Mississippi State Football Transfer Portal Tracker 2026: Who's In and Who's Out

Year two of the Jeff Lebby era is complete and Mississippi State is now pushing into an all-important third year for the Bulldog head coach.

After a 2-10 season in 2024, Lebby and his staff did improve the team with the transfer portal in year two, but a 5-7 record wasn’t good enough to satisfy many of the fanbase. With the Bulldogs’ struggles evident on the defensive side of the ball and the team losing seven of the last eight games, it creates even more urgency to improve the roster for an even better 2026.

The Bulldogs are slated to have more roster turnover this season as they continue to try and build things. That includes adding another big group of transfers. The portal doesn’t official open until January 2 and will be open until January 16, but players will continue to announce intentions to enter the portal before then. We will be tracking the comings and goings of all of it all offseason and fans can keep this article bookmarked for the full list and timeline of the process.

Transfers Out:

WR Sr. Jordan Mosely

SAF So. Stonka Burnside

WR Jr. Cam Thompson

WR Fr. Anson Lewis

DL RFr. Terrance Hibbler

OL Jr. Jaekwon Bouldin

WR Jr. Jaron Glover

DL Jr. Corey Clark

OL Fr. Alex Lopez

K Jr. Marlon Hauck

OL Jr. Brennan Smith

SAF Jr. Tony Mitchell

WR Sr. Markus Allen

DE So. Joseph Head

LB Fr. Fatt Forrest

TE Jr. Max Reese

OL RFr. Jimothy Lewis

WR Fr. Ferzell Shepard

TE Jr. Emeka Iloh

Transfers In:

Timeline:

November 30: With the regular season complete, the first names announcing their portal entrance have come out. Senior wide out Jordan Mosley was the first to announce as the veteran has decided to look for another school next year. Mosley will have to apply for an extra year of eligibility due to the fact that he has already played five seasons.

 Also announcing his transfer was Starkville safety Stonka Burnside. After playing as a freshman on special teams, Burnside moved to safety in the offseason but redshirted this season. Now he’s on the move.

December 1: Another wide receiver transferring out is former Northern Illinois pass catcher Cam Thompson. He played in three games and recorded no stats.

December 3: On signing day, a couple of younger Bulldogs announced they’ll enter the portal. South Mississippi freshman wide out Anson Lewis has not been with the team since the summer and will be, expectedly, entering the portal. State is also watching redshirt freshman defensive tackle Terrance Hibbler move on to a new spot. Hibbler had high hopes in Starkville but couldn’t make an impact in his first two years on campus.

December 4: Transfer offensive tackle Jaekwon Boulding announced on social media that he plans to transfer. The former Gulf Coast Community College lineman turned down State for Purdue initially but would transfer from the Boilermakers after one year. Now he’s on the move yet again having not played for State.

The Bulldogs added two more in the portal with reserve WR Jaron Glover and DL Corey Clark. Neither were major contributors for State.

December 9: Backup center Brennan Smith is entering the portal. The former Austin Peay and UTEP blocker played in three games during the 2025 season and then sat out the rest of the year. The Bulldogs got some tough news on Tuesday in the form of contributing safety Tony Mitchell hitting the portal. Mitchell had a nice end to the season with 14 tackles and 3.0 TFL in his final three games.

December 12: State had two instate defenders announce their intentions to enter the portal. DE Joseph Head and LB Fatt Forrest will both enter their names in January after being on campus for multiple seasons.

December 14: Junior TE Max Reese will enter the portal, he announced on X. Reese transferred in from Eastern Michigan and played in 11 games this season but had just two receptions for one yard. Part time starting tackle Jimothy Lewis is also set to enter the portal. Lewis played in seven games this season and started in four of those contests as the Bulldogs looked for something on the offensive line. He struggled at times to protect QB Blake Shapen but had a promising future.

December 15: Freshman WR Ferzell Shepard is expected to enter the portal. After getting to Starkville late in the process due to academics, Shepard sat out all of this year and will have four seasons of eligibility remaining.

December 16: Junior TE Emeka Iloh plans to enter the transfer portal according to Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong. Iloh was an intriguing prospect out of Coahoma Community College, but hasn’t seen that talent come to fruition just yet.