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It appeared at times during Saturday’s beat down loss to Iowa, 49-7, that the offensive and defensive stars for the Spartans were both dealing with injuries — but Michigan State isn’t revealing anything at this point.
Junior quarterback Rocky Lombardi was noticeably limping and struggling to move around throughout the game, and the ESPN broadcast team made note of him “not looking like himself” numerous times. However, Lombardi never missed a snap until late in the game when MSU elected to give backup redshirt freshman Payton Thorne some playing time.
When asked about Lombardi, head coach Mel Tucker combated any injury talk, stating if he’s out there playing then he’s “good to play.”
Tucker said there wasn't talk about replacing Lombardi sooner. On whether Lombardi was injured, Tucker says if you see him out there, he's good to play.
— Stephen Brooks (@StephenM_Brooks) November 7, 2020
Lombardi — who finished the game 17-of-37 for 227 passing yards and three interceptions — also wasn’t opening up about what he was playing through, citing everyone is “banged up” but there’s no injury news to share.
Lombardi asked if he was hurt. “No. Everybody’s banged up and has pain and injuries. There’s really nothing we can talk about there..”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 7, 2020
Senior linebacker Antjuan Simmons also appeared to be playing through something on Saturday, but unlike Lombardi, Simmons missed numerous series. He left the game in the first half but later returned after halftime.
Simmons isn’t someone who generally misses a play, let alone multiple series so it was clear something was bothering the Spartans’ top defensive player. However, he also shrugged off any injury talk.
Antjuan Simmons also balks at injury talk: “I just couldn’t go out there and be as productive as I was in the past.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) November 7, 2020
So what should we believe: what our eyes saw or what the players and coaches said? Probably a little bit of both.
I read all of these comments as pure coach and player talk, and that there definitely is something going on here. The good news is that both were in there at the end of the game so whatever injury they were battling wasn’t enough to truly sideline them. However, this will be something we will need to keep an eye on early next week against Indiana — as we know Tucker and the players won’t be revealing any secrets during media availability this week.
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