[Tuck4Bama]

HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss running back Damion Fletcher had not had a problem with cramps since he was a freshman in high school.

Then came Saturday at Tennessee, when Fletcher found himself seized by muscle spasms all over his body.

"Oh, it was everywhere," Fletcher said. "Arms. Legs. My hands. Everywhere."

Neither Fletcher nor USM coach Jeff Bower had an explanation for the painful bouts that had hit nearly a dozen Golden Eagles in the first two games of the season.

"What's unusual is that we didn't have a problem with it in the preseason," Bower said. "It happened, but it was very rare."

Fletcher, who missed some of the second half at UT, said he had followed his normal routine. "I had fluids in my body," he said. "I was drinking, doing everything I usually do."

Bower said some players had been given IV drips prior to Tennessee as a precautionary measure and that team trainers would continue to monitor the situation.

Cramping issue concerns Eagles -The Clarion-Ledger- Real Mississippi