Mississippi State to have memorial service after fatal wreck

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) Mississippi State will host a memorial service on Thursday in honor of a father and son who both played for the Bulldogs and were killed in a car accident on Friday.

Keith Joseph Jr. - an 18-year-old defensive lineman on the current football team - and his 44-year-old father Keith Joseph Sr. were killed in a one-car accident in Mississippi.

Joseph Sr. played linebacker at Mississippi State from 1989 to '92. The two were driving to a game at Pascagoula High School, where both of them also played.

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said Monday that ''there is nothing more devastating that is going to happen to you as a coach or as a football team'' than losing a player.

''Keith was such a great young man and gave unbelievable effort in everything he was doing,'' Mullen said. ''A 4.0 student here at Mississippi State and was a great student coming out of high school. He was probably our scout team player of the week every week but we have to share it with other people because it wouldn't have been fair.''

The Bulldogs will wear a helmet decal that says ''MJ'' honoring Joseph Jr for the rest of the season. The memorial service will be at Humphrey Coliseum and is open to the public.

It's the second time in five years that the Bulldogs have had to deal with a player's death. Defensive lineman Nick Bell died from cancer in 2010.

''Coach Mullen said it best, there is no certain way to feel or get over it,'' Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott said. ''You've just got to play for him and think about him in the things you do.''