Is Jeff Lebby after a month the best recruiter in Mississippi State football history?

WilCoDawg

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Sep 6, 2012
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I like what I’m seeing but I’m going to reserve that honor until another year is under his belt. The offensive recruiting has impressive given the timeframe but defensively it’s concerning.
 
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StateCollege

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Oct 17, 2022
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I still probably would give Jackie the nod. Deljuan Robinson, Darren Williams, Dontae Walker, Norwood were all like Top 25 recruits nationally. Obviously the game has changed since then, but still he had some major signees. But Lebby has done a phenomenal job nonetheless.
 

OG Goat Holder

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Sep 30, 2022
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What am I missing? We are composite #29, that's generally where we always are. We were #27 last year. Leach pulled in #26 and #27 before that. The 2020 transition class was #28.

Admittedly, hard to judge when it comes to the portal these days. But this is another reason why it's silly to say we don't have some talent.
 

BirdPuppy

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Aug 5, 2023
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What am I missing? We are composite #29, that's generally where we always are. We were #27 last year. Leach pulled in #26 and #27 before that. The 2020 transition class was #28.

Admittedly, hard to judge when it comes to the portal these days. But this is another reason why it's silly to say we don't have some talent.
The class was in shambles one month ago.
 

OG Goat Holder

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The class was in shambles one month ago.
Understand, but seems like we basically held on to the same high school guys that were there before. Or reaffirmed some of them, I suppose.

An increase in the ranking due to the portal should have been expected.
 

ckDOG

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Dec 11, 2007
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I was impatient and gave him some hell after the QB transfer pipe dreams didn't pan out. All things considered, he's knocking it out the park relative to historical performance. Need to close strong with some transfer pieces on defense and we have a solid A performance on roster improvement.
 

TXDawg.sixpack

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It's debatable who you give the credit to, but Mullen recruited/produced the most NFL talent that's ever been through State: Dak, Jones, Simmons, Gay, Cox, Slay, and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.

Interestingly, we've NEVER had WR talent consistently "stick" in the NFL. We had Moulds under Jackie, but that's really about it. Hopefully that trend will change under Lebby.
 

OG Goat Holder

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Dan Mullen was the best recruiter we’ve ever had. And it’s not close.
It was in the old system, but there's no denying that Danny had a plan and executed it. He had that circle around Starkville and made it happen. The only thing stopping him from breaking the ceiling was missing Cam Newton. I also tend to think that if we had signed A.J. Brown, and he had stayed in 2018, we would have competed for the SEC/playoff.

That plan has certainly changed now.
 

OG Goat Holder

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I still probably would give Jackie the nod. Deljuan Robinson, Darren Williams, Dontae Walker, Norwood were all like Top 25 recruits nationally. Obviously the game has changed since then, but still he had some major signees. But Lebby has done a phenomenal job nonetheless.
Jackie missed on a ton of players though. Funny thing was, Rockey Felker essentially executed the Mullen plan, and Jackie came in and won with those guys. Then he kinda shifted to the JUCOs more later on. Mullen began doing the same thing at the end. Jackie also regularly went and got some good players from GA, which we haven't done much of lately it seems.

It's all about how you define recruiting. No question Jackie and Mullen elevated the talent level more than really anybody in the modern era. But even they didn't get the big fish and the big rankings very often.

I know not many agree, but I think Leach would been right there in that same lane, he had the name cache and that helped a good bit. Over time, I think his classes would have gotten better and better.
 
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GloryDawg

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Dan Mullen was the best recruiter we’ve ever had. And it’s not close. Lebbys recruited a lot of quantity cause that’s the way the game is played now & we had a lot of glaring holes to fill. We’ll see how the quality pans out. I think he’s done fairly well so far though.
Dan was probably the best at evaluation of guys who are overlooked. He could find them.
 

Dawgfan61

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It was in the old system, but there's no denying that Danny had a plan and executed it. He had that circle around Starkville and made it happen. The only thing stopping him from breaking the ceiling was missing Cam Newton. I also tend to think that if we had signed A.J. Brown, and he had stayed in 2018, we would have competed for the SEC/playoff.

