Everything Mississippi State Head Coach Jeff Lebby said at his Thursday practice availability

Mississippi State football wraps up its final week of spring practices this week, building on last week’s open scrimmage. As the program inches closer to the 2026 season, Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby spoke with media one last time for the spring period.

Q: What you plan to accomplish this final week?
Lebby: Yeah, but today and Tuesday, we’re good physical practices for Saturday will be just helmets, T-shirts and jerseys. So the physical part of it has ended as we’ve gotten off the grass today, be a ton of indie on Saturday morning. Obviously, have great meetings tomorrow morning, walkthroughs. Saturday is about those guys understanding the expectation, as they start to do some things on their own in May and this summer, when we’re not around as much, of what we want it to look like. So being able to film those things, having great accountability inside each group, to be able to go lead and get done what we want to get done.

Q: With spring winding down, what are your thoughts on the battles in the O and D line?
Lebby: It has, without a doubt, been the most physical spring out of the three. That has been really good to see. I think for us, there’s been a ton of back and forth, which has been really, really good. I’ll continue to talk about the development of our depth on our roster. Both those positions, offensive line, I do. I feel really good about seven guys. We’ve got to have great development as we get through May, this summer, and into fall camp, to be able to get to that eight or nine number of feeling really good about guys to be able to go play winning football. But I do, I’ve loved the physicality, and I’ve loved the back and forth.

Q: Has anyone jumped from last year?
Lebby: I talked about him a little bit on Saturday, but it’s (Jahkeem Shumpert Perkins), without a doubt. You know, that was a guy that, again, was incredibly talented, loved the body type, loved the athleticism, but, man, he’s putting it together.

I’m not gonna say that I’m surprised by it. I’m really, really excited about his development, his accountability, who he’s been and his consistency. That part, for me, has been awesome to see. That’s gonna be huge for us. He’s got a ton of work to do, but, man, he’s put together 14 dang good practices and been very, very consistent.

Q: What are your thoughts about the safety group?
Lebby: We’re longer, we’re bigger, we’re faster. That group has depth to it that I’m really, really excited about. I do, I think, we’ve got five guys at that position that can go play winning football. I think there’s maybe a guy in that room who can slide inside and play some safety in some cover situations, throw situations that can really help us. We have not had that even close. Since I’ve been here. So I love where that room is. They are competing against each other every single day. Been very competitive with the wide receiver group, and we’re gonna need that group to be great for us.

Q: Thoughts on Zion Ragins sliding into the offense?
Lebby: He was banged up, probably the first six practices, and has just gotten healthy. And man, he’s exactly what I thought he was gonna be, the kid practices incredibly hard. He’s electric and dynamic down the field to be able to go and make plays and stretch the field. But what I love is his consistency, and how he works, and who he is in the building every single day. So he’s gonna have the ability to have a great year, but a great career here. and a guy that fits what we do in a great, great way.

Q: How has it been reuniting with Coach Montgomery?
Lebby: We’ve got so much history. He’s got so much knowledge inside the system, so the system knowledge part is really fun, because, you know, we can go back to conversations from 2009 and go back to a game, and both of us be on the same page. So that’s been really fun. There’s a ton of trust there, and, again, his experiences as a head coach for eight years, being a coordinator, coaching the quarterbacks, now coaching the receivers. He brought a ton of knowledge to the receiver room, and understanding how we do what we do, and it’s felt great. It’s been a ton of fun, and I love where we’re at with that group.

Q: How satisfied are you with KaMario Taylor‘s development?
Lebby: I’m not ever probably gonna be satisfied. I love the growth, and I love the development. I’m still gonna want more. He wants a couple things back from Saturday. I think I mentioned that Saturday right after the scrimmage, and it was very immediate for him. He did some things yesterday in two minute that I thought showed how much progress he’s made in the calendar year, and some things that he’s done, just from a planning and development standpoint, he has. He’s done really, really well. Again, I don’t think I’m ever gonna be satisfied, but I don’t think he is either. You know, he wants more. That’s what you love about him, and he’ll continue to work that way through the May, June, and July months.

Q: How excited are you to see how his running impacts your playcalling?
Lebby: At any point in time, you got the ability to go play 11 on 11, and that makes it really, really hard for the defensive side of the ball. I’ve talked a ton about making sure that one is our starter for every single game next year. That means doing a great job of not taking the unnecessary yet understanding when it’s the right time to be able to go strain and gain 5 more, or be able to get down, whether that’s in the run game, scrambling. That’s a big piece of it, too, but obviously, he’s gonna be very involved in what we’re doing in the run game.

Q: What has the retention been like scrimmage to scrimmage?
Lebby: The retention’s been good. It hadn’t been good enough to me with some of the younger guys and the depth, again, of the roster. Like, that’s where we’ve got to continue to create urgency for some of the guys that are down the depth chart a little bit, so that they understand how important it is that they know what to do and how to do it. But for the guys that are back, for the guys that have played some ball and are a little bit older, I love the way they have worked in the building. There has been great retention. There’s been things we’ve gotten better at week to week, but still so much out in front of us for the next three months.

Q: How does planning for early road games impact summer and fall camp?
Lebby: I don’t know if it’ll change what we do from a day-to-day standpoint. I think for us, we’re gonna have to do an incredible job of resetting. You have to, every single Sunday, regardless of the result on Saturday afternoon or evening. You’ve got to reset on Sunday, and then for us, understanding, again, how the schedule is set up, as we’re at home, week one, and then we’re on the road for two weeks with a long travel game, and then our first SEC game. That will be something that we talk about as we get ready to get into fall camp, but for our guys, it’s, man, it is truly gonna be one of the time, and having the ability to reset on Sunday, and get ready to go be the best we can be for the next seven days.