is here with us today and he's a guy I expect to have a great year," Lebby said. "He's got great toughness, great energy and the way he plays and the way he does what he does. For us, (linebacker) Stone Blanton is another guy on the defensive side of the ball who had great success at South Carolina and had the abilities to lead the defense there and now is stepping into a role for us to be able to give us some stability there. So those are some key pieces that we'll continue to lean on as we build the right way in year one."

He may not be calling plays, but head strength and conditioning coach Shaud Williams is another Bulldog who Lebby believes is crucial to the team's development.

"A guy who has great trust and great connection with (everyone) and did it at the highest level by playing in this conference," Lebby said. "At the end of the day, he's not going to ask people to do anything he didn't do. Being able to connect with those guys through his experience has been huge for us."

The final Bulldog that Lebby mentioned was another new staff member in former Alabama outside linebackers coach and special-teams coordinator Coleman Hutzler.

"Hutz is a guy who has great passion, toughness, edge and creates a culture of accountability and demands so much from his guys every single day," Lebby said. "That was a huge part of getting that side of the ball nailed with, he's our leader on that side."