A Mississippi State player found himself the center of discussion around college football players faking injury on Saturday during its game at Georgia.
Mississippi State entered the game at 1-4 — its lone win coming against an FCS program — and were big underdogs (no pun intended) heading into Sanford Stadium against the No. 5 team in the country.
Jeff Lebby’s team already needed all the help they could get as they looked to pull off what would be a big upset and a signature win for the first-time head coach. But take a look at, well, what appears to be a rather obvious attempt at faking an injury by one of the MSU players, with video courtesy of WSB-TV sports director Zach Klein:
I… hope… this Mississippi State player is ok.. pic.twitter.com/OD2u24o7Cz
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) October 12, 2024
Ironically, Lebby’s former boss at Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin, has faced accusations of his players faking injuries throughout the season. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer all but outright alleged as much the day after his Gamecocks fell to the Rebels in Week 6.
That led the Ole Miss program to release a statement Friday ahead of their game against LSU, stating that Kiffin would discuss the matter with his players and staff to “ensure we conduct ourselves properly and are compliant in this manner”.
While allegations of faking injuries is far from new in college football, the scruitiny doesn’t seem as if it will die down any time soon.