Kiffin emotional as injured Corral exits bowl loss

Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral left the field after suffering an injury late in the first quarter of Saturday night’s 21-7 loss to Baylor in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and did not return.

On third-and-20 with 2 minutes, 13 seconds left in the quarter, Corral was sacked by Baylor defensive tackle Cole Maxwell for a 6-yard loss and was in immediate pain, holding his lower leg.

When Corral was helped off the field by Ole Miss staff, he wasn’t putting weight on his right foot. He eventually was carted into the locker room, but later returned to the sideline on crutches.

After the game, head coach Lane Kiffin said that Corral’s X-rays were negative, though he didn’t specify what Corral had injured.

When asked about his emotions seeing Corral get hurt, Kiffin said, “That’s obviously a difficult situation, especially when a kid’s playing in the game, you know, so my mind raced with a lot of thoughts right there, you know, and that’s just my love for him, just like I would if it was my own son in that situation. So you know, maybe I didn’t do a great enough job with the team, because you know, I was really hurting for him in that situation because I know how much he’s put into it, how much it means to him. And for that to be taken away like that, you know, it really sucks.”

Corral was replaced by Luke Altmyer, a freshman with just nine pass attempts this season. Altmyer finished 15-of-28 for 174 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Corral went just 2-of-6 for 10 yards with an interception.

Coming into the Sugar Bowl, Corral had completed 68.3% of his passes for 3,333 yards, 20 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He was also a major contributor in the ground game with 597 yards and 11 touchdowns. He led Ole Miss to a 10-2 regular-season record, the first 10-win regular season in school history.

“He’s been unbelievable and things that you don’t see besides the playing, just how he is,” Kiffin said. “And I had a cool moment this morning, the team meeting, just listening to him talk. And I told our own coaches and players, ‘You can be a freshman and you’re supposed to listen to the leaders; you can be a 50-year-old coach, and you should listen to this guy.'”

Kiffin added: “He’s gonna make a great NFL player and do great for a franchise.”

In November, Corral announced that the Rebels’ final home game of this season would be his last, all but declaring he would enter the NFL draft.

Corral is currently the No. 23 overall prospect in ESPN NFL draft insider Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest draft rankings, while ESPN’s Todd McShay ranks him No. 16.

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