Jeff Lebby reveals questions he wants to hear when recruiting players

Now in his first offseason as the head coach at Mississippi State, Jeff Lebby is looking to put together a roster that’s capable of competing in the SEC. To do that, he’s going to need to balance high school and transfer recruiting while deciding which players are a right fit for the program he’s trying to build.

During an appearance on Andy Staples On3, Lebby shared that there are questions he wants to hear while recruiting players and that there are also things he doesn’t want to hear.

“I think the obvious ones are, ‘Coach, talk to me about opportunity,'” Jeff Lebby said. “For the transfer guys, guys that are serious about being great football players and taking care of their business is you’re trying to fix the roster and those guys are about opportunity.”

Mississippi State has, like many teams that go through a coaching change, been active within the Transfer Portal. As of now, the Bulldogs, are 42nd in the 2024 On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. Within that class, 15 players have transferred into the program.

“So, you want [transfer] guys to ask that question, ‘Tell me what the depth chart looks like? What’s the opportunity?’ You can’t promise anything at any point in time but you want guys that are serious about getting on the field and having production. So, that part of it is important.”

In his first high school recruiting class, the 2024 cycle, Jeff Lebby landed 24 commits, including five different four-star recruits. According to the On3 Industry Rankings, the Bulldogs had the 26th-ranked class overall and the 14th-ranked class out of 16 teams in the SEC.

If there’s one thing that Jeffy Lebby made clear he’s not interested in hearing from recruits about it’s NIL.

“Obviously, the guys that lead with the NIL piece and are trying to dig in on that part of it are not our kind of guys, and that’s the reality of it. I understand that’s a huge part of where we’re at from a college football scene, but for us, we want guys that are about the right thing,” Lebby said.

“They want to get developed on the field to go chase it the right way at the highest level, and they want to get developed outside the white lines too and have an incredible college experience and get a great degree and do things that are gonna change their life forever. So, we’re gonna stick to our guns on that stuff and I think it’s gonna work out the right way.”