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 at Jackson State, in January after he and his staff saw Coleman enter the transfer portal. After only three days, Lebby and MSU got a commitment from Coleman.
"I saw a guy that had the ability to have great production inside our offense," Lebby said. "When I called around and asked people about him, they said all the right things from his mentality, toughness, leadership and who he was as a human. He's been that, and that's a guy I'm excited about."
Coleman had 76 receiving yards and a touchdown in the Bulldogs' spring game and is expected to be one of MSU's main targets at wide receiver.
Lebby, Shapen and Coleman have 30 days to sharpen their offensive game before MSU kicks off its season Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky (5 p.m., SEC Network+).
Michael Chavez covers high school sports, among others, for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at mchavez@gannett.com or reach out to him on X, formerly Twitter @MikeSChavez .
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: What Jeff Lebby said of Mississippi State football transfers Blake Shapen, Kevin Coleman
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