Kamario Taylor is headed back to Mississippi State, and the price tag is staggering.
According to On3Sports, the Bulldogs quarterback is set to finalize a new deal that will keep him in Starkville in 2027 and put him among the highest-paid players in college football. Per On3’s Chris Low and Pete Nakos, the agreement is worth $7.5 million per year and could climb to $9 million with incentives.
Taylor’s return gives Mississippi State its star back after a season derailed by injury. He entered 2026 as the full-time starter and came out blazing, piling up 1,192 passing yards with 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions while Mississippi State opened 4-0 with wins over Louisiana-Monroe, Minnesota on the road, South Carolina and then-No.
19 Missouri. After that 31-24 win over Missouri, the Bulldogs were ranked 16th nationally, and Taylor had started to draw dark-horse Heisman attention.
That momentum hit a wall during the Missouri game, when Taylor suffered a turf toe injury. He stayed in, but the damage lingered.
In Mississippi State’s 56-23 loss to Alabama, he played through the injury, took five sacks, threw two interceptions and lost a fumble early. He was pulled in the fourth quarter and did not return.
He then missed the Oct. 17 game at LSU and tried to gut it out the following week against Oklahoma, but was replaced by backup Billy Parker Puckett in a 23-14 loss.
The school announced on Oct. 27 that Taylor would undergo season-ending surgery on his toe. ESPN reported that he pushed to keep playing, but getting healthy enough to be effective won out in the end.
“Nobody wants to be on that field more than Kamario,” Bulldog head coach Jeff Lebby said via ESPN. “I know how much this team means to him, and how much he means to this team. We’ll be right there with him throughout his recovery.
“He’s the ultimate teammate and competitor. ... You see it in the work he’s put in and the way our players and coaches believe in him the way they do.”
Since the injury against Missouri, Mississippi State has dropped five straight. Taylor, a Macon, Mississippi native and lifelong Bulldogs fan, had become the subject of portal speculation after his hot start, but the new deal appears to shut that door.
Taylor’s path to this point has been a quick rise. He played mostly as a backup and running quarterback behind Blake Shapen last season, then took over as the starter in 2026 and delivered his best stretch yet.
His career numbers at Mississippi State now include a 55.8 percent completion rate, 629 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and one interception in 2025, followed by a 65.4 percent completion rate, 1,460 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns and four interceptions in 2026. He also added 458 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns in 2025, plus 147 rushing yards and one rushing score in 2026.
The reported deal would also place Taylor above other top earners in the sport this season, including Miami quarterback Darian Mensah. Mississippi State, meanwhile, is banking on its star quarterback returning healthy and helping deliver a winning season in Starkville for the first time under Jeff Lebby.
In Other News...
Auburn Just Lost The Safest QB Portal Path Available
Auburns quarterback search in the transfer portal just got a little more complicated with Mississippi States Kamario Taylor choosing to stay put rather than test the market. Taylor is still working back from a severe toe injury, but his new deal reportedly starts at $7.5 million and gives the Bulldogs a major piece to build around as they try to shape the rest of their roster and recruiting plans.
For Auburn, the timing matters because the Tigers are still sorting through their own options at the position and had reason to monitor the portals upper tier closely. With Taylor off the board, attention shifts even more toward other possible targets from places like Ohio State and Michigan, leaving Auburn to keep weighing fit, availability and cost in a market that is already getting thinner by the day. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Still Has Tough 2027 Recruiting Calls To Make
With the early signing period for the Class of 2027 drawing closer, Auburn is entering the part of recruiting where the easy work is mostly done and the hard decisions begin. Alex Golesh has made it clear the Tigers want to finish the class strong, and that means balancing the commitments already in place with the players the staff is still pushing hardest to land.
Auburns recent addition gave the class a boost, but the final stretch is still about roster evaluation and how the staff chooses to spend its time and resources. Some current pledges could be revisited while other targets get a more aggressive push, which leaves the Tigers with a few important calls still hanging in the balance before signing day arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Bowl Push Comes With Real Upset Risk In Starkville
Auburn heads to Starkville with a chance to keep its winning streak alive and move one step closer to bowl eligibility, but this is the kind of SEC trip that can get tricky fast. Alex Golesh has already pointed to the early kickoff as one of the hurdles, and Auburn will need to bring a sharp, high-level effort against a Mississippi State team that has dropped five straight but still has enough pieces to make this uncomfortable.
The matchup comes down to a few familiar pressure points for Auburn: slowing down AJ Swann, leaning on the run game and keeping Byrum Brown protected up front. Linebacker depth and time of possession also loom large, especially in a road setting where Auburn cannot afford to let the game drift into a grind. On paper, the Tigers have the better path, but this is exactly the sort of spot where a bowl push can turn into a stress test. [Read more 🡒]