Mississippi State Football Preview 2025: Offense and Defense Breakdown

Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2025: Offense 

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2025 Miss State Football Preview 
Season Prediction, Win Total, Keys to Season

- The horrific defense took up the spotlight of bad, but the offense didn’t do too much to pick up the slack. But it was the first season, head coach Jeff Lebby knows how to crank up an attack, and if everyone can stay healthy, look out.

- Starting quarterback Blake Shapen was knocked out for the year four games in with a shoulder injury, Michael Van Buren did what he could - throwing, and throwing some more to try keeping up the pace, thanks to the lousy defense.

Shapen is back - he threw eight touchdown passes and just one pick before getting hurt - but Florida State transfer Luke Kromenhoek is a top get from the portal. Van Buren left for LSU.

- The receivers are coming in through the portal. Leading receiver Kevin Coleman left for Missouri, but Jordan Mosley is back after finishing second on the team with 405 yards and three scores, averaging close to 18 yards per catch. Mosley will have to fight for time.

Anthony Evans (Georgia), Markus Allen (Eastern Michigan), Ayden Williams (Ole Miss), and Brenen Thompson (Oklahoma) headline a huge group coming in. None of them have been stars, but in this offense, the catches will come. Second-leading receiver - in catches -

- The key to the line is its versatility. Jacoby Jackson will almost certainly return to his spot at left guard, and then the shuffling begins. 6-7, 330-pound Albert Reese can play tackle or guard, but it all depends on the emergence of three transfers.

Koby Keenum (Kentucky) will take over at center, Blake Steen (Virginia) should be a terrific tackle in one spot, and then it’ll be a fight for the other spot.

- Getting 13-touchdown back Fluff Bothwell from South Alabama is an instant boost for the running back situation. He’ll work in a rotation with Davin Booth, last year’s leading rusher, averaging five yards per pop with five scores.

Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2025: Defense

- The Bulldog defense couldn’t do anything against the run, the pass rush was among the worst in the nation, and only UMass and Eastern Kentucky scored fewer than 30 points on this bunch before the 26-14 loss to Ole Miss. This bunch is different.

There are options at just about every position, the transfer portal loaded up with players, and good luck figuring this out until fall camp is done.

- Step One is to find a pass rush. The Bulldogs came up with just ten all season, and that’s where NC State’s Red Hibbler comes in. He missed most of last year, but made 6.5 sacks in 2023.

The tackle situation will be a work in progress, but that’s only because there are plenty of players to rotate in around Will Whitson, a good interior pass rusher from Coastal Carolina.

- Outside linebacker Branden Jennings led the team with five tackles for loss and 56 stops. Nic Mitchell is back after finishing third on the team with 80 tackles, but he’ll likely be moved around with Jalen Smith (Tennessee) about to become a statistical star in the middle. Mitchell, along with junior Zakari Tillman, should be dangerous folded into the 3-4 alignment.

- The safety situation is fantastic with 127-tackle Isaac Smith back at one spot, Hunter Washington back after coming up with 55 stops, and Alabama transfer Tony Mitchell should be an instant factor. Jahron Manning made 85 tackles with three picks last season for Old Dominion.

No Bulldog came up with more than one pick, and it doesn’t help that cornerback might be the team’s biggest question mark. Kelley Jones is a veteran on one side, and the combination of transfer Dwight Lewis and senior DeAgo Brumfield to produce on the other.

2025 Miss State Football Preview 
Season Prediction, Win Total, Keys to Season