Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State football depth chart: Early look at offensive line starters

Mississippi State’s starting offensive line remains a mystery heading into the first scrimmage. Here’s what we know from practice, player comments, and film study.
Taylor Hodges|
A Mississippi State offensive line during a preseason practice drill earlier this week.
A Mississippi State offensive line during a preseason practice drill earlier this week. | Mississippi State Athletics/X

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Mississippi State Bulldogs

One of the biggest and most important unknowns about Mississippi State is who will be the starting five offensive linemen.

The candidates, both new and returning, are numerous. The Bulldogs are scheduled to hold their first scrimmage Sunday, which could give us a better idea about who the starting five will be. But the scrimmage isn’t open to the public or media and the only availability will be with coach Jeff Lebby afterwards.

Lebby is guaranteed to be asked who the starting five offensive linemen. Maybe he’ll answer. Maybe he won’t. But Sunday is the first chance we’ll get to know the answer the most important question in the preseason.

Right now, the best we can do is try and piece together some educated guess based on comments players have made in post-practice press conferences and what we in the media have seen. The big caveat with what we’ve seen in practice is that it’s only been positional drills. So the order of players and where they line may or may not matter. For that reason, we’ll skip all of that.

But here’s what we know so far:

  • Luke Work said on Friday he’s been playing both of the guard positions;
  • Canon Boone said on Friday he’s been playing center and right guard;
  • Albert Reese is splitting time between guard and tackle;
  • Jacoby Jackson said during a post-practice press conference he’s been playing guard and competing against Zack Owens, Trevor Mayberry, Boone and Work;
  • During a preseason press conference, new offensive line coach Phil Loadholt said he thinks Zack Owens can “play tackle eventually”.

That’s not a lot, but it’s what we’ve heard and we haven’t had chance to see any team drills.

Also, fun fact, I don’t think we’ve even see a quarterback take a snap from a center…but maybe there’s highlight somewhere, hold on…OK, found a few things scrolling through the official @HailStateFB account on the site formerly known as Twitter.

Yes, we are going to give the “Zapruder film” treatment to highlights on social media.

This looks like Canon Boone at center in this photograph. Undershirt, wrist straps and glove on left hand match what he was wearing at Friday’s post-practice press conference.

Mississippi State offensive and defensive lines square off during a preseason football practice.
Mississippi State offensive and defensive lines square off during a preseason football practice. | Mississippi State Athletics

In this clip below, Luke Kromenhoek is at quarterback, which likely indicates this isn’t the first-team offense. Trevor Mayberry is at left guard, and it appears the left tackle is No. 75, Jocoby Jackson, but it’s not clear at the start and there’s one or two frames showing that person wearing what looks like a number with a “5” in it.

Again, it’s hard to tell for certain, but it looks like the center in the clip is No. 50 Kolby Keenum. The right side of the line doesn’t appear.

So, in that clip, it’s Keenum at center, Mayberry at guard and Jackson at tackle.

Here’s another brief moment in a social media post showing the offensive line. In the bottom square, you can see the left tackle is a light-skinned person and the first number on their jersey is a 6. Freshman Spencer Dowland is the only player that fits that description.

As we continue down this rabbit hole, this video comes up. It’s a passing play with Kamario Taylor in at quarterback. From this we can see TJ Lockhart at guard and Mayberry in at either guard or center. Hard to know for sure without seeing the full play. We can also see Dowland in what is certainly not one his better moments.

Now we get a clip of Blake Shapen at quarterback, which likely indicates this is the first-team offense (Davon Booth showing up helps reinforce that). We also get a glimpse of Blake Steen who was a spring transfer. It looks he’s playing right tackle based on how Shapen moves up in the pocket and the path Steen takes. We can also see Jackson later in the clip.

Now, based on all of that, here’s who I think is on the first-team offensive line right now. I'm probably wrong but I didn't do all that work because it was fun. That's just a bonus.

  • LT: Jacoby Jackson
  • LG: Luke Work/Albert Reese
  • C: Canon Boone
  • RG: Luke Work/Albert Reese
  • RT: Blake Steen

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.