Mississippi State's defense just got a lot scarier out of nowhere. Edge rusher Malick Sylla and safety Jahron Manning are both back on campus and working their way back onto the roster for a fifth season, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
This isn't some quiet depth-chart tweak. Sylla led the Bulldogs in tackles for loss last year with 7, and he's carrying 13 TFLs and 6 sacks over 46 career games between his time at Texas A&M and Starkville. Manning started 21 games in his career, including 10 last season after landing at Mississippi State. Getting both of them back is the kind of roster boost most programs only dream about in August.
Sylla led MSU in TFLs last year with 7. He brings 13 career TFLs and 6 career sacks after spending his first three years at Texas A&M, as he’s appeared in 46 games. Manning started 21 career games, including 10 in his lone season at Mississippi State in 2025.
The legal domino that made this possible is the real story here. Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court in Colorado had already handed down a class-wide injunction restoring a fifth year of eligibility to every high school class of 2022 athlete who ran out of college eligibility this spring. The NCAA scrambled to get that put on hold with emergency motions Monday night — and Sweeney shut it down.
That ruling is exactly why Sylla and Manning, both products of the 2022 recruiting class, are suddenly walk-on candidates for extra eligibility instead of guys watching from the stands. Pete Nakos of On3 confirmed both players are being folded back into the program off the same Colorado decision, framing it as Mississippi State moving fast to capitalize while the door is open.
The catch: this fight isn't over. The NCAA's appeal is still pending, meaning the legal ground under this entire situation could shift again before the season kicks off. For now, though, Mississippi State gets to plan around a pass rusher and a starting-caliber safety who weren't supposed to be available.
Programs across the country are going to be watching how this plays out just as closely as Mississippi State fans are. Every school with a 2022-class player who ran dry on eligibility this spring just got handed a real reason to check the transfer portal and the depth chart again.