BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) LSU All-American cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., who entered this season as one of the top stars in college football, has been ruled out of the No. 6 Tigers' opener Saturday against Mississippi State because of an illness.

LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said Stingley's illness is not COVID-19 and the sophomore is expected to rejoin football activities after medical treatment and evaluation by doctors.

LSU said Stingley became ''acutely ill'' on Friday night and was hospitalized overnight, but did not immediately provide details on Stingley's symptoms or diagnosis, a common policy because of laws protecting students' medical privacy.

Stingley, who also returns punts, started all 15 games for LSU's 2019 national championship squad as a freshman and led the Southeastern Conference with six interceptions, which ranked fifth nationally.

Stingley's 21 passes defended also led the SEC and ranked second nationally.

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