Anthony Evans III said it out loud back in July, and now the numbers are starting to make him look like he knew exactly what he was doing.
The Mississippi State receiver didn’t hide his target at SEC Media Days in Tampa. He made the chase public, tying his decision to return to Starkville to one clear goal.
“My goal, the reason I came back instead of going to the league, was to break the single-season receiving record here at Mississippi State,” Evans said. “My teammate doing it last year, I feel like that's what I'm chasing.”
That teammate was Brenen Thompson, who set the school mark with 1,054 receiving yards in 2025 before moving on to the Los Angeles Chargers. Evans was right there with him last season, finishing with 831 yards. This year, he’s moved from contender to threat.
Through five games, Evans has 40 catches for 574 yards and five touchdowns. He needs 491 more yards to pass Thompson, which works out to about 69 per game over the Bulldogs’ seven remaining regular-season games.
On his current production line - 114.8 yards per game - he’d land around 1,378 yards over 12 games. Add a 13th game, and that projection jumps to 1,492.
The catches and touchdowns are tracking too, though in a different lane. Evans is averaging eight receptions per game, which would put him at 96 catches over 12 regular-season games, short of Makai Polk’s school record of 105.
At his current scoring pace, he’d finish with 12 touchdowns in 12 games, matching the school mark shared by Chad Bumphis and Fred Ross. Another game would change both of those races.
What makes the run more striking is that the production hasn’t been soft. Evans delivered his biggest yardage day of the season against Alabama, hauling in 12 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns in the 56-23 loss.
The people around him have noticed the same thing. Mississippi State wide receiver Sanfrisco Magee said Evans made the record chase part of the conversation during summer work.
“Ant has been working hard,” Magee said. “During the summer and runs, we were just pushing each other to try to make it go.
Before the season, him and Kelley (Jones) were talking and he was like, 'I got to break this record.' I was like, 'He most definitely is going to break it.'
He's on pace to right now.”
Coach Jeff Lebby, according to Sklar, credited Evans’ progress to what’s happening away from the field as much as what’s happening on it.
“He's created consistency in his life, and he's created consistency inside the building that, to me, has given him an opportunity to do what he's doing,” Lebby said. “It's a long year with a lot of ball ahead.
We're going to need his production in a great, great way week-in and week-out. But to me, it's just his maturity and who he's become when he's not in the building.
That's what's given him a chance to have the success that he's having.”
There is still one variable in the way. Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor left the Alabama game with a right-foot issue and was day-to-day ahead of the Oct. 17 trip to No.
22 LSU. If the Bulldogs have to turn to a different quarterback, Evans may need time to build the same rhythm all over again.
For now, though, the math is simple: seven regular-season games remain, and Thompson’s record is 481 yards away.
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Instead, Alabama put the unit back under the microscope and exposed how hard it still is for Mississippi State to hold up against top-end passing attacks. The Bulldogs had no easy answers as the Crimson Tide kept producing through the air, leaving a familiar concern hanging over a defense that could ill afford another night like this. [Read more 🡒]