STARKVILLE — Two games into the season, the redshirt musical chairs has begun at Mississippi State.
Having divided players into color-coded columns of green, yellow and red, coach Joe Moorhead and his staff revisited the ongoing decision making Monday morning. Moorhead said there are “more than a handful” of freshman who will not see extended action this season.
Most notably, freshman quarterback Garrett Shrader is inching nearer and nearer to the maximum four games played before this season counts toward his four years of eligibility.
With starting quarterback Tommy Stevens continuing to battle a shoulder issue that forced him from Saturday’s game and junior Keytaon Thompson dealing with a lingering upper-body injury from fall camp, Shrader’s redshirt has quickly come into question.
That said, Moorhead said Monday he would not shy away from playing a quarterback should redshirt eligibility come into question.
“We want to make sure that the guy who is on the field is the guy that we need to perform at a high level and if that affects a redshirt, it affects a redshirt,” he said. “But we’ve got to do what’s best for the team first and foremost the individual second and the kids understand that.”
Secondary depth coming into focus
MSU has long preached on how deep this year’s secondary is. That theory is getting an early test with No. 1 junior corner Cam Dantzler dealing with a lower body injury.
Dantzler, who was injured during warm ups Saturday and didn’t play, is listed as day-to-day. In the interim, freshmen Martin Emerson Jr. and Jarrian Jones continue to shine in their ever-growing roles.
Emerson and Jones, or “Thing One” and “Thing Two” as they are nicknamed, have earned high praise through the season’s first three weeks — including from Moorhead.
“They’re maturing at a really fast rate,” Moorhead said. “And I think a lot of that goes back to their ability but also their desire to perform well at a high level and the preparation that goes into it. Those are two guys that we’ve been very pleased with so far.”
Ahead of the freshman duo, Tyler Williams and Maurice Smitherman bore the brunt of coverage responsibilities in Dantzler’s absence.
Should Dantzler not be able to go again this week it will again be Williams and Smitherman tasked with slowing Kentucky receiver Lynn Bowden and Troy transfer quarterback Sawyer Smith.
Running backs room or doctor’s office
While the secondary has taken their lumps on the injury front, the MSU running backs room has been decimated of late.
Senior Nick Gibson, who Moorhead said didn’t practice all of last week, remains day-to-day with a lower body issue, while senior Alec Murphy is done for the season.
With Murphy and Gibson banged up, that leaves just junior Kylin Hill and true freshman Lee Witherspoon to shoulder the load.
Given Hill’s past injury history and Witherspoon’s greenness, that’s a far cry from the three-headed attack MSU boasted at the season’s outset.
“We’d like to get Nick back as quickly as we can,” he said. “Ideally it would be like it was the first game-and-a-half — Kylin is going to be the starter, Nick is going to be the backup and then you utilize Lee as necessary.”
In the interim, wide receiver Malik Dear could also be used to bolster the group. A running back during his time at Murrah High School, Dear took one snap in the backfield Saturday against Kansas State.
“Very, very high football IQ,” Moorhead said of Dear. “So we pressed into duty at running back a little bit last week, got in for a snap and did real well but I think he’s capable of doing those things at tailback.”
One welcome addition would be junior college transfer Kareem Walker — who is currently enrolled at MSU but remains ineligible to play. Moorhead said he has one more administrative issue to clear up before he can start practicing.
Other news and notes
Also on the injury front, Dareuan Parker remains day-to-day with an injury he suffered in the season opener against Louisiana. Parker has not played the past two weeks though Moorhead said he participated in practice Monday.
As for the suspensions that continue to hold a cloud over the MSU program, Moorhead said Monday he would not elaborate on why senior defensive tackle Lee Autry missed the season opener, played against Southern Miss, and then was suspended once more against Kansas State.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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