Ole Miss Coach Mike Bianco Provides Injury Update on Austin Simmons, Ethan Lege

After a 15-inning loss on Wednesday night, Ole Miss Rebels head coach Mike Bianco provided an injury update on two key players.

Ole Miss Rebels relief pitcher and quarterback Austin Simmons / Ole Miss Athletics

Wednesday night was a long one for the Ole Miss Rebels as they fell to the Murray State Racers 12-9 in 15 innings. After the game, Rebels head coach Mike Bianco did provide some news, however, as he gave an update on the injury status of two key players.

Relief pitcher and backup quarterback Austin Simmons has been sidelined with a UCL injury, and utility player Ethan Lege suffered a fractured thumb last week. While both of these injuries could be serious, Bianco's update on Wednesday didn't appear to signal the end of the world for his team or Lane Kiffin's quarterbacking future at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

"Simmons, it's a sprained UCL," Bianco said. "Right now, the decision is just to rehab him. He won't pitch the rest of the season for us, but they're going to rehab him and get him ready for summer workouts and what they do at football.

"For Lege, after meeting with the doctors on Monday, he has a clean fracture in the thumb. Where he is, they felt that they wanted some bone growth and see how he was. He was obviously in a lot of pain over the weekend and wasn't able to play. He won't play this weekend, but I wouldn't hold out after that. When I say 'hold out,' I don't want to say the football 'day-to-day,' but it'd be week-to-week, I guess."

Based on those statements, it seems that, for now, Simmons is expected to be able to participate in football activities this offseason, if his rehab goes well. For Lege, a fractured thumb is obviously a difficult hill to climb, but after this weekend, the Rebels may be able to work him back into the lineup down the road.

Ole Miss will play host to the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies this weekend at Swayze Field. The series is set to begin on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on SEC Network.