Kamario Taylor forced to leave showdown against Alabama, heads to locker room
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Kamario Taylor wasn’t having a memorable Saturday afternoon against Alabama in front of the home fans in Starkville, and then things got worse.
The sophomore quarterback phenom who had a meteoric rise toward stardom in September started October with a rough outing that included Taylor needing to head to the locker room during the second half as his 16th-ranked Bulldogs trailed No. 7 Bama by a big margin on the scoreboard.
Taylor left the SEC showdown and was replaced by backup signal-caller Parker “Billy” Puckett, with the redshirt freshman tasked with trying to get Mississippi State back in a game that had gotten out of hand at Davis Wade Stadium.
With Taylor’s status for the rest of the afternoon in serious doubt as he was in the locker room during the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs pressed on without their standout QB. Taylor wasn’t entirely bad during the Week 5 showdown, throwing 3 touchdown passes and throwing for 258 yards on 19-of-34 passing.
But those numbers came along with 2 interceptions, and Taylor had to feel powerless about all of it as he was stuck in the locker room with his team trailing 56-23 and a little over 4 minutes remaining during a tough Saturday in Starkville.
Puckett had gone 3 for 6 with 26 yards passing at that point, but the deficit was daunting and many thoughts had to be on Taylor after he was forced to exit the game early.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
