Greg McElroy reacts to Mississippi State hiring Jeff Lebby

This Mississippi State Bulldogs made a splash by hiring Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to be the team’s next head coach. With him, the Bulldogs hope he’ll bring his explosive offenses from the past.

During his show Always College Football, former SEC quarterback and current college football analyst Greg McElroy praised the hire but did note that there are some questions that Lebby needs to answer moving forward.

“I like the hire,” Greg McElroy said. “Obviously, a little off-topic here. My mind’s in Playoff mode, but I like the hire. I mean, I like Jeff and have known Jeff for a long time now and have a lot of faith in his system offensively to be able to put up a lot of points. He did it at Ole Miss, did it at UCF, did it at Oklahoma.”

This season, under Jeff Lebby, the Oklahoma offense has put up massive numbers. The Sooners ranked fourth in total offense, averaging 502.4 yards per game this season while also ranking third in scoring offense this season, with 43.2 points per game.

Prior to being the offensive coordinator at UCF, Lebby was a longtime Baylor assistant under his father-in-law, Art Briles. Influence from those offenses is still seen in Lebby’s offenses today.

“He came up in the Baylor system that is kind of universal now. It’s all over the place. So, if you look at what Tennessee‘s done with their style of attack, it’s gonna be comparable, not exactly the same but comparable. So, I think there’s a lot to like about the hire.”

One question mark for Greg McElroy is how Jeff Lebby is going to manage his staff and what key hires he’s going to make.

“The one thing I’m real curious about is who is his defensive coordinator going to be? Who is he going to target on that side of the ball? Because I would imagine he’d still call the plays. I’m sure he will. That’s what he does best, or that’s what he’s done best the last couple of years but will he, ultimately, maybe delegate that responsibility to somebody else that’s in his tree and who will he hire as the defensive coordinator.”

Ultimately, the explosive offense is great. However, McElroy also emphasized a need for toughness in Starkville.

“But I think it’s an exciting hire for Mississippi State, as long as he preaches toughness. That’s the biggest thing. When I think about Mississippi State and I think about the best Mississippi State teams that I played against and that I watched in the last 15-20 years, they’re all crazy tough, blue-collar, chip-on-the-shoulder type of teams. He needs to instill that because that is what has won there in the past,” McElroy said.

“Flashy, high-scoring, all that stuff is great but what has won there in the past has been physical, dominant, trench play offensively and defensively and high-level quarterback play. So, hopefully, he can establish that and create some opportunities for the Bulldogs to kind of ruffle some feathers in what is a deeper SEC next year.”

Paul Finebaum: Jeff Lebby is a ‘fantastic’ hire for Mississippi State

Greg McElroy isn’t the only one who liked the hire by Mississippi State. Paul Finebaum also praised the move to bring Jeff Lebby to Starkville.

I like him very much. I think it’s a fantastic hire. I think State really got the man they wanted. I don’t know whether A&M can say that. I haven’t, I don’t — I haven’t seen the autopsy on the entire coaching search yet. But I have a sense of it. It seems like Jeff Lebby was always in the mix. He’s been in the mix for a couple of days. I’ve heard Greg talk about him countless times, in terms of how he feels about him offensively,” Finebaum said.

“I think State is in considerably better shape than they were three or four weeks ago, when there was uncertainty about Zach Arnett’s future.”