Mississippi State football: Jeff Lebby celebrates David Turner
By Ethan Lee
As the Mississippi State football team keeps David Turner on staff, the new head coach of the Bulldogs is celebrating his addition to the staff.
Jeff Lebby is continuing to build his first Mississippi State football coaching staff and while there have been numerous changes and additions that have been brought to Starkville, one steady presence and familiar face will be kept around on the new coaching staff.
Lebby ensured that MSU would continue to have a recruiting presence in the state of Mississippi when the Bulldogs retained David Turner.
Turner has been a longstanding part of the Mississippi State football program dating back to the early parts of the Dan Mullen era and has routinely been a key aspect of MSU’s recruiting strategy for in-state players.
Mississippi State football: Jeff Lebby issues statement after Bulldogs retain David Turner
After it was announced that Lebby would be retaining Turner, the new head coach of the Bulldogs issued the following statement:
https://twitter.com/HailStateFB/status/1730674122202710291
“Coach Turner is no stranger to Mississippi State and the SEC, and he will bring a veteran presence to our staff. His reputation in college football as a defensive line coach is second to none. He has a proven track record for developing elite defensive line units over the last three decades. He’s recruited, signed, and coached the best of the best in the NFL and is the reason Mississippi State is widely known as DLU.”
That’s a pretty big statement to make.
Under this new coaching staff, the Bulldogs will have expanded access to new and incredibly important recruiting pipelines (such as the abundantly populous and talent-rich states of Texas and Florida) that can bring new talent to MSU.
But there will be plenty of folks who want the Bulldogs to continue to recruit folks in-state. So, this is a move they’ll celebrate.
And it’s worth mentioning that this is not a bad move from an on the field coaching standpoint either. Turner was instrumental in helping the Mississippi State football program develop some incredibly powerful defensive linemen.
So, for MSU to try to continue to be “DLU,” keeping Turner is important.
This is a good move from several angles. Recruiting. On the field. Veteran presence. It makes sense that Lebby would want to restart this program, but it’s cool that he’s keeping Turner around.