STARKVILLE — Jeff Lebby’s offenses are best known for stretching the field by throwing the ball deep. But for the last five years, the offenses Lebby coordinated at UCF, Ole Miss and Oklahoma always ran the ball more often than they passed and were never in the top half of the national rankings in pass-play percentage.
So with Lebby entering his first year as Mississippi State’s head coach, the Bulldogs’ running backs, featuring several new faces and without a key returner in the injured Seth Davis, are going to be just as important as quarterback Blake Shapen and the wide receivers.
“They have to be able to do it all,” running backs coach Anthony Tucker said. “We’re going to run the football. They have to be very proficient and good in protection, and then they have to be able to create some mismatches in the pass game, so they have to be really well-rounded to operate in this offense.”
Multi-year starter Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks is now at Southern California, so in the spring, MSU’s primary backs were former Penn State transfer Keyvone Lee and two former junior college products in Jeffery Pittman and Johnnie Daniels. But Lebby said after the spring game in April that he was hoping to add another running back while the portal was open.
He initially landed Rashad Amos, a 1,000-yard rusher last year at Miami-Ohio, but Amos spurned the Bulldogs for rival Ole Miss. MSU instead picked up Davon Booth, who averaged 6.7 yards per carry in 2023 at Utah State and led the Aggies with 805 rushing yards.
“We push each other to be better every day, so if one person messes up, we’re onto the next,” Lee said. “We’re brothers at the end of the day. We’re competing (for touches), but we’re brothers. In this offense, we’re going fast, so it’s really helpful when you have more than one running back who can hold it down.”
Lee played in nine games as a true freshman with Penn State, starting three of them, and led the Nittany Lions with 438 rushing yards. The following year, he appeared in all 13 games with four starts and totaled 508 yards and two touchdowns on 108 carries. But in 2022, Penn State added uber-talented freshmen running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, who diminished Lee’s playing time significantly.
With Singleton and Allen not going anywhere, Lee transferred to MSU but again saw limited touches behind Marks, Pittman and Davis. He played in eight games and had 75 rushing yards on 12 attempts.
“I really just control what I can control,” Lee said. “I go out every day and try to work my behind off and try to get better within myself. I really don’t worry about things I can’t control.”
The Bulldogs have added the top-ranked junior college running back in the country two years in a row, bringing in Pittman last year from Hinds Community College and picking up Daniels from Copiah-Lincoln Community College this year.
In Lebby’s offense, the running backs will need to do much more than carry the ball. They’ll be relied upon to block on pass plays and also catch passes out of the backfield themselves.
“Coach Lebby uses us everywhere,” Lee said. “We can be lined up outside, we can line up inside, we’ll start from the backfield, we’re in the pass game, we block. Any way he can get us the ball, he’s trying to get us the ball.”
Pittman played in every game but one for MSU last fall with two starts and provided an early-season highlight with a 29-yard touchdown reception in overtime to help the Bulldogs beat Arizona. Daniels is coming off a monster year at Copiah-Lincoln, racking up 1,253 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on 183 carries. He led the Bulldogs with 64 yards on just six carries in the spring game.
MSU also has a potential future star in freshman Xavier Gayten, a four-star recruit according to the 247Sports Composite rankings out of Brookhaven, Mississippi, who chose the Bulldogs over Ole Miss. Gayten rushed for 2,055 yards and 25 touchdowns as a high school senior, with five games of at least 200 yards.
“I know some guys would probably be mad, but he’s the fastest guy in our room right now,” Tucker said. “He’s built a little bit different, and he’s got a bright future. He’s worked really hard in learning what we’re doing and has really assimilated in our team very well.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
