About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement STARKVILLE – All systems were a go for Kamario Taylor.
Mississippi State's star quarterback was feeling a lot better after sitting out the last 12 minutes of the Alabama game and the entire LSU game with an injury. He, his doctors and the coaching staff all came to the consensus that he was good to go for State's game with Oklahoma on Saturday.
"He felt good. He had a better week. Still very limited throughout the week," MSU coach Jeff Lebby said after the OU game. "But we were all on the same page, and he was ready to go play."
Taylor threw all of five passes against the Sooners, completing two of them for just 10 yards. His day ended when, on fourth down late in the first quarter, he reaggravated the injury after being knocked out of bounds.
"He felt it a little bit, and so it felt like the right thing to do was get him out of the game," Lebby said. "As we move forward, we'll know a lot more tomorrow. We'll know more Monday as we move through it."
Billy Puckett took over from there and made two critical mistakes; one was a fumble at the 6-yard line when MSU had the chance to take the lead. Another was an interception in the fourth quarter as State was trying to make it a one-possession game.
If Taylor misses time again, either Puckett or A.J. Swann will need to "make the layups" among other things, in the eyes of Lebby.
"We're going to have to have great balance in the run game to take some pressure off of him or A.J., whoever is the quarterback, if Kamario is not available," Lebby said. "But those are things that he's going to have to, making the layups inside this offense is something that we've got to do a great job of because that gives us a chance to go move the ball and score points."
Swann is a fifth-year senior who spent two years at Vanderbilt, one at LSU and last season at Appalachian State before coming to Starkville. He has appeared in 24 games and started in 18, throwing for 4,236 yards and 32 touchdowns to 17 picks.
"We've got to get out of our own way. Billy and A.J., both of those guys will go compete if Kamario is not available," Lebby said. "And whoever really, at the end of the day, I feel like puts us in the best position to go win, take great care of the football, make the plays that we need to make offensively to win the game will be the guy that goes and starts."
Source: Sports
0 Comments