Why leading rusher Davon Booth returned to Mississippi State football for 2025 season

STARKVILLE — Davon Booth was preparing for the NFL draft after Mississippi State football’s 2-10 season ended in November. 

The Bulldogs’ top running back was out of eligibility, so playing another season of college football didn’t seem like a possibility. 

Everything changed near Christmas time, when the NCAA granted an eligibility waiver for players who played at junior colleges, stemming from Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia’s lawsuit. Booth played two seasons at Cerritos College before one season at Utah State. 

He said it was a “no-brainer” to return to Mississippi State for the 2025 season.

“The next day, the coaches called me and said I’m able to come back,” Booth said following MSU’s spring practice on Tuesday. “So I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Booth, who tallied the fifth-most all-purpose yards in the SEC last season and scored nine touchdowns, headlines what’s projected to be a loaded MSU running back room. 

The team’s second-leading rusher, Johnnie Daniels, is back. The Bulldogs also added South Alabama transfer Fluff Bothwell, an All-Sun Belt third-team selection as a freshman last season. Seth Davis, who was second on MSU in rushing in 2023, returns after missing last season because of an injury. 

“I feel really good about the room today,” Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said last week. “We got to do a great job of keeping those guys healthy and giving them a bunch of reps, but that room today, we’ve completely flipped it in a calendar year. There’s incredible depth and excitement about that room.”

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Booth switched his jersey from No. 21 to No. 6 for this season.

“I’ve been six since high school,” he said. “I found out I’m having my son on Dec. 6. He was born Aug. 6, and he knew No. 6. So, me coming back for my last year, it was like, ‘I have to get No. 6.’”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.