STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen said Monday the play of his quarterbacks in practice will dictate who will start in games.
In a radio interview with WHBQ in Memphis, Mullen refused to name his starter at quarterback for MSU’s game at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 at the University of Kentucky.
“We’re going to evaluate where we are with some stuff and see who performs at a high level this week at practice,” Mullen said in the interview.
Sophomore Tyler Russell took all but one snap Saturday in his first career start in MSU’s 14-12 loss to then-No. 15 University of South Carolina. Russell, a former Parade All-American from Meridian High School, was 11 of 29 for 165 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. Before the start, senior Chris Relf had started 19 straight games since the season opener last season.
“Both of our quarterbacks have experience, and Dylan Favre, our third quarterback, is not far off,” Mullen said Monday. “Even the whole way through training camp and spring ball, there was not a lot of separation with our quarterbacks, which I guess you can look at as a positive and negative. You wish one, maybe, really accelerated and pulled away from everybody, but it also allows you to have depth that you feel pretty good about. We have some guys we feel comfortable to put on the field.”
Cox honored by SEC for second straight week
For the second straight week, MSU junior defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was named the Southeastern Conference defensive lineman of the week.
Cox, a native of Yazoo City, had six tackles with a career-best four tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. His four tackles behind the line of scrimmage is the second highest single-game total in the conference this season. The six tackles are the second most in his career behind only the previous week’s seven tackles at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Cox led a defensive front that held South Carolina to a season-low 110 yards on 43 attempts. Marcus Lattimore, the SEC’s leading rusher entering the game, gained only 39 yards on 17 attempts.
“We can be real good like we were today,” Cox said Saturday about future play in MSU’s final five games. “The main thing we always talk about is stopping the run game.”
Cox is the first MSU player honored twice with a SEC weekly award since current Baltimore Ravens defensive end Pernell McPhee claimed the award twice in 2009. He is the first MSU player to earn a conference weekly honor in back-to-back weeks since Don Smith on Sept. 6 and 13, 1986.
Nick Bell Run scheduled for Homecoming week
The MSU Student Association announced Monday it will play host the inaugural Nick Bell 3.6-Mile Run to benefit the Nick Bell Mentoring Memorial Foundation as a part of the 2011 Homecoming Week.
The event will take place at 6 p.m. Nov. 1. The walk/run will begin and end at Davis Wade Stadium.
Nick Bell, 20, died Nov. 2, 2010, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital after losing his battle with a form of skin cancer that had metastasized through his body.
The event will serve as an opportunity to raise support for the Nick
Bell Mentoring Memorial
The course will cover approximately 3.6 miles on roads through campus that begin and end at Davis Wade Stadium. The route will be marked with cowbell ringers showing the turns. The 3.6-mile distance was selected to pay tribute to the jersey number (36) Bell wore as a member of the MSU football team.
“This event will serve as a great opportunity for the entire Bulldog Family to honor a young man who truly embodied the spirit of Mississippi State,” MSU Student Association president Rhett Hobart stated in the release.
Pre-registration will open Wednesday and will close Wednesday, Oct. 26. Forms will be available online at www.sa.msstate.edu. All forms should be turned in to the Student Association Office in the Colvard Student Union Suite 314. A $15 registration fee must accompany the application when pre-registering.
Participants may register the day of the event for a fee of $20. Race day registration will begin at 4:45 p.m. and will close at 5:30 p.m.
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