Player movement is one of the biggest talking points in college sports, especially football. With the transfer portal wide open and many eligibility restrictions gone, players can move freely. And with NIL opportunities for those players, guys are all the more willing to transfer elsewhere.

One of the topics within the player movement discussion is the issue of tampering, contacting a player at another school not currently in the transfer portal to convince them to transfer elsewhere. The head man of Mississippi State football spoke on that issue Wednesday.

During Wednesday’s SEC Football Coach’s Teleconference, Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby was asked about how big of an issue tampering is in this level of football. Lebby not only was blunt in saying that it’s an issue, he also said that it’s happening right now with players on his team.

“It’s going on. There are guys on our football team that are going through that.”

– Miss State HC Jeff Lebby

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Lebby didn’t specify which Bulldogs are being tampered with, and he didn’t allege which schools have been in contact with them. But he did call for tampering to be addressed going forward.

“Until that is managed and policed at the highest level, then there’s nothing that’s going to stop people from doing it.”

– Jeff Lebby

Jeff Lebby is correct. Until there’s an actual risk to tampering with someone’s roster, teams will continue to do it. We saw that earlier this season when the SEC chose to implement fines for teams that are blatantly faking injuries in game. Suddenly, seemingly fine players aren’t dropping like flies. The same applies with tampering. Unless there’s a consequence, there’s no reason to not tamper.

But until that time comes, if it ever does, Mississippi State is simply going to have to deal with it just like everyone else.

Lebby may not have said which players have been contacted, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who the likely candidates are. Mississippi State is bad and only has a handful of impactful players. You can easily zero in on who Lebby is referring to.

WR Kevin Coleman is the most obvious. He’s been one of the SEC’s best this year. His running mate at wideout, true freshman Mario Craver, has flashed elite explosiveness this year. Both those guys are undoubtedly being contacted by rivals. State doesn’t have much going for it at all on defense, but safety Isaac Smith is a great player who would shine in a better defense. I’m sure people are telling him to jump ship.

There are likely a few others as well. But that’s just the reality everyone is in. Even the best teams are having their players back-channeled to enter the portal. Of course the few great players on a struggling team are going to be targeted. If you’re the rival team, that seems like easy pickings.

That’s why it’s imperative that Mississippi State do everything in it’s power to keep those guys in Starkville. Whatever it takes from a NIL commitment or whatever vision for the program must be sold, State has to hold onto the few key players they have on the roster. Otherwise, they won’t be building out of the hole they’re in.