Mississippi State football needs offensive line transfers to shine in 2024

Mississippi State football will kick-off the Jeff Lebby-era in less than two weeks. For Lebby's offense to take-off in year one, he'll need his offensive line to shine, and that's a group that's been totally reworked from a year ago.

Here's a look at Mississippi State football's O-Line room...

Who makes up Mississippi State's offensive line room?

MSU must replace all five starters from the 2023 season, so naturally, they turned to the transfer portal, adding four OL that will likely be starters in 2024. North Texas-transfer Ethan Miner was one of the highest-graded centers in the portal. One-time MSU commit Makylan Pounders has found his way to Starkville after success at Memphis, and will be the starting left tackle. Jacoby Jackson and Marlon Martinez are power conference transfers along the interior OL with plenty of starts under their belts. Albert Reese IV seems to be the lone returnee cemented into the starting OL, though Leon Bell could earn one of the jobs. And 4-star true freshman Jimothy Lewis will look to show if he's ready to make an immediate impact.

Reasons for optimism in Mississippi State's offensive line

Though the Bulldogs are replacing all five starters up front, the transfers they brought in have plenty of starting experience amongst them. Ethan Miner, Makylan Pounders, Jacoby Jackson, and Marlon Martinez have all at least been part-time starters in their careers. Albert Reese IV only has one start to his name, but he's played plenty for the Bulldogs over the past few seasons. They may be new to each other, but they aren't new to playing big roles. The top group seems to be talented as well, so if they gel together, this should be a solid OL.

Reasons for concern with Mississippi State's offensive line

Whether or not that group does gel together remains to be seen. Cohesion is everything when it comes to line play, and that's where the lack of experience together could be a problem. I'm less concerned about that, however, and more concerned about what's behind the starters. Depth is a very real worry with the Bulldog OL. There's very little experience amongst the backups, and beyond Jimothy Lewis, State lacks highly-recruited lineman. If State faces multiple injuries up front, they could be in trouble.