STARKVILLE — Mississippi State senior cornerback Will Redmond tore his anterior cruciate ligament, according to media reports Thursday. He likely is done for the season.
MSU officials wouldn’t comment on the injury.
MSU (5-2, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) will play host to Kentucky (4-2, 2-2) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) at Davis Wade Stadium. MSU coach Dan Mullen has a policy of not talking about injuries.
When asked by a fan at the DawgTalk call-in show at the Dawg House Sports Grill on Thursday night, Mullen declined to comment about Redmond.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “We don’t talk about injuries in our program. If you want to find out about our guys, buy a ticket and show up on Saturday. That’s it. I’m going to leave it at that. And if you don’t show up on Saturday, shame on you and you shouldn’t be deserving of asking a question about our injuries.”
Redmond’s career began with an NCAA investigation that resulted in him sitting out his freshman season and the first five games of his sophomore season. He appeared in the final eight games of his sophomore campaign and recorded nine tackles. The Memphis, Tennessee, native played in 12 games last year and had 51 tackles and tied the team-high with three interceptions.
This season, he started MSU’s first seven games and had 25 tackles. He leads the team with two interceptions.
Tolando Cleveland and Cedric Jiles will have to fill the void left by Redmond. Cleveland has started four games and has 24 tackles. Jiles has 10 tackles.
Redmond isn’t eligible for a medical redshirt. ESPN’s Todd McShay listed Redmond as a potential first-round NFL draft pick.
Injuries have decimated MSU this season, especially on the defense. Senior safety Kendrick Market and sophomore linebacker Dez Harris suffered season-ending ACL injuries. Long snapper Winston Chapman also tore his ACL.
n Senior quarterback Dak Prescott was named the winner of the inaugural MSU M-Club’s Leo. W. Seal Jr. Athlete of the Year Award at the 2015 MSU Sports Hall of Fame banquet Thursday night.
The award recognizes the top MSU athlete for the 2014-15 athletic year and is named in honor of the late Leo Seal Jr., a former Bulldog player.
n Soccer team will take on LSU: At Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the MSU women’s soccer team (4-8-3, 2-4-2) will play LSU (9-4-3, 3-4-1) at 7 tonight in a crucial SEC match.
With three conference games remaining, MSU is in 11th place in the race for the final 10 teams that will qualify for the SEC tournament on Nov. 2-8 in Orange Beach, Alabama. MSU hasn’t made the tourney since 2004.
“We have had two good performances against two top teams in our conference the last two times out,” MSU coach Aaron Gordon said. “We had a win over Kentucky and a really gutty performance against Florida. Our team is practicing at level that I have not seen since my time here and their overall attitude is fantastic. I think that goes hand-in-hand with the health of our team, because they’re all available even at the near end of this rigorous season.”
n Volleyball team will play Missouri: At Columbia, Missouri, the MSU volleyball team (13-8, 3-5) will face Missouri (17-2, 5-1) at 7 tonight at the Hearnes Center. The match will be live streamed on the SEC Network +.
Earlier this season, Missouri edged MSU 3-1 in Starkville. Set scores were 27-25, 26-28, 25-22, 25-17.
MSU will be looking for its first win in program history against Missouri. The Tigers lead the series 7-0.
“This is a crucial match because this is our chance to get back on track and get a win against one of the top teams in the SEC and the nation,” MSU coach David McFatrich said. “We had a tough time last weekend, but that’s the SEC. You play top talent night in and night out. Tomorrow is no exception. We’ve practiced hard all week and now it’s time to translate that hard work to the court.”
n Men’s tennis team caps will play final event of fall season: At Auburn, Alabama, the MSU men’s tennis team will play this weekend in the Southeastern Conference Invitational.
The three-day tournament, which begins today, will feature MSU, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
“Our guys are very excited to play some great competition from our conference this weekend,” MSU coach Matt Roberts said. “We are going into the final tournament of the fall so we will be looking to fine tune a few things and see what works before we head into the spring season. We’ve had a great fall so far, so I look for us to keep developing our games and building our on-court chemistry.”
Juniors Rishab Agarwal and Vaughn Hunter and freshmen Nicals Braun, Trevor Foshey, and Lucas Sanchez will play for MSU.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Special Reports were included in this story.
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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