STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University football coach Dan Mullen had said for months wide receiver Michael Carr would be welcomed back to the team for the 2012 season with no reservations.
But Mullen announced Tuesday that Carr has decided to leave the program, citing a lack of devotion to the game.
“He just doesn’t really want to play football anymore,” Mullen said Tuesday before spring practice begins at 4:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. MSU’s spring practice will conclude April 21 with the Maroon-White Spring Game.
It is unknown if and where Carr will continue his academic or athletic career. He left MSU before the start of this semester. Carr, who would have two years of eligibility left, wasn’t listed on the 2012 spring roster for the first time since signing with the Bulldogs in February 2010. He missed the first day of fall camp due to NCAA eligibility issues.
Carr, The Dispatch’s 2009 Large Schools Offensive Player of the Year and 2009-10 Athlete of the Year, was a four-star prospect, according to Rivals.com, coming out of West Point High School. He caught four passes for 74 yards as a freshman in 2010. He saved his best performance for last, a three-catch, 65-yard effort in a 52-14 victory against the University of Michigan in the 2011 Gator Bowl. Carr had a 31-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“If you work hard then you get opportunities like that,” Carr said after the 2011 Gator Bowl. “It”s all about starting from the bottom and trying to find a way to get to the top.”
In 2011, Carr had seven catches for 90 yards and missed the final five games of the season due to what Mullen described as an undisclosed personal issue that had to be resolved before he returned to the field.
“When those things get worked out, he knows he’s welcome back here,” Mullen said in December 2011. “He’s part of the family, and we want what’s best for him.”
In practice, Carr shared kickoff and punt return duties with veterans Chad Bumphis, Johnthan Banks, and LaDarius Perkins in camp. As a freshman, Carr had 49 yards on three returns in games against the University of Alabama and the University of Arkansas.
“Michael has a much better understanding after coming in late, and there are still things we’ve got to clean up,” MSU receivers coach Angelo Mirando said after a practice April 1, 2011. “Each scrimmage he has to develop into a five-more-snaps-a-game guy. He needs to be competing for a starting job this summer.”
Starters on offensive line a major question
When asked if he had any idea who would start on the offensive line when spring workouts begin, Mullen shook his head.
“Nope,” Mullen said. “But I try not to. Until you get out there and have to make the calls and make the blocks and do it with pads on and do it effectively, it is really hard to judge.”
MSU will have to replace left tackle James Carmon and right tackle Addison Lawrence. In addition to the graduation losses, MSU will be without guard Tobias Smith this spring. The Columbus native is recovering from offseason surgery to correct a torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered last season in a 19-6 home loss to LSU.
“Tobias looks pretty good. The trainers say he’s ahead of schedule,”
Mullen said. “But that is a guy that has played football for us for a number of years. We don’t need to rush him back.”
Sophomores Blaine Clausell and Damien Robinson, from left to right, are the starting tackles on MSU’s spring depth chart. Two-year starter Gabe Jackson leads the inside group, with center Dillon Day and 315-pound newcomer Justin Malone at the other guard.
“It is huge that you can take time and really evaluate who is going to be ready to play next fall,” Mullen said. “I think when you finish spring you don’t have to have your lineup set, and there’s certainly no depth chart is going to be set. But you do have an idea of who is ready to go play.”
Russell not 100 percent, but “going to be full-go”
Junior quarterback Tyler Russell will be limited in the spring by a sprained left medial collateral knee ligament, but it won’t keep him out of spring workouts, Mullen said.
“He ran a bunch yesterday, looked pretty good,” Mullen said. “I wouldn’t say he’s at 100 percent, but in our mind he going to be full-go doing everything we need him to do.”
Russell, who shared time with senior Chris Relf and outgoing transfer Dylan Favre last season, was 69 of 129 for 1,034 yards and eight touchdowns before suffering the injury before a 23-17 victory against Wake Forest in the 2011 Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. The Bulldogs were 3-1 in games the former Parade All-American started.
Mullen acknowledged the play-calling in the offense may look different this season as the team tries to adapt to a transition from Relf to Russell without overhauling the scheme and formations it has run in the past.
“You have a quarterback who throws the ball well and an experienced group of wide receivers, so you’re looking more to throw the football than you have in the past,” Mullen said. “That is always the tweak. There will be some stuff we’re not going to do this year that we’ve done in the past; and there will be some stuff we’ve had in the offense for years we just haven’t had the need to run, as we continue moving forward and building it around the strengths of these players.”
The rehabilitation of Russell’s knee injury will allow redshirt freshman Dak Prescott to get more repetitions. The three-star recruit from Louisiana will look to win some playing time in a system that has seen Mullen use multiple quarterbacks in his tenure at MSU.
“I would hope so for him. I would hope so,” Mullen said. “Not just that there is a window of opportunity for him to win the job, but for him to see you’re one play away from whether you win the job or not you’re the man. This is going to be his chance to really get out there and take reps as, not a guy trying to make a play, but as a guy being a quarterback.”
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