Jeff Lebby reinforces Mississippi State football's defensive line thanks to former Purdue DL

New Mississippi State football head coach Jeff Lebby have been turning to the transfer portal to get the Bulldogs' recruiting efforts moving in the right direction and it seems like Lebby might have found an intriguing defensive lineman who can help MSU sooner rather than later.

Lebby and his coaching staff have found plenty of success through the transfer portal so far and the addition of former Purdue Boilermakers defensive lineman Sulaiman Kpaka might help the Bulldogs reinforce their defensive front.

The 6-3, 290 pound defensive lineman is from Grand Prairie, Texas. Coming out of high school, Kpaka was a three-star prospect for the Boilermakers. And just as Kpaka entered Purdue in 2019 as a three-star defensive lineman, he's set to arrive in Starkville as a three-star defensive lineman transfer portal prospect.

Kpaka redshirted his first year with the Boilermakers and then started seeing action as a redshirt freshman in 2020. He wasn't active in 2021, but in 2022, Kpaka played a significant role for Purdue as he played in 12 games and made a couple starts.

This past season, Kpaka was active in 12 games for the Boilermakers and made 10 tackles throughout the season. He also had a couple of sacks and one pass breakup.

Mississippi State football: Jeff Lebby and Bulldogs reinforce defensive line thanks to transfer portal addition of Sulaiman Kpaka

Kpaka was a productive member of Purdue's defensive line rotation and he can bring depth to a Mississippi state defensive front that definitely could benefit from having additional depth. And now Kpaka is bringing his talents south to Starkville.

As MSU finds itself rebuilding and starting from scratch in several different ways, the addition of an experienced defensive lineman like Kpaka will be beneficial for Jeff Lebby's coaching staff. The Bulldogs could use as much of a veteran presence as they could possibly get and Kpaka is someone who brings that to Starkville.

He's faced some notable Big Ten compeititon over the past few years and, at least in theory, he should be able to transition smoothly to things in Starkville as well as the physicality of the SEC.