Now THIS is what a Lebby WR room is supposed to look like...

[Clint Lamb]

With the addition of former Georgia wide receiver Anthony Evans, Mississippi State has now completed its room for 2025. The most important aspect of this signing is what rising junior brings to the table as a starting-caliber slot option. In the six seasons Jeff Lebby has been either a play-caller or head coach on the Division I level, his team's starting slot receiver led the offense in receiving yards. To further this point, I've included Lebby’s top 4-5 receivers from each season dating back to 2019.

Mississippi State (2024)
Kevin Coleman

• 630 slot snaps
• 729 total snaps (86.4%)
• Targets: 102
• 74 catches, 932 yards (12.6 YPC), 6 TD

Jordan Mosley
Kelly Akharaiyi
Mario Craver
Creed Whittemore

Oklahoma (2023)
Drake Stoops

• 704 slot snaps
• 788 total snaps (89.3%)
• Targets: 107
• 84 catches, 962 yards (11.5 YPC), 10 TD

Nic Anderson
Jalil Farooq
Andrel Anthony
Jayden Gibson

Oklahoma (2022)
Marvin Mims

• 220 slot snaps
• 804 total snaps (27.4%)
• Targets: 87
• 54 catches, 1,083 yards (20.1 YPC), 6 TD

Jalil Farooq
Drake Stoops

• 574 slot snaps
• 684 total snaps (83.9%)
• Targets: 60
• 39 catches, 393 yards (10.1 YPC), 3 TD

Theo Wease Jr.

Ole Miss (2021)
Dontario Drummond

• 496 slot snaps
• 802 total snaps (61.9%)
• Targets: 94
• 76 catches, 1,028 yards (13.5 YPC), 8 TD

Braylon Sanders
Jahcour Pearson

• 295 slot snaps
• 563 total snaps (52.4%)
• Targets: 40
• 26 catches, 392 yards (15.1 YPC)

Jonathan Mingo
Dannis Jackson

Ole Miss (2020)
Elijah Moore

• 491 slot snaps
• 630 total snaps (77.9%)
• Targets: 101
• 86 catches, 1,193 yards (13.9 YPC), 8 TD

Dontario Drummond
Jonathan Mingo
Braylon Sanders

UCF (2019)
Gabriel Davis

• 47 slot snaps
• 851 total snaps (5.5%)
• Targets: 128
• 72 catches, 1,241 yards (17.2 YPC), 12 TD

Tre Nixon
Mario Williams

• 627 slot snaps
• 704 total snaps (89.1%)
• Targets: 69
• 51 catches, 717 yards (14.1 TPC), 6 TD

Jacob Harris

• 314 slot snaps
• 424 total snaps (74.1%)
• Targets: 42
• 19 catches, 448 yards (23.6 YPC), 1 TD

So the only two years where you didn't see Lebby's slot leading the team in receiving production was in 2022 and 2019, but there's two caveats I want to point out: 1) Mims still saw north of 25% of his snaps inside in 2022 and 2) Williams and Harris still combined to put up quality numbers inside at UCF back in 2019. In other words, the slot remains one of the most critical positions in a Lebby offense. We once again saw that in 2024 with the now-departed Kevin Coleman leading the way.

Prior to Evans addition on Wednesday, here were the slot percentages for some of the top competitors in State's wide receiver room:

Markus Allen (Eastern Michigan)

• 2024: 53/611 (8.7%)
• 2022 (Wisconsin): 14/107 (13.1%)
• 2021 (Wisconsin): 14/39 (35.9%)

Jaron Glover (Michigan State)

• 2024: 32/234 (15.7%)
• 2023: 5/325 (1.5%)
• 2022: 0/21 (0%)

Cam Thompson (Northern Illinois)

• 2024: 31/496 (6.3%)
• 2023: 6/90 (6.7%)
• 2022 (Eastern Illinois): 26/27 (96.3%)

Brenen Thompson (Oklahoma)

• 2024: 51/546 (9.3%)
• 2023: 12/30 (40%)
• 2022: 7/45 (15.6%)

Ayden Williams (Ole Miss)

• 2024: 8/84 (9.5%)
• 2023: 10/123 (8.1%)

Jordan Mosley (Returning Starter)

• 2024: 45/548 (8.2%)
• 2023: 23/194 (11.9%)
• 2022: 0/20 (0%)
• 2021: 2/36 (5.6%)

Brenen Thompson has the ability to play some inside, but the Bulldogs were desperately needing a potential impact player there in Year 2 under Lebby. The sample size for Evans remains small with only 201 career snaps, but he's spent almost two-thirds (64.7%) of his college career in the slot.

Anthony Evans III

• 2024: 48/110 (43.6%)
• 2023: 82/91 (90.1%)

Another element I noticed about the multiple additions from the transfer portal that makes this room feel more like what Lebby has fielded at previous stops: the overall size factor. Below, we’ll look at those same wide receiver rooms and the sizes of the different players. I want you to see if you notice a pattern in other years compared to 2024 at Mississippi State.

Mississippi State (2024)
Kevin Coleman (5-11, 180)
Jordan Mosley (6-0, 195)
Kelly Akharaiyi (6-1, 200)
Mario Craver (5-10, 170)
Creed Whittemore (5-11, 185)

Oklahoma (2023)
Drake Stoops (5-10, 189)
Nic Anderson (6-4, 207)
Jalil Farooq (6-1, 208)
Andrel Anthony (6-1, 190)
Jayden Gibson (6-5, 196)
Brenen Thompson (5-9, 159)

Oklahoma (2022)
Marvin Mims (5-11, 182)
Jalil Farooq (6-1, 203)
Drake Stoops (5-10, 190)
Theo Wease Jr. (6-3, 205)

Ole Miss (2021)
Dontario Drummond (6-1, 220)
Braylon Sanders (6-0, 195)
Jahcour Pearson (5-8, 190)
Jonathan Mingo (6-2, 225)
Dannis Jackson (5-11, 175)

Ole Miss (2020)
Elijah Moore (5-9, 185)
Dontario Drummond (6-0, 215)
Jonathan Mingo (6-2, 215)
Braylon Sanders (6-0, 190)

UCF (2019)
Gabriel Davis (6-3, 212)
Tre Nixon (6-2, 180)
Mario Williams (6-0, 222)
Jacob Harris (6-5, 211)

Outside of UCF back in 2019 when there was size across the board, we've always seen a strong blend of body types at the top of Lebby’s wide receiver depth charts. We saw that near the bottom of Mississippi State's group this past season, and to an extent, Akharaiyi fit that description near the top, but look at the various additions out of the portal:

Markus Allen (6-2, 212)
Jaron Glover (6-1, 204)
Cam Thompson (6-0, 200)
Brenen Thompson (5-9, 165)
Ayden Williams (6-3, 205)
Anthony Evans III (5-11, 170)
Jordan Mosley (6-0, 195) - returning starter

Four of the six signings bring some of that length and size with thicker, more powerful builds. Not everyone, but that’s the point. There’s a nice blend of the bigger outside options with some of the faster, more dynamic players such as Evans and Brenen Thompson. This looks more like a Lebby wide receiver room.

 

[Clint Lamb]

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