Murfreesboro, TN – There’s always one certainty in sports, and that’s injuries. They’re unfortunate, sad, and terrifying, but it’s part of the game and a matter of when, not if, it will happen. However, losing two of your starting linemen in the first game of the season is less than ideal and has left the MTSU coaching staff scrambling to find replacements as they go through their gauntlet stretch of the season.

"It's always the next man up mentality. That goes from spring to summer to fall. You're always talking about next man up,” MTSU head coach Derek Mason says. “Julius [Pierce] unfortunately sustained an injury and was carted off the field. We'll miss him, but the idea that football stops there doesn't work."

"We got back in, and guys understand their roles. It will change up a bit on the offensive line, and we have to adapt and adjust now, and we get days to do it."

Injury Bug

If you watched The Tennessee Tech game, you saw what happened to starting center Julius Pierce; he suffered a nasty lower-leg injury that led to him being carted off the field. There isn’t a definite answer, but we know he will miss a significant amount of time.

J’Shun Bodiford, who came into the season as the starting left tackle, is also banged up. Not positive about what injury he sustained or how long he will be out, but he was not listed on the depth chart for the Ole Miss game, so he’s out for at least a week or two.

The final piece of the offensive line that is still unknown is sixth-year senior right guard Ethan Ellis, who has appeared in 19 games and has made seven starts in two seasons at MTSU. He has yet to be listed on the depth chart for the first two weeks of the 2024 campaign, unsure of his situation now.

Next Man Up

Even with the losses of key players on the offensive line, Mason has said that they don’t want to dwell on the injuries, but guys step up and contribute. This summer, they tried to build versatile linemen for such nightmare situations.

"It's always been about this idea that offensive line guys are rotational, so you want those guys to be as flexible as they can be,” Mason said. “That's where I think we are right now. We have rotational players that can go from center to guard to tackle, and that's what we must do this week."

With them doing that, we saw a very different offensive when the week two depth chart was released. Morgan Scott, Simon Wilson, and Ellis Adams will take on starting roles; here’s the first team offensive line as of Tuesday.

Right Tackle – Morgan Scott

Right Guard – Mateo Guevara

Center – Simon Wilson

Left Guard – Ellis Adams

Left Tackle – Marcus Miller

Building Off Week One

There certainly are plenty of positives and negatives, and when you have nearly 60 new players, that’s bound to happen, but the way it happened was concerning. The Blue Raiders built up a 21-0 lead and then proceeded to nearly blow that lead in a 32-25 victory over Tennessee Tech. But you can’t learn from your mistakes if you don’t commit them in the first place, and that’s what Mason has preached all week.

"With 59-to-60 new players, there is a lot of learning going on, so I am going to talk about the lessons we can learn from this ball game and then move forward,” says Mason. “When you have a bunch of guys working to gel together...if you focus too much on the negative, you can find yourself stunting their growth."

We’ll get to see how those mistakes were corrected and look this Saturday against Ole Miss. Although SEC and CUSA talent is different night and day, the Blue Raiders want to fight and make the Rebels work for every yard they get.

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:15 PM CT at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.