Mississippi State football is set to lose a key player to the transfer portal after a tough first season under head coach Jeff Lebby. The Bulldogs beat the spread against No. 14 Ole Miss but lost the Egg Bowl to finish off a 2-10 season. This record came with an 0-8 record in the SEC, the first time the program hasn't won a game in conference since 2002. The Bulldogs are now suffering the consequences of this poor season with a significant loss in JJ Harrell.

Harrell is a wide receiver from Sardis, Mississippi, and was the highest-ranked recruit in the Bulldogs' 2024 class. National Recruiting/Transfer Portal Reporter for On3 Hayes Fawcett confirmed that the redshirt freshman is planning on entering the transfer portal.

Jeff Lebby needs to right the ship in Starkville ASAP

Mississippi State's quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. (0) throws the ball during the Egg Bowl game against Mississippi at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jeff Lebby's first year in Starkville has not been ideal. However, the former offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma was thrown into the fire with the Bulldogs. Lebby took over a program that has been through a lot over the past few years. Mississippi State football has had four head coaches in three years.

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The carousel started with the tragic passing of legendary offensive mind Mike Leach. Leach was in charge of the program from 2020-2022. Since then, defensive coordinator Zack Arnett took over for a year before being fired and replaced by Greg Knox as the interim head coach. The Bulldogs then hired Lebby to bring stability to Mississippi State football. Stability is a term not often associated with one of the most consistent programs in the SEC.

Before last year, the Mississippi State football had made it to 13 straight bowl games. The peak of this run came in 2014. In mid-October of that year, the Bulldogs were the No. 1 team in the nation for the first time in school history. This feat also made the program the first-ever No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings. That season ended with a berth in the 2014 Orange Bowl. Head coach Dan Mullen eventually left for the Florida head coaching job, leading to the Joe Moorhead era in Starkville.

Moorhead, a previously successful offensive coordinator at Penn State, had an inconsistent tenure with Mississippi State football. A 6-7 second season eventually led to Moorhead's firing, despite going 2-0 in the Egg Bowl. The Bulldogs turned to Mike Leach shortly after, keeping their bowl streak alive all the while. Overall, based on this recent history, 2-10 and winless in the SEC is not something that this program is used to.

With the 33rd-ranked recruiting class coming in 2025, there is reason for some cautious optimism going forward in Starkville. However, losing previous top recruits like JJ Harrell shows how Jeff Lebby will need to make significant progress in his second year.