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Mississippi State receiver Jaden Walley injured in spring game

Walley was helped off the field in the first quarter

Mississippi State is holding its breath after one of its rising stars had to leave Saturday's Maroon-White spring game due to injury.

Wide receiver Jaden Walley – the team's leading receiver in 2020 – was hurt while blocking on a running play in the first quarter. Play stopped for several minutes as Walley was attended to and he was eventually helped up and assisted to the MSU locker room. Walley wasn't putting any weight on his right leg.

Mississippi State receiver Jaden Walley is helped off the field during Saturday's spring game. (Photo by Joel Coleman)

Mississippi State receiver Jaden Walley is helped off the field during Saturday's spring game. (Photo by Joel Coleman)

No injury update was provided postgame. When head coach Mike Leach was asked about Walley, he resorted to his traditional stance of being discrete regarding injuries.

"I don't give updates on injuries under any circumstances, so he's 100 percent healthy and we're thrilled about that," Leach said with seemingly some underlying sarcasm.

Meanwhile running back Dillon Johnson displayed a bit more open concern.

"I was definitely scared," Johnson said of his thoughts when Walley's injury occurred. "Anytime somebody gets hurt like that – especially somebody like Jaden...it was just a scary moment. You just pray for him. You pray that injury wasn't nothing severe. All we can do is put it in God's hands that he's OK. I'm going to be praying for him. I'm going to church Sunday praying for him."

It's obviously safe to say that the Bulldogs are hoping for the best for Walley after he looked like a budding superstar during his freshman season last year. He set an MSU freshman record with four 100-yard receiving games. He accomplished the feat by cracking the century mark in four straight contests. 

Walley also broke a 43-year-old record for single-season receiving yards by an MSU freshman as he totaled his team-high 718 yards. He became the first Mississippi State player to eclipse the 500-yard mark in a single season since 2016.

For all of Walley's efforts, the Athletic chose him to its All-America second team and conference coaches picked Walley to the Freshman All-SEC team.

Mississippi State receiver Jaden Walley was injured in MSU's spring football game on Saturday. (File photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics)

Mississippi State receiver Jaden Walley was injured in MSU's spring football game on Saturday. (File photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics)

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