Jeff Lebby explains notable absences from Mississippi State's depth chart

Jeff Lebby had updates for a trio of absences from the officially released depth chart yesterday at Mississippi State.

Lebby addressed the names of Kelly Akhairayi, Corey Ellington, and Jeffery Pittman not making it on the Bulldogs’ two-deep during his press conference on Monday. He began with Akhairayi and Ellington by noting that pair have had injuries throughout the fall. Each respective issue will keep them out for this weekend’s opener against Eastern Kentucky.

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“With those three guys? I’ll start with Kelly and Corey. Both those guys may have been dinged up, fighting some things through fall camp. So they won’t be available this week,” said Lebby. “We’ll continue to look at their situation as we get into the season. Hopefully get those guys back sooner than later.”

Ellington appeared in all dozen games last season, including seven starts, as part of 31 appearances through three years at Mississippi State. In that time, he has posted 92 tackles, a pair of deflections and sacks, and a forced fumble. In 2023, he broke out with all of those career statistics along with 66 tackles that were fourth-most on the defense. The safety now returns after exploring the transfer portal this offseason.

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Akhairayi, a transfer receiver from UTEP, comes into his first season in Starkville as a Top-50 one per On3’s 2024 Transfer Portal Top Players, which makes him the second-best addition for the team. This comes after he caught 69 passes for 1,308 yards and eight touchdowns in two years as a Miner. That includes 48 receptions for 1,033 yards and seven of his scores last season. It’s a large loss with the expectation being that he’d be a starting receiver for their offense.

Finally, as for Pittman, his name not making the chart is a more significant matter. Lebby made it known that the running back, who was entering his second season with the program after being their fourth-leading rusher last year, is no longer part of their roster.

“Pitt is actually a guy that is no longer with us right now,” said Lebby. “Won’t get into the details of that internal matter.”

The Bulldogs will want to have two of those names back as soon as they can for kickoff although they’ll miss the first game against the Colonels. We now know why they’re not ready from the very start, though, with Lebby’s explanations to start the week yesterday.

“Those are those three guys and why you don’t see them on the depth chart,” said Lebby.