Thursday Injury Report - Jackson State

Each week we plan to take a brief moment on Thursdays to update the status of players who may or may not play in the weekend's upcoming game, whether it be due to an injury, suspension, or other reason unknown to us at this time.

Jackson State - Saturday, September 1st

Notes

• In his weekly pregame press conference on Monday, Dan Mullen touched on Malcom Johnson's situation. Johnson, as you may remember, went down several weeks ago with a pectoral injury during practice. From what Mullen told reporters, one could expect Malcolm to make his return week 4 against South Alabama or week 5 in Lexington against Kentucky.
  

Dan Mullen says sophomore tight end Malcolm Johnson is out this week with a pectoral injury, "doubtful for the next several weeks," as well.

— Bob Carskadon (@bobcarskadon) August 27, 2012

• Saturday will mark the final season in what has been an injury plagued career for Tobias Smith. Smith, who is a talented right guard for State, has been unable to stay healthy for any extended period of time in his MSU career, and the coaches aren't taking that lightly going into this season. Mullen told the media earlier this week that Tobias will in fact start, but will most like see a limited number of snaps. I would expect Smith to play a good bit of the first quarter and second but to come out once the score starts getting out of hand. No need to injure one of your most valuable players along that offensive front when the game is already in hand

Mullen says "the plan is" for right guard Tobias Smith to start Saturday, but likely won't play the whole game. "We've protected him a bit."

— Bob Carskadon (@bobcarskadon) August 27, 2012

• One injury that had been kept well under wraps until Tuesday was Joe Morrow's bruised knee. When talking with reporters, new WR coach Tim Brewster acknowledged that Morrow had been dealing with the knee issue but is nothing more than slightly "gimpy," and should be near 100% on Saturday. Morrow has also stated that he will be playing Saturday for those on the coast affected by Hurricane Isaac. So, you know, RIP JSU DB's. Morrow, as you may already know, is form Gulfport, Mississippi.

WR coach Tim Brewster says Joe Morrow bruised a knee recently and is "gimpy" but Brewster believes he is close to being full speed.

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) August 28, 2012

• Another injury I have seen very little mention of until Tuesday was that of reserve OL Templeton Hardy. Hardy was listed as doubtful for Saturday to the media by Dan Mullen earlier in the week.

Saturday injury report, per Dan Mullen: TE Malcolm Johnson out (pectoral muscle), LG Templeton Hardy (ankle) doubtful.

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) August 27, 2012

Summary - Injuries for the Jackson State game

Out

TE - Malcolm Johnson

Doubtful

OL - Templeton Hardy

Limited

OL - Tobias Smith

Will Play

WR - Joe Morrow

That's it for this week's injury report. If we missed any big injuries, please let us know. Other than that, here's to hoping everyone stay's healthy between now and kickoff Saturday night!