The countdown to this year’s college football season has begun in earnest with less than five weeks until Mississippi State opens the season on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs, under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby, will open fall camp on Thursday.
As camp progresses, The Dispatch will be taking a look at each position group on MSU’s roster, noting who could be the potential starters, backups and impact players to look out for on the gridiron.
The Bulldogs’ wide receivers room is arguably the most exciting group on the team, having retooled significantly from a year ago. Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin, Zavion Thomas and Justin Robinson are all gone, but MSU returns Creed Whittemore, Jordan Mosley and Jaden Walley and added impact wideouts Kelly Akharaiyi and Kevin Coleman in the transfer portal. A trio of freshmen — Mario Craver, JJ Harrell and Braylon Burnside — could make an immediate impact.
The Starters
Kelly Akharaiyi
6-foot-1, 200-pound redshirt senior from Irving, Texas
Akharaiyi started his college career at Tyler Junior College before transferring to Texas-El Paso, where he had a monster year last fall. He finished with 1,033 receiving yards on 48 catches with seven touchdowns, averaging 21.5 yards per reception. Akharaiyi may not put up quite that level of production in the Southeastern Conference, but he will almost certainly be one of quarterback Blake Shapen’s top targets.
Kevin Coleman
5-foot-11, 180-pound junior from St. Louis, Missouri
Coleman played his freshman year at Jackson State under Deion Sanders and was the SWAC Freshman of the Year, catching 32 passes for 475 yards. As a sophomore at Louisville, Coleman made 11 starts and finished with 26 receptions for 362 yards and two touchdowns. A four-star recruit out of high school, he can help the Bulldogs’ offense stretch the field.
Creed Whittemore
5-foot-11, 185-pound sophomore from Gainesville, Florida
A quarterback in high school, Whittemore broke out in his collegiate debut last fall against Southeastern Louisiana, with a touchdown reception and a touchdown run. That game accounted for the majority of his production, but he is an excellent route runner with breakaway speed. He should be a good fit in Lebby’s offense.
The Backups
Jordan Mosley
6-foot, 195-pound redshirt junior from Mobile, Alabama
Mosley caught one pass as a true freshman at Northwestern in 2021, then transferred closer to home and appeared in three games for the Bulldogs in 2022. He started last year’s season opener against Southeastern Louisiana but finished the year with just three catches, one of which was a touchdown against Western Michigan. Mosley is likely to take on a larger role this season.
Jaden Walley
6-foot, 190-pound senior from D’Iberville, Mississippi
Walley was one of MSU’s top wideouts as a freshman in 2020, with 52 catches for 718 yards, then had another strong season as a sophomore. He played in every game again in 2022 but saw a diminished role last year, catching a touchdown pass in the season opener but finishing with just five receptions for 49 yards. It’s unclear where Walley stands on the depth chart heading into his final season in Starkville.
Antonio Harmon
6-foot-3, 200-pound redshirt junior from Kosciusko, Mississippi
Harmon has seen his role expand each year with the Bulldogs, and last season he appeared in all 12 games and finished with 14 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown. Playing a hybrid of wide receiver and tight end, Harmon scored his first collegiate touchdown against LSU and made his first start against Arkansas.
Trent Hudson
6-foot-3, 180-pound junior from Killeen, Texas
Hudson spent his freshman year at Trinity Valley Community College, then transferred to New Mexico State, where he caught 36 passes for 551 yards and 10 touchdowns even in a reserve role. He transferred to MSU after the spring but should add quality depth to the Bulldogs’ receiving corps.
JJ Harrell
6-foot-1, 195-pound freshman from Sardis, Mississippi
Harrell was a consensus four-star recruit out of North Panola High School, choosing MSU over nine other SEC schools including Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia. He remained committed to the Bulldogs through the coaching search last year.
Braylon Burnside
6-foot, 200-pound freshman from Starkville, Mississippi
Burnside, a local product, decommitted from MSU last November but signed with the Bulldogs in the end after Lebby retained wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis. A four-star recruit, Burnside caught 75 passes for 1,158 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior, then had 16 touchdown catches as a senior.
Mario Craver
5-foot-10, 170-pound freshman from Birmingham, Alabama
Craver won a state championship as a high school senior, racking up more than 1,000 receiving yards and 15 total touchdowns. He had offers from both Alabama and Auburn, as well as LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee and more.
The Rest
Ricky Johnson
6-foot-2, 185-pound freshman from Warner Robins, Georgia
Johnson was initially committed to Stanford but flipped to MSU during the early signing period in December. He finished with 1,213 receiving yards as a high school senior on 65 catches with 16 touchdowns, and also had offers from Virginia Tech, UCF, Vanderbilt and Minnesota.
Sanfrisco Magee
6-foot-2, 200-pound freshman from McComb, Mississippi
Magee chose the Bulldogs over Ole Miss, among others, and had 48 receptions for 1,229 yards and 15 touchdowns in 12 games in his final high school season.
Kade Kolka
5-foot-11, 190-pound senior from Tallahassee, Florida
Kolka has not appeared in a game in his three years with the MSU program.
Thomas Cheatham
6-foot-3, 190-pound junior from Philadelphia, Mississippi
A former community college baseball player, Cheatham did not enter a game with the Bulldogs last fall.
Logan Flinta
6-foot-2, 180-pound sophomore from Aledo, Texas
Flinta won two state championships in high school and was initially committed to Colorado State. He did not see the field last year at MSU.
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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.
