Oklahoma's Top 20 recruiting what-ifs, No. 14: Jeff Lebby

Life’s many paths and endless choices lead us inexorably to where we are today.

Where would Jeff Lebby be today if he hadn’t injured his back and become a football coach?

Lebby was a 4-star offensive tackle, a mountainous prospect from Andrews, TX, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound punisher who had a bright future when he signed with Oklahoma as a member of the 2002 recruiting class.

He wanted to play at OU for Mark Mangino. But Mangino left for Kansas, and Lebby never played for the Sooners. After injuring his back, he stepped right into coaching — and today he’s the outrageously successful offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Lane Kiffin at the University of Mississippi.

Lebby probably would still be coaching. As an all-state player, his dad was the head coach at Andrews. It’s in his DNA. But even in a best-case scenario — plays four years at OU, becomes an All-American, gets drafted high and has a long career in the NFL — he’d probably only recently have retired.

That injury, so long ago now, set Lebby on a path to coaching stardom — at least for now — because once he was given a medical hardship at OU, Bob Stoops let him join the “staff” as a student assistant coach. That no doubt accelerated Lebby’s coaching career.

Lebby graduated from OU in 2007. After coaching on the high school level in Texas, Lebby coached running backs at Baylor under Art Briles — he also married Briles’ daughter, Staley — and was elevated to passing game coordinator before turmoil took down Briles and the Baylor program.

Lebby got back in at NAIA Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL, and had the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation in 2017.

Josh Heupel hired him at Central Florida as quarterbacks coach in 2018, and then promoted him to offensive coordinator in 2019. Under Lebby, the Knights ranked second in the nation in total offense. Only two teams averaged 300 yards passing and 200 rushing in 2019: UCF and Oklahoma.

Last season at Ole Miss, Lebby’s offense set an SEC record for total offense (562.4 yards per game) and ranked in the top 10 nationally in 10 offensive categories, including scoring, rushing, passing, yards per completion, passer efficiency and completion percentage. Quarterback Matt Corral threw for 3,337 yards and 29 touchdowns, and wideout Elijah Moore became a consensus All-American.

Lebby just signed a two-year extension worth $1.2 million a year.

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This series

National Signing Day is around the corner, so SI Sooners is examining Oklahoma’s biggest recruiting what-ifs of the last 20 years.

NOTE: We've changed the theme from "regrets" to "what-ifs" because it's hard for many to get past the negative connotation of regret. Also, "what-if" is a more accurate depiction of what we're trying to convey.

The series isn't intended to put anyone in a bad light. It's not about the coaching staff regretting that they signed these guys, or the players regretting they came to Oklahoma.

This is about players who arrived (or almost arrived) at Oklahoma but then, for whatever reason, left well before they reached their potential.

This is what college football recruiting is all about: the risk-reward that comes with not knowing a prospect's potential. For every Adrian Peterson, there's a Rhett Bomar. For every Tommie Harris, there's a Mo Dampeer.

The time period is since 2000, when online recruiting services and the current "star" system became prominent.

The rankings were compiled by SI Sooners publisher John Hoover, Sports Animal host Al Eschbach, KREF host James Hale and Sooner Spectator publisher Jay Upchurch.

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How Hoover voted:

I didn't rank Jeff Lebby in my top 20. But one has to wonder where he'd be right now if he'd been healthy enough to play.

No. 14 on my list was running back Brandon Williams, a member of the Sooners' 2011 class and arguably the top high school running back prospect in the nation. Today, Williams just finished his fourth season in the NFL ... as a cornerback. Find more about Williams in the link below.

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Top 20 Oklahoma Recruiting What-Ifs

(since 2000)