Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby talks about 2026 signing class

Mississippi State had a busy morning on National Signing Day with 27 signees announced before coach Jeff Lebby held his press conference.

Below is what he had to say about the signing class. (Note: There is still, potentially, more signees that'll be announced that you can follow along with here.)

On signing more high school players than junior college players...

We still wanted some balance. I think it ended up being four junior college guys. And for us, the high school piece of it really important. I think we added some great depth to the class. I love what we've done at multiple positions. You know, I did. I talked about this early in the season. I felt like we had opportunities to go finish the way we needed to. We were going to be incredibly aggressive of where we needed to add some big-time players. And it's happened the way we've wanted to and really excited about the class.

On Brody McWhorter being the class's first signee...

Yeah, for Brody, wanted him to sign first because he has, man. He's been the guy that's been incredibly consistent. As we got him on campus and were able to spend time with him after the brutal injury he had as a junior, man, we felt like this guy was a guy that was going to be able to have the ability to go lead our program at some point. Physically, he's got all the tools. The kid loves football. It's incredibly important to him. He's incredibly competitive and man, he's been through some stuff and it hadn't been perfect. And I love his toughness, how he responded and went and played this year and loved that he was ready to lead from the front today and sign at 6-0-1.

On relationship with safety Bralan Womack...

Me and Braylon have had just an incredible relationship. There's been great dialogue, I believe, in that young man in a great, great way. He's loved Mississippi State for a long time and he has been over here a ton from the time he was a youngster coming over here to games, all the different camps he's attended, and I think everything just, man, it came full circle for him. He's got an incredible family. I think there's great trust on both ends there and just so excited that Braylon, man, at the end of the day, it was important for him to be a Bulldog and a guy that loves Mississippi State, and it was important for him to stay in state and be a guy inside this signing class that, man, we could be able to go lean on and depend on. So a huge piece of it, a ton of excitement around him with great reason, and we were aggressive with him from day one, man, and wanted him to be a guy that could lead this class.

On Micah Nickerson...

Yeah, the Jack defensive end position, and he's a true rush, an elite one, and the fight has been on for that dude for a long time. Love his ceiling and where he's going, but for us, we do feel strongly about this linebacker room that we have right now. We've got a really good group. We've got a lot of guys back that have played, and there's some pieces inside that room that haven't played a lot on defense, that played a lot for us on teams this year, and that we think got a chance to be elite players.

On plans for transfer portal...

It's going to be so fluid, and it will be so fluid until we can't get kids into class anymore, and that's just the nature of college football right now. What is today won't be tomorrow. I mean, that's just the reality of it, and we want to find ways to make sure that we're as aggressive as we possibly can be in the retention, one, and then, two, man, going and getting the additions we need, again, to be able to create advantage next fall.

On RBs Cooper Crosby and Jaeden Hill...

They are the best two backs inside our state. I believe that. They're SEC backs, they're SEC players. I don't know what people were leery on J.J. on.

All he's done is produced. And for a really good football team, for a place that coaches them hard, that's got a great program, they know how to win, J.J.'s a winner and a guy that will do anything to help his team win. Like playing quarterback in the first five or six games of the season, because they needed him to. But another guy that I'm so proud of for being as strong as he's been with us the entire time. And there's a lot of people that continued to stay in his ear, but he stayed strong. And then Cooper is a guy that's had this incredible senior year, like a magical senior year.

And you put the tape on, man, he can do it all. And we had him in camp this summer. We loved him. I love who the kid is. He's going to have this great impact on the field. Cooper's going to have a great impact inside our locker room. He's about the right things. And man, fired up that we got to sign those two guys.

On quality of evaluations of players...

Yeah, I think the evaluation, the early evaluation is a huge part of our success today. I believe that. And being on some of these guys early that didn't have a lot early, that we trusted our eyes and we trusted the in-person evaluation, I think for us is a huge, huge factor on us having the day that we've had. So a ton of credit to the personnel department, our recruiting department. You mentioned it, it takes a lot of people to go pull this off. Where we are, the people we battle and understanding, man, we're fighting like heck to be the aggressor and not being reactionary in anything and still staying incredibly true to ourselves. So proud of the entire building, man, for making it happen today.

On potentially adding more staff...

Yeah, we're in the middle of evaluating every bit of it. I was talking about being aggressive from a recruiting standpoint. Man, it's all areas inside our program. As we continue to move this thing forward and build it the way we want to go sustain, we're evaluating every piece of it. So expect there to be some things change as we get into the next seven to ten days.

On growing comfort with recruiting as head coach...

I think we're so much further ahead than we obviously were day one when I got here.

And in comparison to that, as we stand here right now, again, we've got the right people in the right seats inside our building. There's great depth in our personnel department. There's great depth in our recruiting department.

We need everybody pulling this rope the same direction. We've got that right now, and I am. I'm excited about where we're moving this thing and how we're going to be able to recruit and sustain here for a long time as we continue to put these classes together.

On level of activity in February signing period...

Yeah, it's undetermined. I wouldn't expect a ton of action on that day. Everything really from now is going to be talked about it, but being aggressive with retention and then adding the pieces that we need in the portal, we're definitely going to have our eyes open.

I think there's a real chance for some of these guys to slip to that February date, and if it makes sense, I think with the way the roster and the schedule is set up, there's a chance that you have a couple of spots on that February date where you don't have the spring portal to be able to go sign guys to where that could come into play. But as it sits here today, I don't expect it, but it'll be fluid.