Blake Shapen injury update: Mississippi State QB exits game vs. Georgia

Mississippi State QB Blake Shapen was injured in the third quarter against Georgia and was escorted to the locker room. It appeared to be an upper body injury in the left shoulder area.

At the time of his exit, Shapen was 10-of-15 passing for 86 yards and ran for 15 yards. Mississippi State scored the opening touchdown on a KaMario Taylor run, but were outscored 38-0 since. At 38-7, Georgia led with 9:58 remaining in the third quarter.

Coming into the game, Shapen had 2,158 yards, 15 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 65.1% completion percentage. He’s currently in his fifth season of college football and second with the Bulldogs after spending three years at Baylor.

Taylor ended up replacing Shapen on the next drive. The true-freshman QB has registered stats in eight games this season.

At 5-4 coming into the weekend, Mississippi State just needed one win to become bowl eligible for the first time under Jeff Lebby. Playing No. 5 Georgia, No. 19 Missouri and No. 7 Ole Miss over the next four weeks is quite the challenge though. But an upset along the way and Mississippi State gets an extra game in 2025.

Shapen thinks it’ll certainly help the trajectory of the program. Plus, if you’re able to do it sooner rather than later, it’s like a weight lifted off their shoulders.

“I mean, that’s the goal for sure,” Shapen said. “We want to reach a bowl game as quickly as possible. That’s definitely the goal. The faster you do that, the better bowl game you’re going to be able to get. So that’s our goal this week, is to go 1-0, doesn’t change our mindset on anything, but definitely want to get to a bowl game and bowl eligible as fast as possible.”