Kai McClendon injury update: Jeff Lebby shares crushing news on Mississippi State DL

Mississippi State DL Kai McClendon was productive last season, especially by the end, as a true freshman in Starkville. His sophomore year, though, is already going to be limited based on injury.

Jeff Lebby met with the media on Thursday after the start of fall camp for the Bulldogs. He revealed during that press conference that McClendon tore his ACL back in the spring, with that knee injury set to keep him “out for a while” as they come into this season.

“Yeah, right now, Kai is going to be out for a while,” Lebby said. “He tore his ACL in the spring, and so Kai will be out for a while.”

McClendon played in all 12 games last year, including five consecutive starts to end the season once the opportunity opened up for him. He would put up 30 tackles and half of a sack on the Bulldogs’ defensive line in his collegiate debut last season.

With this being the status for McClendon, Mississippi State will have to continue developing other depth on the defensive line. Trevion Williams, Ashun Sheppard, and Deonte Anderson are all back as upperclassmen, while the Bulldogs also brought in six transfers of their 30-plus additions, on that defensive line. That includes Will Whitson (Coastal Carolina), Colin Coates (Charlotte), Jaray Bledsoe (Texas), and Darron Reed (Auburn), along with Malick Sylla (Texas A&M) and Raishein Thomas (Northern Illinois) at the edges.

DL coach David Turner: ‘Obviously, we’ve got to be better’

Last season, Mississippi State ranked last in the SEC when it came to sacks and tackles for loss. A lot of that was due to the lack of pass rush by the defensive linemen, and then injuries curtailed any kind of depth the Bulldogs had last year in the trenches.

This offseason, David Turner brought in several new faces from the transfer portal. The depth has definitely improved and now the Bulldogs need to see the same from the production.

“Well, obviously, we got to be better. I think part of it was personnel. We got to coach better. We got to put them in better position. There are a number of factors that go into it and you can’t just point to one factor,” Turner said on Tuesday. “We just got to be better. That’s the bottom line. We helped ourselves in terms of personnel this offseason with everything we are doing and trying to figure out what’s best, what we can do and what we can’t do. Plug guys in and figure out what they can do, can’t do, and put them in better position.

“Obviously we got to get better. It’s always about fundamentals and doing the little things better and knowing what to do and how to do it and execute it. Then, playing with effort,” said Turner. “It is a combination of all those things.