With Kamario Taylor’s status still up in the air, Mississippi State’s path into Saturday’s matchup with No. 11 Texas starts in one place: quarterback.
Jeff Lebby and his staff spent the week sorting through two options, and the decision will come down to which player gives the Bulldogs the best shot to get the offense moving against the Longhorns.
Billy Puckett is one possibility. Against LSU and Oklahoma, he went 33 of 50 for one touchdown and two interceptions.
The arm talent is obvious, and so is the mobility. Puckett has shown he can hurt defenses with his legs, including a long second-quarter run against Oklahoma that moved Mississippi State into scoring range.
But the same sequence that showed off his athletic ability also highlighted the issue that hangs over him: control. On the next play, he put the ball on the ground.
There was another opening that disappeared in a hurry against the Sooners. Puckett hit Zion Ragins on a key throw, and Ragins turned it into a big gain all the way to the Oklahoma 1-yard line, giving Mississippi State a chance to pull within one score with a little more than eight minutes left. Then a holding penalty wiped out the play, and Puckett threw an interception on the next snap.
Lebby said Monday that the staff can adjust the offense to fit whichever quarterback ends up starting.
“Absolutely. I have to put those guys in great positions of success, and what I talked to them about nonstop on (Sunday) and (Monday) was the layups.
I talk about them all the time. There’s nothing more important when your backup quarterback is going in and playing than to make the lay-ins.
Got to put them in a position to be able to do those things. Again, the expectation is to go out and execute the way we need to sustain and go score points, and our guys understand that, and they’ll be a lot better for it.”
The other candidate is A.J. Swann, whose résumé brings a different kind of value.
He started 12 games at Vanderbilt across the 2022 and 2023 seasons, when the Commodores went 5-7 and 2-10. In 2024 at LSU, he saw only brief action, completing two of four passes for 10 yards.
Last season at Appalachian State, he went 2-4 as a starter and completed 130 of 222 passes for 1,495 yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Lebby emphasized Swann’s experience when explaining what he adds to the room.
“Man, he’s done it. He’s played inside this conference, he’s played a lot of snaps.
His maturity gives us something that we don’t have in that room without Kamario. So for me, that’s a huge piece of it,” he said.
Ball security is going to loom large in the final call. Mississippi State has turned it over seven times in its last three games, and Lebby made clear that protecting the football will weigh heavily in the decision.
“Again, being able to take care of the ball will be a huge piece of it,” Lebby said.
“As we evaluate those two guys, who gives us the best opportunity to go win the game, we will ultimately be making the decision as we get close to kickoff,” Lebby said.
In Other News...
Mississippi State Suddenly Faces A Brutal Kamario Taylor Problem
Mississippi States season has taken a sharp turn in a matter of weeks, and Kamario Taylor sits at the center of it. Across college football, injuries to starting quarterbacks have already altered the path for playoff hopefuls, with Oregon and Ohio State among the teams forced to adjust on the fly. For the Bulldogs, Taylors situation has been especially disruptive because his absence changes not just the depth chart, but the ceiling for what this team can still chase in the stretch run.
The bigger issue is how quickly the situation spiraled. Taylor has been dealing with a toe injury that has hung over multiple games and left Mississippi State trying to manage a quarterback room under constant pressure. Even before the rest of the sports injury chaos reshaped the playoff race, the Bulldogs were already facing the kind of uncertainty that can derail momentum, force schematic changes and make every series feel more fragile than the last. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Faces A Huge Question Before Texas Showdown
Mississippi State heads into its trip to Texas with a major quarterback question hanging over the matchup, and the timing could hardly be worse for Jeff Lebbys offense. Kamario Taylors availability is up in the air as the Bulldogs get ready for a game against a Texas team coming off a stretch of uneven play and penalties, with Steve Sarkisian also noting his groups need to clean things up as the Longhorns prepare for their final home game before a tough road run.
The uncertainty at quarterback leaves Mississippi State in evaluation mode late in the week, and the decision matters because the Bulldogs will need steadiness against a Texas defense that will have plenty of incentive to set the tone early in Austin. If Taylor cannot go, Lebby has options to sort through, but the bigger issue is how much the offense can adjust on short notice in a game that already carries plenty of stakes for both sides. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Is Already Zeroing In On Young Arkansas Playmakers
Mississippi State is wasting little time getting involved with the next wave of talent across the border, and a few of the early names to know are already coming out of Arkansas. The Bulldogs have put offers on the table for 2028 prospects Chase Hancock, Braylyn Brown and Orion Leautu, giving the staff a head start with a group that brings different skill sets but plenty of upside.
Hancock is the kind of athlete teams like to track early because of his speed and versatility, while Leautu brings the type of size and blocking ability that can matter in the trenches and in the passing game. Brown adds another layer as a multi-use player for his high school team, contributing on both offense and defense, which makes him the sort of prospect Mississippi State will want to keep seeing as his recruitment develops. [Read more 🡒]