After early signing period, what are Mississippi State’s biggest recruiting needs?

Mississippi State added 30 new players to its 2024 roster during last week’s early signing period, but head coach Jeff Lebby’s work is hardly complete.

Two verbal commits have yet to sign their national letters of intent, the Bulldogs are still in the running for at least two highly-touted prospects who have yet to commit, and more players will undoubtedly put their names in the transfer portal after bowl season. The Dispatch is taking a look at MSU’s biggest areas of need as recruiting season continues into the new year.

Linebacker

The Bulldogs are losing nearly all of the production from their 2023 linebacking corps as the stellar duo of Nathaniel “Bookie” Watson and Jett Johnson have declared for the NFL Draft, and DeShawn Page did the same on Wednesday. That leaves J.P. Purvis, John Lewis and Donterry Russell as MSU’s returning linebackers, as well as Ty Cooper, who started the final two games of the season.

MSU has three linebackers signed for the class of 2024 in Winona High’s Fred Clark and two junior college players — Branden Jennings of Hinds Community College and Marcus Ross of East Mississippi Community College. None of the 10 transfers the Bulldogs have brought in are linebackers, making the heart of the defense a position of need while the portal is still open.

Watson and Johnson are as close to irreplaceable as it gets, but Lebby needs to add another player or two who can rack up tackles in the middle of Coleman Hutzler’s first defense in Starkville.

Tight end

MSU reintegrated the tight end position into its offense in 2023 after moving away from the Air Raid with limited success, and Geor’quarius Spivey’s eligibility ruling two days before the season opener certainly did not help. With Ryland Goede in the transfer portal and Malik Ellis eventually switching back to the offensive line, the Bulldogs will need plenty of tight end help as they install yet another new offense.

JaCorey Whitted, a three-star prospect from McCalia, Ala., is MSU’s lone tight end in the class of 2024. The Bulldogs have also added brothers Cameron and Justin Ball, from Buffalo and Vanderbilt, respectively, in the transfer portal. MSU has locked down an excellent group of wide receivers, but adding another tight end sure would not hurt.

Defensive back

Nearly the entire Bulldogs’ starting secondary will be gone — Shawn Preston Jr. and Marcus Banks have declared for the NFL Draft and Decamerion Richardson and DeCarlos Nicholson have transferred. Safety Corey Ellington also put his name in the transfer portal but opted to return to MSU, so he and cornerback Brice Pollock will be the lone returners with significant playing time under their belts.

Lebby managed to flip cornerback Elijah Cannon from Florida Atlantic on signing day, and the Bulldogs also added the top junior college safety in the class with EMCC’s Tyler Woodard. MSU was the only major conference offer for safeties Jatavious Johnson and Cyrus Reyes, both from Texas. So far, the Bulldogs’ only transfer portal addition in the secondary is Memphis cornerback Traveon Wright, who did not register any statistics for the Tigers as a freshman.

MSU