STARKVILLE — As Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby took the podium Wednesday, he had plenty to smile about.
Early signing day offered some major twists and turns for the Bulldogs a year ago, most notably with Tyler Lockhart’s late flip from Ole Miss to MSU. Lebby was able to laugh about it afterward, and again on Wednesday with no late holdouts to worry about flipping elsewhere.
One year later, there was no such drama, and the Bulldogs had secured 27 signatures by noon.
“We still wanted some balance. Ended up being four junior college guys, and for us, the high school piece of it is really important,” Lebby said. “I think we added some great depth to the class. I love what we’ve done at multiple positions.”
The Bulldogs landed several reinforcements at skill positions and in the trenches, notably flipping two defensive prospects from other SEC programs in the days leading up to the early signing window. It gives the Bulldogs a clearer picture going forward into the transfer portal in January as they look to reshape the 2026 team around quarterback Kamario Taylor.
“I talked about this early in the season,” he continued. “I felt like we had opportunities to go finish the way we needed to. We were going to be incredibly aggressive where we needed to add some big-time players, and it’s happened the way we wanted to.”
The highlight of the class is safety Bralan Womack, a composite five-star by 247 Sports who is rated as the second overall player in Mississippi and a Top-50 player nationally.
Womack flipped to MSU on Sunday after committing to Auburn earlier in the season, and held firm on that decision despite the Tigers’ retention of defensive coordinator and interim head coach D.J. Durkin.
“Me and Bralan have had an incredible relationship,” Lebby said. “There’s been great dialogue. I believe in that young man in a great way. He’s loved Mississippi State for a long time and he’s been over here a ton from the time he was a youngster coming over to games, different camps… I think everything just came full circle for him.”
Additionally, one of the biggest weaknesses for the Bulldogs was up front on defense, and Lebby’s staff went hard to remedy that for the future. Their efforts were rewarded with Tico Crittendon, a former Florida State commit with offers from Georgia and Georgia Tech as well, and Micah Nickerson, a four-star pass rusher who flipped to the Bulldogs from Mizzou just before signing day.
Joining Womack in the defensive backfield will be Jaiden Taylor, a three-star two-way player out of Noxubee County and the younger brother of MSU quarterback Kamario Taylor.
Both Womack and Taylor were stars at wide receiver as well as defensive back, but both are regarded as safeties by Lebby in this signing class.
One position group missing from the class was linebacker, a positionthe Bulldogs have hit heavily through the portal under Lebby while also relying on in-house players such as Nic Mitchell and Branden Jennings. With Zakari Tillman and Malick Sylla poised to return, as well as the emergence of Lockhart, last year’s main character on signing day, Lebby felt comfortable with where the unit was at on the recruiting trail.
“We feel strongly about this linebacker room we have right now. 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 on (special teams) this year.
The final piece of the team’s offseason recruiting will be the two-week transfer portal period, which runs January 2-16. At time of reporting, three commitments in the high school class remain unsigned and could opt to wait until the February signing date, but in the meantime, Lebby has the core of his group figured out heading into the portal.
Wide receiver Jordan Mosley, who is looking for an extra year of eligibility, entered the portal over the weekend as did Starkville native Stonka Burnside, but there will doubtless be plenty of movement both ways.
“It’s going to be so fluid until we can’t get kids into the class anymore, and that’s just the nature of college football now,” Lebby said of the transfer portal. “What is today won’t be tomorrow. That’s the reality of it. We want to find ways to make sure we’re as aggressive as we can be through retention, for one. And two, going and getting the additions we need to create advantages next fall.”
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