Jalen Steele Will Not Play His Senior Season, Focusing on Graduation

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) –Jalen Steele, who has endured a string of major injuries during his time at Mississippi State, has decided not to play his senior season and will instead focus on graduating in the spring.

(Adam Brimer/News Sentinel)
MSU senior Jalen Steele has decided not to play basketball in his final year with the Bulldogs and instead will focus on graduating in the spring.

The 6-foot-3 guard from Knoxville, who has suffered two torn ACLs and a broken wrist during his three years as a student-athlete, appeared in 78 games for the Bulldogs, drawing 33 starts. In a span of two years, however, the rash of injuries forced him to miss a total of 19 games

For his career, he averaged 8.0 points and 2.0 rebounds while dishing out 72 assists.

“What Jalen has experienced with injuries has been extremely unfortunate,” MSU coach Rick Ray said. “He’s battled through a lot of adversity, and it’s important we do everything we can to support and help him earn his degree from Mississippi State.”

The Bulldogs begin practice on Sept. 30 and open the regular season on Nov. 8 at Humphrey Coliseum against Prairie View A&M.