Take Kamario Taylor off Mississippi State's roster and the first thing you'd miss is No.119 4★, national recruit.
6′4″ · 230 lb · Macon, MS · Noxubee County HS
How he plays
Beats you with his legs when the pocket breaks down.
Explosive rate: 98th percentile.
The full scouting readThe numbers
passing yards · 2026 · through week 3
3 games into 2026 so far -- Backed by 20 car · 173 yds · 2 TD -- top 1% rushing yards game. -- Best game: 251 pass yds, 4 TD, 1 INT, at South Carolina
The play that turned itSwung Mississippi State from 15% to 56% to win.Wake Forest at Mississippi State · 43-29
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
Sophomore quarterback for Mississippi State. 2026: 3 games with a box-score line.
Buzz vs Tape
His own fans are far more bullish than the rival fanbase.
Also worth knowing:
“Kamario Taylor is a top 5 College Football QB”
Fan claims · every quote verified verbatim
The kamario heisman campaign begins tonight. But all jokes aside, the less he has to run tonight, the better I’ll feel about the o line play
Based on 1 comment from 1 poster across 1 thread · Sep 5, 2026 · via CFB
Kamario Taylor
Kamario Taylor is a cornerstone for Mississippi State — measured against the line he joined.
4★ · NATIONAL RECRUIT
No.119
recruiting national rank
AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-09-22
His career
He was winning awards before he was old enough to be a story.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
FRESHMAN HONORS
Freshman recognition (2025)
2 mention(s)
Badges
| Season | Team | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Mississippi State | 56 | 82 | 68.3% | 832 | 10.1 | 11 | 1 | 195.4 | 73 | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Mississippi State | 43 | 77 | 55.8% | 629 | 8.2 | 5 | 1 | 143.3 | 56 | -- | -- |
| Career | 99 | 159 | 62.3% | 1,461 | 9.2 | 16 | 2 | 170.1 | 66 | -- | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Mississippi State | 27 | 178 | 6.6 | 1 | -- |
| 2025 | Mississippi State | 82 | 458 | 5.6 | 8 | -- |
| Career | 109 | 636 | 5.8 | 9 | -- |
Game by game
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 62-13vs UL Monroe | 22/34 | 354 | 4 | 0 | 10.4 | — | Season-high 354 yds |
| Wk 2 | W 38-13@ Minnesota | 16/22 | 227 | 3 | 0 | 10.3 | 88.8 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 3 | W 41-34@ South Carolina | 18/26 | 251 | 4 | 1 | 9.7 | 87.9 | 4 TD passes |
| Total | 56/82 | 832 | 11 | 1 | 10.1 | 88.3 |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2026
W 41–34
251 yds · 4 TD · 1 INT · QBR 87.9 · 33 rush yds (8 car)
Edged out South Carolina on the road in a shootout.
With F. Bothwell — 115 rush yds (21 car) · E. Pulliam — 38 yards per punt · 3 punts · 1 inside the 20
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Since week 2: +251 passing yards, +4 passing TD, +1 interception.
Season context · Team result + system
2 seasons under Jeff Lebby, all run-leaning offenses — 8-8 over that span.
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
Elite: explosive rate (98th percentile). Strength: epa / dropback (93rd percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Season trend
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Adjusted ANY/A
11.497 of 126 QBsSack rate
4.7%66 of 126 QBsSacked on 4.7% of dropbacks (66 of 126) — and still 7 of 126 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Behind LOS · Negative air yds
Short · 0–9 air yds
Middle · 10–19 air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
Overall 68.3% completion on 82 attempts · 54% completion on 13 deep attempts (20+ air yds).
Zeitgeist Passer Rating
2026 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.
Thin sample: 75 dropbacks73Zeitgeist Passer Ratingnot ranked until 125 dropbacks
--NCAA passer ratingno box-score line yet
Positive-play rate weight 24%
53.3%95th pct of FBS QBsshare of dropbacks that gained expected pointsYards per attempt weight 56%
9.93100th pct of FBS QBssacks excludedSack rate weight 21% (penalty)
5.3%55th pct of FBS QBsthe input passer rating cannot seeOpponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (11 of 86 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. Scaled against the 2025 FBS population until enough 2026 QBs qualify. How ZPR is built.
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home1g | 354 | 4.0 | 10.4 | 0.0 |
| Road2g | 239 | 3.5 | 10.0 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 277 | 3.7 | 10.1 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jeff Lebby
Pass share
44.6%
91 pass / 113 run
Plays / game
68.0
3 games
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2026
Our Heisman model has him inside the top 25; he is not on a published award watch list yet.
Play style
Beats you with his legs when the pocket breaks down.
CFB Index positional classification
Player DNA
Dangerous with both arm and legs — defenses can't just pin the ears back.
His 2026 production profile sits closest to Byrum Brown’s 2025 season.
Matches Byrum on
Differs from Byrum on
Through 2 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Adrian Martinez’s path through Kansas State.
Matches Adrian on
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Arch Manning's sophomore season at Texas (2024).
Differs from Arch on
Heisman Trajectory · 2026
Peaked at #17 this season.
Career Honors 2025 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll 2025 SEC Freshman of the Week (Week 14 vs. #7 Ole Miss) 2025 SEC Freshman of the Week (Week 10 at Arkansas) Career Notes Entering 2026 he has played in 11 career games with 2 starts … Career record of 0-2 as a starting quarterback … Made his first…