Mississippi State adds 31 spring enrollees to football program

Mississippi State’s spring semester marks one of the largest infusions of new football talent in school history.

January enrollment brought in an incredible 31 new players to school to start preparing for spring football. The list includes all 15 transfers, eight of the high school signees and six Junior College players. It’s part of a new-look Bulldog football program under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby.

Transfer Portal

Since Lebby arrived, the coach has landed 15 transfer portal players to try and help the Bulldogs immediately on each side of the ball.

The offensive group is full of instant-impact players at key spots, beginning with Lebby’s apparent starting quarterback in Baylor’s Blake Shapen. In three years with Baylor, Shapen threw for 5,574 yards 36 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while dealing with multiple injuries.

Shapen will be behind a retooled offensive line as former Arkansas OL coach Cody Kennedy picked up several potential starters. State began with Pro Football Focus’ second-rated center and the No. 1 ranked portal center Ethan Miner from North Texas. MSU also landed former Bulldog commitment and Memphis left tackle Makylan Pounders to protect Shapen’s blindside, Texas Tech guard Jacoby Jackson and LSU’s Marlon Martinez.

At wide receiver, the Bulldogs landed a dynamic pass catcher and special teamer in Louisville’s Kevin Coleman. Before he starred for the Cardinals as a receiver and returner, Coleman was the SWAC Freshman of the Year in 2022 for former coach Deion Sanders. State also picked up UTEP’s 1,000-yard receiver in Kelly Akharaiyi as well as tight end brothers Justin Ball from Vanderbilt and Buffalo’s Cam Ball.

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive line coach David Turner landed three players in North Carolina’s Kedrick Bingley Jones, Purdue’s Sulaiman Kpaka and Auburn’s Wilky Denaud. The only other defender MSU was able to land was South Carolina’s defensive captain and former Diamond Dawg baseball commitment Stone Blanton. The MRA grad spurned the Bulldogs in high school but returns with two more years to spare.

Finally, State landed a punter in Zach Haynes from New Mexico State. Haynes had 52 punts this season for a  40-yard average with 19 punts inside the 20.

High School

State also had a large group of high school athletes enroll early.

It’s led by the highest rated player in the class in North Panola wide receiver JJ Harrell. The Sardis wide receiver was a big part of the Bulldogs finishing out its class strong and is expected to have an early impact in Starkville.

Somewhat of a surprise to the early enrollees is Starkville four-star WR Stonka Burnside. The Yellow Jacket standout has been planning to get into school early but had work to do to finish up in January. All of Burnside’s coursework is complete and he made it into school this week to start his journey.

WR Mario Craver from Clay Chalkville in Alabama is also in school early with his future teammates and was a standout in the UA All-American Game. He helped his team to the State Championship win over Alabama signee and five-star WR Ryan Williams from Saraland.

Harrell, Burnside and Craver’s future QB is also in town as the Under Armour All-American Game MVP Michael Van Buren is an early enrollee. The former Oregon commitment from St. Frances Academy in Maryland committed to Lebby shortly after the coach arrived in Starkville and made his decision the same day that Craver did. All four of the talented skill players came in on an official visit together back during December.

On the defensive line, Gulfport High School’s Kai McClendon was also announced as an early enrollee.

Offensive line help has arrived out of high school as well with IMG Academy’s Jimothy Lewis in school early with Memphis native Luke Work. Both players were in All-American games as Lewis played in the All-American Game and Luke Work in the Army AA Game.

From the secondary, a couple of players that flipped late in the process to the Bulldogs enrolled early in former Florida Atlantic cornerback pledge Elijah Cannon and Memphis safety commitment Cyrus Reyes.

Junior College

MSU got some help out of the JUCO ranks this year as well, specifically from National Championship Runners Up East Mississippi.

The Bulldogs landed four of the Lions’ defensive starters with former State commit safety Tyler Woodard, former Alabama cornerback Brylan Lanier, Bassfield linebacker Marcus Ross and Brandon defensive lineman Ashun Shepphard all making the move down Highway 45 to come to Starkville from Scooba.

MSU also got some big help with the addition of JUCO’s No. 1 running back in Johnnie Daniels from Copiah Lincoln. It’s the second season in a row that State has landed the No. 1 JUCO back after pulling in Jeffery Pittman a year ago.

A traveler is making his debut with the Bulldogs on defense in Hinds Community College’s Branden Jennings. After starting his career as one of the top freshman defenders in the country at Maryland, Jennings was going to transfer to Kansas State but would land at UCF before ultimately ending up at Hinds.

The nation’s No. 2 linebacker in JUCO, Jennings finished with 58 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and 1.0 sack this year.