That plan has certainly changed now.
AJ Brown is a cancer and would never have fit with Mullen. He is creating division in Philadelphia now.
 
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GloryDawg

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If he can keep us in the top 30 in recruiting and top 15 in portal, we will stay relevant. There will be more misses from the portal then hits. Hopefully they will save the NIL money for the guys who pan out.
 

OG Goat Holder

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AJ Brown is a cancer and would never have fit with Mullen. He is creating division in Philadelphia now.
I don't disagree. End of the day, you are what you are (talking about Mullen's results).

I heard Hurts is causing some of that division too.
 
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IBleedMaroonDawg

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It's debatable who you give the credit to, but Mullen recruited/produced the most NFL talent that's ever been through State: Dak, Jones, Simmons, Gay, Cox, Slay, and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.

Interestingly, we've NEVER had WR talent consistently "stick" in the NFL. We had Moulds under Jackie, but that's really about it. Hopefully that trend will change under Lebby.
Yes, you can't deny the players he recruited, but you really don't know if he actually what's very involved in recruiting them because he hated the recruiting game.

I guess you can give the credit to the whole team of coaches because they got the players here and then taught them. I really remember Chris Jones was nothing like what he grew into if you compare what he was like when he first showed up at Mississippi State.
 

Drebin

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Aug 22, 2012
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What if Bumphis wasn't on this staff? Seems like a lot of our big recruiting wins have more to do with Chad than Lebby.
I'm not slighting Bump in the least. He's kicking ***. But he was on this staff last year too. It seems to me that Lebby is a closer. Bump gets guys in and Lebby closes the deal.

Way too early to tell whether he's the best recruiter we've ever had. But he clearly likes that aspect of the job and is high energy. And we've never signed a WR class like the one we're in the process of locking down.
 
Sep 29, 2022
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It's like in high school when a girl lets you put your hand up her shirt on the first date and you get all excited thinking surely you'll be scoring regularly any day now. Just a matter of time, really. High fives all around. But then on the next date, what if she gives you the ol' stiff-arm? Or worse, what if she gives you chlamydia? Or what if she's a no good two-timing ***** who's just using you to get back at her ex-BF Darryl? Seems premature, is what I'm trying to say.
 

SchrodingersDawg

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Or what if she's a no good two-timing ***** who's just using you to get back at her ex-BF Darryl?
not that there's anything wrong with that seinfeld GIF by myLAB Box
 

TaleofTwoDogs

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It's like in high school when a girl lets you put your hand up her shirt on the first date and you get all excited thinking surely you'll be scoring regularly any day now. Just a matter of time, really. High fives all around. But then on the next date, what if she gives you the ol' stiff-arm? Or worse, what if she gives you chlamydia? Or what if she's a no good two-timing ***** who's just using you to get back at her ex-BF Darryl? Seems premature, is what I'm trying to say.
Hellva' an analogy.
 
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MStateDawg

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But he was on this staff last year too.

He was hired in January of last year after the bowl game and after the first singing period. For all intents and purposes, this is his 1st recruiting class at Mississippi State
 

Drebin

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Aug 22, 2012
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He was hired in January of last year after the bowl game and after the first singing period. For all intents and purposes, this is his 1st recruiting class at Mississippi State
He had some whiffs. There was much discussion about it.

I knew someone would jump in and defend Bump. Like I said, my post wasn't to disparage him. He's a cog in the machine but it's a team effort.
 

OG Goat Holder

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I'm not slighting Bump in the least. He's kicking ***. But he was on this staff last year too. It seems to me that Lebby is a closer. Bump gets guys in and Lebby closes the deal.

Way too early to tell whether he's the best recruiter we've ever had. But he clearly likes that aspect of the job and is high energy. And we've never signed a WR class like the one we're in the process of locking down.
Sounds like Moorhead, not even joking. Everybody raved about his crootin too, players' coach, etc.
 
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