Mississippi State football: Jeff Lebby seeking dual threat QB through transfer portal

With Jeff Lebby as the architect of the offense for the Mississippi State football team, he’s looking for a dual threat quarterback to lead the Bulldogs on the field.

It looks like identifying and adding a dual threat quarterback will be one of new Mississippi State football head coach Jeff Lebby’s top priorities. As Jeff Lebby attempts to revamp the Bulldogs’ offense, he’ll need someone able to run it in the manner it’s supposed to be run. And that includes a bit of mobility.

During his friendly introductory press conference Monday evening, Lebby made it clear that he wants someone who can keep opposing defenses on their toes. He’s got a desire for a signal caller than can excel both throwing and running.

“We want guys that can do both, to be able to keep people honest with their feet and be able to throw it all over the yard. So that’s who we’re going to be. That’s who we’re going to recruit to,” Lebby said.

He also made it clear that he has an idea of who he can get to play in that role.

Mississippi State football: Jeff Lebby apparently plans to use transfer portal to find dual threat quarterback

“Again, from a system standpoint, you know, I’ve got a good feeling we’re going to get who we need to get,” he said.

Lebby also noted how he plans to take advantage of the transfer portal to find the dual threat quarterback he needs to address the offensive side of things immediately.

“As we work through this, we’ll be able to go get, you know, a guy that we need. I think we’re going to address that position obviously through the portal,” Lebby explained.

And given Lebby’s fondness for RPOs and utilizing the entirety of the football field, having a quarterback who can push the ball downfield and also utilize every available option ahead of him (all while being aware of space available sideline to sideline in case he needs to heave the ball out wide) will be a valuable thing to have on this roster.

So, searching through the transfer portal is something Lebby will do.

What about Mississippi State’s current quarterbacks?

That’s not to say that Mississippi State’s current quarterbacks won’t be able to operate the offense. But they may not be the best fit right in this moment.

“We also have got a couple of guys on campus that i am incredibly excited about to be able to put us in a position to go compete and have a healthy competition this Spring,” Lebby said.

Chris Parson seems like an intriguing option to develop in this offense. But he’s young and it might be best to give him an opportunity to learn in this scheme before just throwing him out on the field.

This offense is going to be drastically different from the Air Raid that Mike Leach wanted Parson to learn and it’s going to be very different from what he was learning to operate this past season. A little more time might be necessary here.

With regards to Mike Wright, the Bulldogs will benefit from having someone for depth and who is an incredible athlete. His arm strength is interesting as well.

But, well, it seems like there might be some limitations in terms of passing accuracy there. It’s possible that Wright would thrive on the field in Lebby’s offense if he had the time to work with the new MSU head coach for a while and if he refined his passing skills.

Wright’s unique athleticism would make him interesting in this offense. But he hasn’t shown he can complete the passes necessary to make things really work here.

Still, I suspect Lebby will get him involved at some point or another this coming season.

So, as Lebby gets things going in Starkville, it’ll be interesting to see who he seeks out to be his quarterback and how he gets year one started. MSU fans will need to be patient and the Bulldogs are going to have to make some major changes on the roster to really get things to fit on that side of the ball.

2024 might be more of a “year zero” situation than many Mississippi State football fans really want. But if they can bear with that, the offense might work out in the long run.