The Mississippi State Bulldogs’ quarterback problems never seem to end.
In Saturday’s game against the West Virginia Mountaineers, Mississippi State welcomed back early-season starter Michael Henig, but lost two other quarterbacks to injury.
In the third quarter of play, Henig’s replacement, senior Omarr Conner, was carried off the field by trainers and learned on Sunday he had incurred a Grade 3 severe right groin strain.
He is out indefinitely, possibly for the season
“I heard it pop before I hit the ground,” Conner said.
Conner was able to walk on his own after the game, but it was slow and with a limp.
“I am still going to be a leader, and I have to stay positive,” said Conner. “I just have to take it one day at a time.”
Conner, a senior and a key leader on this Bulldog team, had some encouraging words for sophomore quarterback Michael Henig to remember as he went out on the gridiron.
“Do what you did all spring,” Conner said. “He was the starting quarterback during spring training and training camp. I told him to do what you did to be the starter.”
Henig, who broke his collarbone in the first half of the team’s season opener against South Carolina, took the field for Conner and appeared comfortable in the pocket, completing 7 of 15 passes for 115 yards
“It felt good,” Henig said. “I wasn’t too worried about my shoulder, and I just went out there and played.”
Six of Henig’s passes were for first downs and four of those were gains of 20 yards or more.
State drove to the red zone on two of the three drives lead by Henig and scored one touchdown.
“Mike [Henig] kept the offense going,” Conner said. “He had a lot of poise coming off the bench. He threw the ball well, and the receivers responded well with him at quarterback.”
Henig only played a quarter’s worth of game time in the Bulldog loss before, with the score 35-14 in West Virginia’s favor and less than three minutes left in the game, Croom decided to pull Henig in favor of third-string quarterback Tray Rutland.
“At the end of the game we sat Mike [Henig] down,” Croom said. “I was not going to risk the chance of hurting our best remaining quarterback.”
Rutland was in the ballgame for exactly one play before being sacked and taking a direct hit to his left knee, tearing his ACL and MCL.
He will miss the rest of the season and possibly most of spring practice recovering for surgery.
Croom has moved backup defensive back Anthony Summers onto the depth chart at quarterback, and will also try to get some snaps in this week from freshman walk-on Zach Harrington.
Either way, Henig and company face an incredibly uphill battle.
“We know what it takes to win,” Henig said. “We have to make plays consistently and go back to practice and continue to work.”