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Mississippi State

100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 44 Days - No. 44, LB Branden Jennings

3rupauk8_400x400by: Robbie Faulk07/17/25RobbieFaulkOn3
branden jennings3
Mississippi State LB Branden Jennings (Photo by Jared Thomas, Maroon and White Daily)

Year two of the Jeff Lebby era has arrived and the Mississippi State coach is back to work.

After a disappointing first season, the coach and his staff are doing what they can to get things back on track in Starkville. The players on the field will be the difference for State this season if they are to make a return and we’re going to discuss every single one of them over the course of the next few months.

As we do every year, we’re counting down 100 days until State’s first game at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg on August 30. Over this period of time, we’ll breakdown every scholarship player on the roster, look back at great moments in MSU history and even talk about legends that have come before the current Bulldogs.

Today, we look at a senior linebacker looking for a great ending.

44 Days: No. 44, Senior LB Branden Jennings

For the first time in Jennings’ college career, he’s about to play two seasons at a school and that could lead to a great end to the linebacker’s best season yet.

It’s been a long and winding road for the Jacksonville, Fla., native but he has never lost the faith. Coming out of high school at Sandalwood, Jennings was one of the top players in the country. He had the pedigree with his father Bradley playing for the 1999 National Champions at Florida State and he was backing it up as a top 100 player and Under Armour All-American.

Named one of 16 players on the semifinalist list for the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker in high school, Jennings had 127 tackles, 19.0 tackles for loss and 12.0 sacks as a senior in 2020. It was a monster offer list for Jennings as a recruit with verbals from USC, Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Miami, LSU, Florida State, Auburn and Arkansas all coming after him.

His final year of recruiting was a wild one. He committed to his father’s Alma Mater at Florida State during the spring of his junior year and then backed off that commitment during his senior season. After committing to Michigan a few days later, Maryland became a team to watch around signing day and he would ultimately flip to the Terrapins.

The craziness of Jennings’ football world wouldn’t be slowing down anytime soon. He went to Maryland and had a strong freshman season as he became a starter in three of the eight games that he played. He made 23 tackles and forced a fumble in his first season as he looked the part of a budding star, but then he entered the transfer portal.

After transferring to Central Florida for the 2022 season, Jennings would redshirt as he played in four games. The Community College route would be his next journey and he came to Mississippi to play for Hinds CC.

It was in Raymond where Jennings seemed to have found himself. The talented linebacker led the team with 58 tackles and 6.5 TFL and he added a sack, a forced fumble, recovered fumble and a touchdown – all on one play. Jennings would earn First-Team All-MACCC honors in the state and added First-Team All-Region 23. In the middle of that season, Jennings also picked up an offer from the Bulldogs and he would commit to State. He would stick to that commitment and came to Starkville as the No. 32 JUCO player in the country and the nation’s top linebacker.

Last year was a solid year for Jennings despite the Bulldogs’ defensive struggled. He found a home at his linebacker spot and made 56 tackles with 5.0 TFL, 1.5 sacks and one pass deflection as one of the few players that was able to make some plays in the backfield during the season.

Jennings enters his final season looking for his best year yet and will be competing again for starting reps at the Jack linebacker position.

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