RECAP: Mississippi State prepares for bounce back season
Jeff Lebby was accompanied by Blake Shapen, Isaac Smith, and Brenen Thompson
ATLANTA, GA (WCBI)- Mississippi State had an eventful 2024 season. But for all the wrong reasons.. After ending the year without a conference win, Jeff Lebby knew he needed to reload his roster.
“I think the biggest difference is that we’ve added so many pieces that have played at other places that have had some success, and that can play winning football for us,” Lebby said. “As we’ve added those guys, I think we’ve got the right people, too. I’ve talked about this in recruiting, whether it’s transfers or high school players, at the end of the day, they’ve got to be good enough, but then you want to take the right people. I think we’re in a much better place as a team today than a year ago.”
The program added an sec high 60 new players after the start of the year. While that number is a high one, veteran quarterback Blake Shapen knows that’s no surprise in the transfer portal era..
“This is the day and age that we live in college football where each team every year is probably going to be a lot different,” Shapen said. “You just have to adjust with it. We brought in good guys for the culture that are talented. But we’ve been able to build relationships with each other and its been good.”
With so much turnover, team chemistry could be hard to come by. Luckily for Jeff Lebby, the players have taken in their teammates as their own..
“There have been a lot of different situations that have created a team. You put them through some strain and some toughness throughout the summer to create that. When you look at it, 80% of our roster was in year one or two of being apart of the program. I think as we’ve gotten into it, guys that have been here that are year two understand what it needs to look like. Our new guys, they’ve picked up it really well. There’s been great buy in, great consistency and I’m excited about getting on the grass.”
The Bulldogs will hit the practice field for fall camp in early August before kicking off the season at the end of the month against Southern Miss.
