STARKVILLE — As part of Jeff Lebby’s first season with Mississippi State football, transfers Blake Shapen and Kevin Coleman can share similar anecdotes.
Shapen, a senior quarterback transfer from Baylor, appeared in 23 games for the Bears while recording 5,574 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. In 2022, Shapen earned first-team Academic All-Big 12 honors and was selected an honorable mention All-Big 12 by league coaches.
Shapen is aiming to be the Bulldogs’ starter, and Lebby said that the 6-foot senior is already one of the most prominent leaders on this team, which he joined seven months ago.
“He’s all about walking the walk, you know, every single day,” Lebby said. “Our football team won’t if he won’t. So he’s in the building all day, every day, spending time trying to get better, trying to encourage his teammates to get better. And that’s what we got to have from him. He’s done that and needs to continue to.”
Shapen attended the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana in June, and he told the Clarion Ledger he saw Lebby’s success firsthand when Lebby was an offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2023. Shapen said that was a reason to come to Starkville.
“I have trust in them,” Shapen said in June. “I watched (Lebby) be an offensive guy at Oklahoma and the things they did, and that attracted me. So my biggest deal is I wanna go win football games. Obviously, I wanna play in the SEC and I wanna put up numbers. That was the biggest deal.”
Shapen threw for 312 yards with three touchdowns while completing 18 of 22 passes in the Bulldogs’ spring game. During that game in March, Shapen connected well with Coleman, a 5-11 junior transfer wideout from Louisville.
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Lebby recruited Coleman, who began his college career…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jeff-lebby-said-mississippi-state-195833997.html
Author : The Clarion Ledger
Publish date : 2024-08-01 19:58:33
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