40 in 40: Meet Mississippi State’s new “scud missile” safety Jahron Manning

From junior college to Old Dominion and now Mississippi State, Jahron Manning’s journey has him poised to make an immediate defensive impact in the SEC.

Mississippi State Safety Jahron Manning (#13) during the 2025 Spring Game at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

Mississippi State has had success bringing in junior college transfers and the Magnolia State has some of the best junior college programs.

Players can end up at junior college for a number of reasons. Maybe their grades aren’t good enough to enroll at a FBS school. Or maybe their talent has yet to reach its potential and they need more development time.

And it’s not too surprising junior college players can make an immediate impact. Their two years older and have spent two years growing bigger and stronger. They’ve also had some more life experiences and (can be) more mature.

One of the best junior college pipelines for Mississippi State has been Copiah-Lincoln Community College. And there are several current Bulldogs who played for Co-Lin CC.

But the next Co-Lin transfer to make a big impact in Starkville is safety Jahron Manning. Here’s why he’ll be important in 2025:

Who is Jahron Manning?

Football This Month 🙌#HailState x @jahron_manning pic.twitter.com/2or8zayqBz

— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) August 1, 2025

A New Orleans-native, Manning went the junior college route after playing at Brother Martin High School. He’s entering his senior season and first with Mississippi State.

He began his junior college career at Tyler Junior College in Texas (five games played, seven tackles) and then played at Copiah-Lincoln Community College (71 tackles, three interceptions, one forced fumble) alongside current Bulldogs linebacker LaKendrick James and running back Johnnie Daniels.

He’s also the second-highest rated Mississippi State defender in EA College Football 26, for whatever that may be worth.

What happened in 2024?

South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers (16) is tackled by Old Dominion Monarchs safety Jahron Manning (5) in the first quarter at Williams-Brice Stadium. | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

To answer that question simply, he had his breakout season. After two seasons at the junior college-level, Manning transferred to Old Dominion. He started all 11 games last season and finished second on the team with 85 tackles and tied for the team lead in interceptions with three. He had four games where he had 10 or more tackles and recorded seven tackles in Old Dominion’s season-opening game against South Carolina. After the season, Manning entered the transfer portal where he was one of the highest-rated safeties available.

Why will he be important in 2025?

Mississippi State needs defensive playmakers. Whether it’s getting sacks, forced fumbles, or interceptions didn’t matter – 10 sacks and seven interceptions in one season isn’t good enough to compete in the SEC.

Manning fulfills that need for interceptions. The Bulldogs have talented safety Isaac Smith, but he’s more of a linebacker/safety hybrid (hence the 127 tackles last season). Manning has the physical abilities to be a ball-hawking SEC safety, but it was his intelligence that drew the biggest praise from safeties’ coach Matt Barnes.

“He's a great player,” Barnes said about Manning in a preseason press conference. “ He was a great player at his previous school and, I mean, you see it. You know why he is (a great player). He's highly intelligent. Highly intelligent with also a great work ethic and works at the game.”

There’s a lot of competition for a starting role in Mississippi State’s secondary, though, and there’s no guarantee Manning will win one of those spots. But Barnes is confident that Manning will make an impact this season.

“If I was going to say, you know, pound the table and say this is what I expect, I expect him to be a demon for us on special teams at the very least,” Barnes said. “He's a definite run-and-hit scud missile.”

If you don’t know why being a special teams “demon” is important, then you might want to buy this.