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Mississippi State

100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 50 Days - No. 50 C Koby Keenum

3rupauk8_400x400by: Robbie Faulk07/11/25RobbieFaulkOn3
koby keenum
Photo by Mississippi State Athletics

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 another transfer contender for the starting spot at center.

50 Days: No. 50, Sophomore C Koby Keenum     

It took a couple of seasons but Keenum ended up where many people believed he would be dating back to his high school days.

With some ties to State, the Bulldogs were considered one of the favorites when he was coming up at Mars Hill Bible School in Florence, Ala. Offers poured in for Keenum during his recruitment as Penn State, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Kentucky, LSU, Notre Dame, Florida State, Arkansas, Michigan, Nebraska, South Carolina, Colorado and many others came through with offers.

Keenum made plenty of trips to Starkville and the Bulldog staff were in position many times to land the talented interior lineman. In the end, Kentucky would be the team to win the battle. It was a big win for Big Blue as the Wildcats got the nation’s No. 3 interior lineman according to Rivals. He was a four-star on the network and a three-star composite as a top 30 player inside the state of Alabama.

A two-time All-State member and the first player at his school to land at a Power 5 school, Keenum was a redshirt his first year in Lexington. Last season was a big year for Keenum’s development as he would start to get reps on the special teams unit and logged minutes in 11 of the team’s games. He got a chance to play center in a game, however, and was slated to be a competitor for starting reps this year before entering the transfer portal.

After entering the portal, State immediately became a destination spot for him with the history that he had in recruiting and Lebby and former line coach Cody Kennedy landed the talented blocker. Since Phil Loadholt took over as line coach he has since added another potential center in the spring in Brennan Smith and both Smith and Keenum will compete for a starting spot this training camp along with players like veteran Canon Boone.  

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