Trenches teetering after South Carolina comeback
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STARKVILLE – Adversity has hit Mississippi State’s lines of scrimmage.
Not long before Jeff Lebby and a quartet of players spoke to the media for Mississippi State’s press conference on Monday, Trevion Williams could be seen exiting the building on crutches, with a wrap and a brace around one of his knees.
Once Lebby took the stage, he confirmed the worst case scenario: After being carted off the field toward the end of the South Carolina game on Saturday, the fifth-year defensive lineman will be out for the season.
“That one hurt for a lot of reasons, but what the young man has done to continue to invest in himself, become a really good player, the way he was playing for us, but just his maturity, his leadership, who he's been inside our building, I hated it for Bam Bam, so I’m going to miss him," Lebby said.
"We’re going to need some guys to be able to go step up.”
The Bulldogs will attempt to replace Williams with a rotating four of Jaray Bledsoe, Kalvin Dinkins, D.J. Reed and Dealyn Evans, while also keeping the door open for others.
“Those four guys will be rolling,” Lebby said. “And then we're going to look at a couple of guys in practice this week to be able to do some things to be able to get that fifth guy in there to get a couple snaps.”
It took a lot of good for State to erase a 16-point deficit and beat the Gamecocks 41-34 on the road, but much needs to be fixed.
State committed 14 penalties that cost it 98 yards. Six of those were holding penalties, and at least two of those accepted were committed by left tackle Miles McVay. The transfer from North Carolina has been splitting time with Blake Steen, who also had a pass blocking grade of just 8.5, according to Pro Football Focus.
Lebby said the Bulldogs will continue to start McVay, who had his moments despite struggles against USC’s pass rush.
“I’ve got a ton of confidence in Miles to be able to go play the way he needs to play,” Lebby said. “Again, he had some great moments on Saturday. The consistency's got to show up for us.”
Williams the best up front down south
Amaree Williams has been named the SEC’s Defensive Lineman of the Week.
Williams led MSU with 10 tackles (all solo stops) against South Carolina. He also had two tackles-for-loss and a sack.
MSU-Bama now set … sort of
The Southeastern Conference gave time and network updates for its games on Saturday, Oct. 3 on Monday.
Mississippi State’s home tilt against No. 8 Alabama will kick off at either 11 a.m. or 11:45 a.m. The game will be broadcast on either ABC, ESPN or the SEC Network. Official times and networks will be finalized after this Saturday’s games.
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