Mississippi State walked into its homecoming game against Vanderbilt with a 4-4 record and a thinner roster than it wanted, as quarterback Kamario Taylor was done for the season after foot surgery and five other players were ruled out. That left Jeff Lebby staring at another week of patchwork answers before Auburn arrives next Saturday.
For a team still alive in the bowl picture, the timing matters. Mississippi State still has Auburn, FCS Tennessee Tech and the Egg Bowl at Ole Miss ahead, but the injury list had been growing by the week and the depth chart was already bending toward younger players. Lebby has spent the season plugging holes with transfers, and now the pressure is shifting onto freshmen who may have to do more than wait their turn.
One of them is Womack, the backup at strong safety who had 18 tackles and a pass breakup through eight games. He arrived with a reputation that made the move to Starkville easy to understand: the No. 1 safety in the 2026 class, No. 39 overall in the rankings, and a player who flipped from Auburn on Dec. 1, 2025, one day after the Tigers hired Alex Golesh.
Womack is not being asked to carry the whole defense, but his path says plenty about where Mississippi State is now. He picked off eight passes as a junior and helped Hartfield win back-to-back Class 6A state titles, then chose to stay close to home with a simple line that fits the moment: he said he was playing for his home state. That kind of readiness is exactly what the Bulldogs need when injuries strip away the margin for error.
The uneasy part is that Mississippi State does not get to solve this against a lesser opponent and move on. Vanderbilt is the assignment now, Auburn is next, and the Bulldogs have to keep the season upright while leaning harder on players who were still in high school last winter. If the bowl chase survives this stretch, it will be because the freshmen handled more than anyone expected.
