Matt Corral's Knee Injury Places Opt-Outs in Perspective

Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral’s knee injury exemplifies why players skip bowl games and enter the NFL Draft.

Brian Smith | Jan 2, 2022

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NEW ORLEANS - You never want to see it. A player goes down with an injury to the knee area. In the AllState Sugar Bowl on Saturday night, another victim was claimed.

This time it happened to a potential first round NFL Draft pick in Ole Miss signal caller Matt Corral. Football is a graveyard of those injuries unfortunately. Hopefully Corral is able to make a full recovery, but his draft stock could be shaken.

Baylor defeated Ole Miss 21-7 in the AllState Sugar Bowl, but that victory seems miniscule compared to Corral's knee injury.

Remember Michigan tight end Jake Butt? He was headed to the NFL prior to suffering a knee injury in the Orange Bowl at the conclusion of the 2016 season. The John Mackey Award winner that year given out to college football's top tight end, the Michigan player suffered a knee injury that required surgery. He was fortunate enough to still be drafted and continued on to the NFL (Denver 2017-2020, Chicago practice squad 2021).

Butt was playing college football during a time when many players were contemplating sitting out, but only a few actually did it. His injury situation likely helped to forge the concept of more players deciding to sit out. Now there’s the injury for Corral to overcome, and it’s heartbreaking.

Perhaps the injury shall not be as serious as anticipated, but nothing will be known until the swelling goes down and a MRI can be administered. With that in mind, the worst is feared, ACL, MCL, patela, or similar injury.

The Ventura, Calif. native has been one of the SEC’s best players over the course of the last two seasons. In 2020, he passed for 3,337 yards and 29 touchdowns, and in 2021, Corral passed for 3,349 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Accenting his passing would be his ability to scamper out of the pocket and make big plays. He rushed for 506 yards and four touchdowns in 2020, and in 2021 Corral rushed for 614 yards and 11 touchdowns. Indeed, Corral had become a star in Head Coach Lane Kiffin's offensive system.

His bravery helped his team win football games, but during the Sugar Bowl against Baylor a simple tackle from behind caused his knee to move awkwardly. He riled in pain while squirming on the field turf. It’s a scene too many have seen before, and it could have been avoided if Corral had decided not to play.

Matt Corral is down on the field after this play

🙏 for QB1

https://t.co/ld8U7uEKzD
— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 2, 2022

It was his choice, and that’s absolutely fine. It’s just unfortunate that what happened to Corral did in fact happen. That's part of the risk of playing in a bowl game, and Corral knew it prior to suiting up and placing the Rebels helmet on his head one last time. It brings up a couple of questions that are likely to hit the sports talk show circuit all off season, so let’s get to it right here as well.

Barring being in the College Football Playoffs, should all the projected draft picks just sit out and allow the younger players a chance to play in the bowl games in their absence?
If top players do participate one last time, should bowls/the colleges they play for/NCAA have to give them a one-time insurance policy to make money off their name, image, and likeness right before they become professional athletes?

These are tough and sensitive questions. For some, the question of whether players should sit out or not is blasphemy. They will scream that it’s in fact their duty to play and represent the ‘logo’ on the jersey. These are, of course, the fans that are almost guaranteed to be diehard fans of a particular school and/or conference.

Then there are those that want what’s best for the player above all else, and believe that college athletes need to be paid a salary by the NCAA, the schools they play for, plus the manufacturers they represent like Nike and Under Armour.

One thing is certain. With Corral’s injury, much like with Butt’s injury, there will be more players thinking about opting out in the 2022 college bowl season. Seeing Corral go down like he did was really hard. May he have a speedy recovery and play a long time in the NFL.