Everything head coach Jeff Lebby said during Wednesday's signing day press conference

On Wednesday afternoon Mississippi State put the finishing touches on the Class of 2025, a class that currently ranks No. 26 by On3. Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby met with the media to discuss the class:

Q: Just your overview and thoughts on the class?
Lebby: I think we’ve made a bunch of improvement from a roster depth standpoint. You look at it today, 24 guys in with a chance to add a couple more. From a junior college standpoint, a couple of transfers that are in the boat. Having the ability to add to our roster, today was gigantic. We get an elite quarterback to be the headliner in the class. A guy that’s from right here that stayed with us – Kamario (Taylor) and his family. Just incredibly appreciative of their support and loyalty as we’ve gone through this, which has been huge for us. Again, it addressed a lot of needs. The depth is probably what I’m most excited about, the depth of the class. I talked during the season a ton about our scout teams, having the ability to grow the back-half of the roster to help us from a developmental standpoint. I think we addressed a bunch of that today.

Q: What’s been the process of evaluating your staff and with recruiting?
Lebby: Since we’ve gotten back from the Egg Bowl, I guess there’s been a bunch of evaluating going on. For us, it started with having exit meetings with our players. That’s really what’s gone on the past 4-5 days. We’ve gotten back in the building, had a bunch of exit meetings with guys that needing a fresh start, needing to move on and do something a little different. Then retention of the roster while making sure that we got to today and we were ready to sign the high school and junior college players that we needed to sign today.

From there you look at the totality of it. We have, I have been in constant evaluation of every piece of the program. As I continue to look back and evaluate, I think for me the biggest thing is, regardless of the deck that we played with, at the end of the day we fell short of our expectation. It was frustrating in the moment and there was a lot of disappointment. I am incredibly proud of our toughness, our effort and how we tried to play, especially as we finished the year even in the situation we were in. But as we move forward, I’m incredibly excited about where we’re going. From a signing class standpoint, having the ability to add some incredible pieces to our staff that I think will be monumental for us, will be big for us as we move forward.

Then as we get into the portal season, we have to go find a way to address the needs that we have. Today was a huge part and a huge start. But now that it moves the focus to the portal season and getting these transfers in here that we need.

Q: With your recruiting focus, how does that change from the start of the season?
Lebby: I think there’s two sides of the coin. The first side is what they’re going to get from us when they’re inside the building and the expectation and the level of commitment they’re going to get from their staff. That hasn’t changed. The energy, the toughness, how we do what we do every single day, that part hasn’t changed. The understanding that there’s incredible opportunity to come in and have an immediate impact is seen and is very real. I think guys understand that. As we’re moving through the portal, that will be a huge piece of it. I think we’ve been able to hold on to the class we have right now and continue to build to it and flipping a couple of guys. I think that’s happened because of the support we have inside our building. I think our energy, our connection and how our guys have worked onto it is why it happened.

Q: With the lack of defensive linemen signed today, how vital is that in the transfer portal?
Lebby: It’s a huge deal. You look at the three guys today, for us it is a big part of where we are going. We have to be able to practice against guys to get us ready for Saturday afternoon. That is huge. Today was a big part of that and these next three weeks are going to be huge, too.

Q: What stands out to you about Kamario Taylor on film?
Lebby: He can do it all. He can do things you can’t coach. To me, that is an elite player that is playing a position that is just getting started. He’s got his best ball ahead of him. This guy is incredibly intelligent. He plays the game the way you want him to play and he’s got this bright light inside of him and gets the most out of the guys around him, too. There’s so many positives for him but I love who he is as a young man, which that starts it.

Q: What does it say about Kamario with the way he wanted to be in the locker room here as much as possible?
Lebby: To me that’s what it’s all about. That’s a guy that understands how important it is to have great piece around him. It’s never going to be a one-man show. So for him knowing he had to do a really good job recruiting these guys non-stop and creating relationships with them was huge for us. I’ve always said when you have a big-time high-level quarterback at the early parts of your class, you have the ability for him to create some relationships to make it really hard on kids to think about doing different things. I think that’s really, really true.

Q: You were able to sign some big bodies. How important was that?
Lebby: I can’t say it enough. We had a tight end all week of the Egg Bowl playing as a defensive lineman with Walter Nolen’s jersey number on him. We need big people, to play with and to practice against. That is very real. What happened in our expectation, we fell short in a huge play. But there is a plan to get it fixed. You go sign a bunch of defensive linemen that are 6-3, 6-4 and 290 to 330 pounds, you’re getting better. Not just playing on Saturday and the production you are getting, but how you were having to strain in practice to be able to get to where you want to go.

Q: Do you have a number in mind of how many transfers you want to sign?
Lebby: I think we will end up around 15. That will fluctuate a little bit but that’s going to be that sweet spot right in there, plus or minus a couple.

Q: Will you be adding any more to your staff and is there a timeline on that?
Lebby: There’s not truly a timeline on it and it will be truly adding to the staff and making sure we are putting the right pieces in place to be able to grow this thing the right way. Have a couple of things in the works I’m excited about.

Q: Your thoughts on cornerback Kyle Johnson?
Lebby: You put the tape on and this guy looks like an SEC DB (defensive back). He’s a got ballhawk, got great instincts, he plays both sides of the ball, has return ability and he plays really tough. Again for me, that’s a guy that’s real close to that five-hour radius. From Louisiana and real similar to where we’re standing and sitting right now. I love what he brings to the table for us.

Q: What is the scope of your recruiting?
Lebby: You look at it and I talk non-stop about the five-hour radius. We were able to hit on that in a really good way. I think from a junior college standpoint, we go to California and go get the big guard Matthew (Lefeau) that I’m fired up about. Really did some good things in the junior college ranks from an offensive line standpoint inside the state, which was huge. We had a couple of ties with a couple of kids in some spots that were maybe a little further way that we felt really good about.

You look at a guy like Breyden Turnage, just coming off playing football for the first time in his career. You watch this dude play baseball and basketball and he’s an elite athlete at 6-7, 285 pounds. It’s a guy we just got on late in the process that just comes up and we continue to find ways to find guys and he pops. That’s one from inside the state of Tennessee but another one inside our five hours and what we will continue to focus on.

Q: How has NIL made the final days of recruiting more difficult?
Lebby: It’s constant. It’s going on as we speak. I’ll walk into a couple of text messages as soon as I walk out of here. So it’s up until the very last hour. It’s up into the very last text when they submit it through email. It was all night last night and then all morning this morning. It’s a fight for sure.

Q: Do you have a different appreciation for the rivalry with Ole Miss now that you are on the State side?
Lebby: I was pretty aware, I was. As I got into it this time last year and there’s a couple of weeks of being on the road that we had some battles there to finish out recruiting with a couple of guys. We all know who we are talking about that went the right way for us. Then there’s been some battles here in the last 36-48 hours on some guys. It’s always going to be that way. Until you get it done and until it is final, you don’t know until it’s done. So I’ve got great appreciation for that piece of it and how much it takes to get a guy in the boat.

Q: Your thoughts on the guys you are retaining after this past season?
Lebby: We’ve had incredible conversations. Again, some guys needed to go and get a fresh start at some other places. I think that’s just part of where we’re at. But the guys that are coming back, they’re excited. They’re excited about the belief, the toughness, the energy. Things did not go close to the way we wanted them to or how we expected it to go. But you see the fight on both sides of the ball and special teams all the way through the end of it. With the situation we were in, I think it taught us a lot about our guys’ belief. The guys that are coming back, we’re excited for that and we’ve got some great pieces to build on.