Mississippi State officials confirmed Friday right guard Tobias Smith will be out for the remainder of the 2011 season with an ACL injury on his left knee.
The junior injured his knee on the opening drive of Thursday night’s 19-6 loss to LSU, leaving a hole on State’s already thin offensive line. Smith has been plagued by injuries for much of his career, but entered the 2011 season healthy. Head coach Dan Mullen acknowledged the physical and emotional gap he leaves behind for his teammates.
“You just feel terrible for him,” Mullen said during his Sunday teleconference. “I know how hard he’s worked. I know how much he means to this team, not just as a player, but as a leader; his personality, how much he means to this team. It’s a devastating loss for us.”
The offensive line took a hit last week in Auburn when James Carmon went down with a knee injury and was carted off the field, but Mullen said Sunday he expects the senior to be available for Saturday’s game against WAC opponent Louisiana Tech
Carmon was replaced by Blaine Clausell, who came close to beating out Carmon for the starting job in training camp. Smith was replaced by redshirt freshman Dillon Day on Thursday night, with senior Quentin Saulsberry shifting from center to right guard. Mullen called their performances “okay” but added they needed to take it up another notch.
Mullen indicated on Monday the lineup along the offensive line is still a work in progress and will be determined over the course of  the week.  Offensive line coach John Hevesy reaffirmed that sentiment when he met with the media.
FAVRE MAKES HEADLINES
Backup quarterback Dylan Favre made headlines for a tweet he sent after last Thursday’s loss that expressed his discontent over not getting a chance to play in the game. Backup QB Tyler Russell replaced Chris Relf in the game.
“Is an opportunity too much 2 ask for?” Favre tweeted.
The tweet was picked up by various media outlets, including cbssports.comand Yahoo! Sports. Mullen addressed the tweet Sunday, saying Favre called immediately after the tweet and admitted he made a mistake.
“You’re looking at a kid that asked if he could be on the kickoff coverage team this week,” Mullen said. “He was frustrated, and he expressed his frustration in a wrong way by doing it publicly, and he knows that.”
Favre has always been eager to get on the field. Even after State’s close loss to LSU in 2009 when he was a senior in high school, Favre texted Mullen and said MSU would have won if he was playing in that game.
Favre has seen the field in 2011, but only on special teams, lining up on the punt return team. There’s a possibility Favre will play in Saturday’s game against Louisiana Tech.