Jeff Lebby addresses 'daunting' task of replacing countless starters

Jeff Lebby knew he was going to have to build his roster nearly from scratch when he arrived in Starkville earlier this offseason.

28 players from the 2023 Mississippi State football team elected to enter the NCAA transfer portal this offseason after Zach Arnett was let go following one season leading the program. While Lebby only brought in 19 to compensate, the first-year headman feels as though he’s covered his bases nicely heading into the regular season.

“The climate of college football, where we’re at, the portal cycle that ended in December was a huge part for us having a chance to have success year one,” Lebby explained during SEC Media Days. “We’re talking about our starting quarterback, three of the five starting O-linemen, two receivers, starting running back, and on the defensive side we’ll have three starters from the portal, as well.

“Being able to get off the ground was a huge part of it. That’s not who we want to be. We’re going to create edge, and we’re going to be able to sustain as a program because we’ve got great proximity to players. We’re going to be a developmental program.”

Lebby has talked at length about the buzz he feels when he walks into the Bulldogs facilities each day and how quickly the team has meshed throughout the spring, summar and now into fall training.

Building that type of culture is all a part of Lebby’s vision to turn Mississippi State into a transfer portal and recruiting destination for top talent wanting to play in the SEC. Of course, that goal is going to have to begin at the local level which Lebby is already looking ahead toward.

“We’ve got great junior colleges inside our state which is advantage us,” Lebby continued. “So those are things, as we move forward — it will look a little bit different, but for year one, we’ve got guys that will go out there week one that have played a lot of ball, just not a lot of ball at Davis Wade.”

The Bulldogs will look to kick the Jeff Lebby era off on the right foot to begin the 2024 regular season on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky in Week 1.

Matchups at Arizona State and against Toledo will lead Mississippi State into SEC play against Florida during Week 4 before traveling to Texas, a team Lebby is all-too familiar with, the following week on Sept. 28.