STARKVILLE — During his three years at Baylor, Blake Shapen was constantly moving back and forth between lining up under center and in the shotgun.
Under offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, the Bears used what is known as the “multiple” offense, essentially shape-shifting among several formations. It’s quite the contrast to Mississippi State’s new offense under head coach Jeff Lebby, where the quarterback is nearly always in the shotgun and the goal is to spread the defense out and get the ball to dynamic playmakers in space.
“It’s completely different,” Shapen said. “I was in a pro-style offense at Baylor, so this offense is way different. I was under center 50 percent of the time, and here it’s mostly shotgun. I’m moving fast. I’ve never really done tempo, so this is my first time doing it.”
Shapen was the first transfer portal addition for Lebby and the Bulldogs over the winter, committing to MSU just four days after he entered the portal in December. He may not have the pedigree of some of the other signal-callers who switched teams this past offseason — including Dillon Gabriel, whom Lebby coached the last two years at Oklahoma — but Lebby’s offense is well-suited to Shapen’s game.
The quarterback proved as much in April, when he put on a show against the Bulldogs’ defense in the spring game. Lebby said MSU has been “incredibly aggressive” installing the new offense, and while the process started in the spring, the Bulldogs added running back Davon Booth and wide receiver Trent Hudson after the end of spring practice, and after three-plus months away from football, everyone else also had to refamiliarize themselves with the new system.
“We want to apply as much pressure as we can, mentally and physically, so we can see which guys we can go count on,” Lebby said. “Our guys, they’ve taken to it. They’ve done a good job with it. We’ve been really aggressive with the way we’re installing (the offense) through the first 10 days of camp.”
Baylor’s leading receiver each of the last two years, Monaray Baldwin, topped out at 623 receiving yards in 2023 for a 3-9 Bears team. Even in the Southeastern Conference’s worst scoring offense, Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin eclipsed that number for MSU with 658 yards. Griffin is gone now, as are Zavion Thomas and Justin Robinson, but Shapen has plenty of weapons at his disposal, both old and new to Starkville.
Kelly Akharaiyi was a 1,000-yard receiver last season at Texas-El Paso, and Kevin Coleman, the 2022 SWAC Freshman of the Year at Jackson State, comes over after playing at Louisville last fall.
“We’re learning. Each and every day we’re getting better, learning from our mistakes,” Coleman said. “The best thing I can say we’re doing (is) we’re not messing up on the same thing. We go on film, see our mistakes, and the next day we don’t mess up on the same thing.”
Lebby said after the Bulldogs’ first fall scrimmage on Aug. 11 that MSU still had a long way to go offensively, but the second scrimmage Saturday was much cleaner. This week will mimic a game week as much as possible leading into what Lebby called a “mock game” coming up on Saturday before the Bulldogs open the 2024 campaign on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky.
Shapen last week was named to the preseason watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, named for the legendary Baltimore Colts quarterback and presented annually to a college football quarterback who best exemplifies character and scholastic and athletic achievement. He was also placed on the watch list for the award last year at Baylor.
“Coach Lebby, he pushes us to a different level,” Shapen said. “There’s never going to be a day that you walk in and you’re not going to learn something new. You’ve never made it, either. You always have something to learn, and we get pushed every single day, not only on the field but especially in the meeting room. That’s where we put a lot of the work in, up there, to be able to put it out on the field.”
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