Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor has started two college games, but you’d never know that from listening to coaches and media pundits talk about his skill level and his potential as a difference maker in the Southeastern Conference.
Rick ClevelandAll that praise, much of it at SEC Media Days this past week, may surprise many. It does not surprise me. These eyes first saw Taylor on Dec. 2, 2022, when he was a tall, skinny 15-year-old 10th grader at perennial high school powerhouse Noxubee County. Noxubee was playing Raleigh in a state championship game at The Rock in Hattiesburg. Anyone who saw that game surely hasn’t forgotten it – and likely never will.
Like most, I had entered the stadium gates anxious to see Raleigh’s Suntarine Perkins, the state’s top recruit, who had narrowed his college choices to Ole Miss and Alabama and was why both Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding watched the game from just beyond the north end zone. Perkins did not disappoint, but I left that day equally impressed with Taylor.
Raleigh won a 55-52 shootout. Noxubee couldn’t stop Perkins, who provided 331 yards and four touchdowns rushing, caught three passes for 56 yards, kicked off, led his team in tackles and made a game-saving fourth quarter interception.
But then Raleigh (and Perkins) could rarely stop Taylor, who threw for five touchdowns, displaying a strong arm and uncommon speed and elusiveness. He reminded me of watching Southern Miss legend Reggie Collier race up and down that same field and also of a young Steve McNair, from just up the road in Mount Olive. What I’ll remember most about watching Taylor at 15 was trying to interview him after the game. It was hopeless. He couldn’t stop sobbing long enough to talk. He was clearly heartbroken. That competitiveness – that will to win – will serve him well in the years to come.
Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor (1) dives for a touchdown against Wake Forest in the second half of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl NCAA college football game, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. Credit: AP Photo/Scott KinserOne of the true joys of covering Mississippi high school football closely for more than six decades is trying to predict who the future greats will be. That day, I saw two. Perkins has become a difference maker for the Ole Miss defense. Taylor, now 19 and now a strapping 230-pounder, enters his sophomore season as State’s starting quarterback. He gives the Bulldogs, projected to finish 15th in a 16-team league, a fighting chance. That’s because he can make positive plays when none seem available, and he can make every throw a quarterback needs to make.
Don’t just take it from me. Archie Manning saw him up close and in person recently at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, Louisiana. I texted Manning during the camp to ask his impressions of Taylor. His one-word reply: “Stud.”
“Kamario is a real talent and a nice kid,” Manning said in a subsequent conversation. “He’s such a good-looking kid. He threw well, a really tight spiral, and he can make all the throws. He seems to have it all. We had 45 college starting quarterbacks as counselors. I thought he was one who really stood out. A lot of folks might be surprised that he and Trinidad (Chambliss) roomed together at our camp.”
You don’t have to just take it from Archie either. Listen to Nick Saban, speaking at SEC Media Days. Said Saban: “Kamario Taylor, who nobody’s really heard that much about at Mississippi State. This guy could be the truth and the light. He is really good”
My contention always has been that for Ole Miss or State to be really successful in the SEC, a superb athlete – a difference maker – at quarterback is essential. You aren’t always going to be able to block the guys on the other side of the ball. Sometimes, the quarterback has to escape them and make a play.
Chambliss was that for Ole Miss last year. Before him, Jaxson Dart was that. The last time Mississippi State had a winning record (6-2) in the SEC? That was 2014. Dak Prescott was the QB.
Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor (1) fights off a tackle attempt by a Mississippi player during the first half of an NCAA college football game Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Starkville, Miss. Credit: AP Photo/Rogelio V. SolisJeff Lebby knows what he has in Taylor and said so at SEC Media Days in Tampa. Speaking on ESPN, Lebby said of Taylor: “This guy is special, special. I don’t think he has a ceiling. The physical traits, incredible. Who the kid is, his consistency and the way he works, the way he prepares the way he retains – pretty elite.”
Taylor showed all that near the end of his freshman season when he came off the bench to score all three of State’s touchdowns against Georgia, played well in a brief appearance against Missouri and then made his first start in the Egg Bowl at Oxford. Remember? Despite a fierce Ole Miss pass rush, Taylor threw for 178 yards and ran for 173 more and State’s only two touchdowns in a 38-19 defeat. In a bowl loss to Wake Forest, he ran for 63 yards and a touchdown and threw for 241 and another touchdown.
Now, he goes into the season as the unquestioned starter with a year in a college strength and conditioning program and with some valuable experience against top-shelf competition. Taylor also has, says Lebby, a much improved offensive line to protect him.
He’ll need that to stay healthy. He’ll also need to avoid contact whenever possible, which he seems to understand better than anyone.
“My ultimate goal is to stay healthy for 13 games this season,” he told reporters in Tampa.
That would mean staying healthy for all 12 regular season games and then a bowl. And that would mean State would have a fighting chance in 13 games.
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