I asked gemini about Canon Boone and the opinion was that based on his PFF grade, he was pretty good at pass blocking but below average at run blocking. Said based on PFF, said he was basically a replacement level starter in the SEC. That's our most proven lineman. It also said that our OL should be better because we did upgrade, but we mainly upgraded with players that either hadn't earned much playing time at other SEC schools, or in one case, with somebody that had been benched in favor of a younger player, so we will be relying on players to make big jumps in order to get to average. Also said that we have 6 lineman so can basically afford zero injuries, which is rare for an OL in the SEC. That was based on a comment from Lebby about having 6 OL that he's comfortable with though. Not sure there was any analysis deeper than that.
Not sure how much stock to put in an LLM's football analysis, but was not the "tell you what you want to hear" response I expected. Although maybe it assumes any state fan wants to hear bad news and thought it was telling me what I want to hear.
Co-Pilot says:
Areas of concern
I would not call this an elite SEC offensive line yet.
The biggest questions are:
- Tackle play against top SEC pass rushers. Mississippi State will face defensive fronts such as Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas, and Ole Miss. Until the tackles consistently demonstrate they can handle those caliber edge rushers, there is still some uncertainty.
- Young depth. While the depth chart is deeper, several backups are still relatively young and unproven. [ourlads.com], [thetwodeep.com]
- Run-game dominance. The line looks capable of being solid, but it remains to be seen whether they can consistently move SEC defensive fronts off the ball.
My overall projection
If the starting five stays healthy:
2025: Below-average SEC offensive line
2026: Average to slightly above-average SEC offensive line
In practical terms, I think the line has a chance to move from roughly the
bottom third of the SEC to the middle of the conference, which would be a substantial improvement and could have a bigger impact on Mississippi State's win total than any other position group on offense.
For Jeff Lebby's offense, that's critical. If this group performs as expected, the Bulldogs should run the ball more efficiently, protect the quarterback better, and allow the offense to operate at the pace Lebby wants.
My early expectation would be that the offensive line ends up being a
team strength rather than a liability, which is something Mississippi State has not been able to say consistently over the last few seasons.