Spring practice for the Mississippi State football team kicked off on Tuesday. The Bulldogs, who are now under the direction of new head coach Jeff Lebby, are looking for a resurgent season after missing a bowl game for just the second time in 13 years in 2023.
During a recent episode of Thunder & Lightning, Lebby discussed what his goals are for his inaugural spring in Starkville.
“I want to achieve ‘team.’ I want our guys to become closer. I want our team to understand what it’s going to take on Saturdays,” Lebby said. “And to me, that’s us getting on the grass and understanding the practice field, man, it’s got to be our edge. It’s got to be advantage us with the way we practice, how we do what we do, and I think that will be huge in setting a foundation for year one.”
Lebby, who is now a head coach for the first time in his career, has made stops at Central Florida, Ole Miss, and most recently Oklahoma. He explained that working with Josh Heupel, Lane Kiffin, and Brent Venables has helped expand his repertoire from just the quarterback position to an entire team.
“When you talk about [Heupel], he was instrumental in giving me the opportunity to coach the quarterback position from a fundamental standpoint,” Lebby said. “…I think the next part is Lane was doing an incredible job from an offensive standpoint with some problem plays and having some things that created issues for the other side of the ball with some of the pro-style schemes while being in love with how we called it and how we tempoed and the spacing and all those things. Being able to marry that stuff up was good and created some growth.”
“Then, I think my time in Norman…Coach V did such an unbelievable job of creating a great trust and great foundation with the sole mission of understanding that there’s so much more to this than just the game of football and making sure that we’re serving guys’ hearts and not just their talents.”
Since his promotion to offensive coordinator at UCF in 2019 and his subsequent stops at Ole Miss (2020-21) and Oklahoma (2022-23), Lebby’s units have prospered by never finishing a season outside the top 25 in terms of total offense.
A lot of his success has been hinged on quarterback play as Lebby coached college standouts in McKenzie Milton, Matt Corral, and Dillon Gabriel. One question Bulldog fans have had this offseason is if there’s a player on the current roster who has the capability to put up the kind of numbers Lebby’s previous quarterbacks have managed.
“All three of those guys played the game the way it’s supposed to be played, and they would die for their football team (and) for their teammates. They were incredibly accurate throwers in a bunch of different body positions and guys that can keep things alive and make plays with their feet,” Lebby said, adding that he thinks Baylor transfer Blake Shapen could be the next great quarterback to thrive in his offense.
“When I watch Blake, like 10 or 12 plays in, I’m like, ‘That’s my kind of guy. That’s exactly who we are and who we need to be.’ Blake is a guy that’s got a really, really live arm. He’s got great toughness about him. He’s got a really good understanding because he’s played a lot of football. And, man, I’m excited about him.”
While it seems like there’s a surefire starter behind center, constructing who will be in front of Shapen is going to be a top priority for Lebby and his staff this spring. As of now, a minimum of three starters on the offensive line could be transfers while the defensive line could also be full of new faces.
“Football is won in the trenches,” Lebby said. “Ain’t no doubt about it.”
Spring practice at Mississippi State will conclude on April 15 with the annual Maroon-White Game during Super Bulldog Weekend. The full interview with Lebby can be found below.
