It was a bit of good news mixed in with some bad for Alex Thomas regarding his knee injury.
The senior running back from Ansonia, who ran for a career-high 204 yards in Saturday's loss to Penn, underwent tests on his injured knee on both Sunday and Tuesday.
While the results of Sunday's tests were inconclusive, the second examination revealed an injured posterior cruciate ligament. As a result, he will be forced to miss Saturday's game at Columbia. It could have been worse and put him on the sidelines for the rest of his senior season.
Thomas spoke about the situation after Thursday's practice.
"There is not a tear, it is just a PCL injury," Thomas said. "I am going to sit this weekend and hope to be back next week. I have a brace on and I am just rehabbing like a maniac right now trying to get back to where I need to be."
Thomas, who is third in the Ivy League with an average of 99.5 rushing yards per game, was understandably concerned about his availability for the rest of the season after falling awkwardly in the fourth quarter of the Penn game.
"You never know, you know something doesn’t feel right but you don’t know what it is until the doctor tells you," Thomas said. "At the beginning of the week, I was just playing the waiting game and hoping and praying for the best. This is not the best news, I have to sit a week which is not what I want to do but (realizing) that I get to play three more games here at Yale, it means a lot."
While Thomas may not consider missing this week's game "good" news, Yale coach Tom Williams believes that is about the best possible outcome.
"It is as positive as it could be hearing from the doctors that he is going to have the chance to get the strength back and continue playing," Williams said. "Obviously he has been a great player for us this season but him being able to finish his senior season would be important for him and important for us."
Mordecai Cargill is an experienced tailback for Yale with 769 career yards including 73 in the 2009 win at Columbia. Deon Randall may see more snaps at running back, although he may also be called upon to pick up the slack for injured receiver Chris Smith. Other options figure to be fullback Elijah Thomas, who was a tailback as a freshman, and freshman walk on Wynston Bouknight.
"Mo (Cargill) knows what he is doing and Wynston and Elijah both know what they are doing, they have a good grasp of the offense," Thomas said. "I am here to answer any questions they have, I am here on the sideline each and every play. I am pretty confident in the guys that we have. I know they are pretty confident and excited to get out there on Saturday."
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Kamis, 27 Oktober 2011
Rabu, 27 April 2011
Some thoughts on spring camp
Yale wrapped up spring practice on Monday and the 12 practices gave some of the younger players a chance to move up the depth chart and make a case for either a starting position or a more prominent role than they had a year ago.
I asked Yale coach Tom Williams which players helped themselves the most during spring camp.
"John Whitelaw, is clearly our No. 2 quarterback. He clearly established himself as a guy who can help our team win football games. I think he has shown the development that we saw at the end of last season and he is a good football player. At tight end position, Kyle Wittenauer is a guy who has stepped up to show that he is ready to earn some playing time at that position. I don't know if he is going to be the replacement this year for (Chris) Blohm but I think he can do some things that can help us win there. (Fullback) Elijah Thomas, some kind of guy. He can do some things that Shane (Bannon) gave us and as a young player he will continue to develop and he certainly made a move in the spring. (Center) John Oppenheimer, moving from defense to offense has helped us and ultimately he will be a really good player for us at that position. Of all the skill guys that we had, (tailback) Mordecai Cargill probably had the biggest spring.
"Defensively, (safety) Nick Okano, (linebacker) Brian Leffler, (cornerback) Collin Bibb and having (defensive tackle) Pat Moran come back and show he is a better player than he was when he left us, all those guys had great springs."
Now it is up to the returning players to build off what transpired in spring camp. At this point last year I would not have predicted that guard Colin Kruger or cornerback Chris Stanley would emerge as starters but they had strong performances in the fall camp to earn regular spots.
Yale will begin its fall camp (or summer camp if you prefer since the first day of fall is not until Sept. 23) on Aug. 19.
It will be interesting monitoring some of the same positional battles that were going on during the spring highlighted by Oppenheimer and Jeff Fell vying for the starting center spot, Leffler and Wes Moyer in contention for a starting linebacking spot, Okano and John Powers trying to earn the starting nod at strong safety with Bibb, Kurt Stottlemyer and Dawson Halliday likely fighting it out for a starting cornerback position.
Receivers Gio Christodoulou and Peter Balsam will be back while Yale will be welcoming a freshman class which will number somewhere between 28-30 and should have former Duke defensive lineman Tevin Hood in the fold as well.
I asked Yale coach Tom Williams which players helped themselves the most during spring camp.
"John Whitelaw, is clearly our No. 2 quarterback. He clearly established himself as a guy who can help our team win football games. I think he has shown the development that we saw at the end of last season and he is a good football player. At tight end position, Kyle Wittenauer is a guy who has stepped up to show that he is ready to earn some playing time at that position. I don't know if he is going to be the replacement this year for (Chris) Blohm but I think he can do some things that can help us win there. (Fullback) Elijah Thomas, some kind of guy. He can do some things that Shane (Bannon) gave us and as a young player he will continue to develop and he certainly made a move in the spring. (Center) John Oppenheimer, moving from defense to offense has helped us and ultimately he will be a really good player for us at that position. Of all the skill guys that we had, (tailback) Mordecai Cargill probably had the biggest spring.
"Defensively, (safety) Nick Okano, (linebacker) Brian Leffler, (cornerback) Collin Bibb and having (defensive tackle) Pat Moran come back and show he is a better player than he was when he left us, all those guys had great springs."
Now it is up to the returning players to build off what transpired in spring camp. At this point last year I would not have predicted that guard Colin Kruger or cornerback Chris Stanley would emerge as starters but they had strong performances in the fall camp to earn regular spots.
Yale will begin its fall camp (or summer camp if you prefer since the first day of fall is not until Sept. 23) on Aug. 19.
It will be interesting monitoring some of the same positional battles that were going on during the spring highlighted by Oppenheimer and Jeff Fell vying for the starting center spot, Leffler and Wes Moyer in contention for a starting linebacking spot, Okano and John Powers trying to earn the starting nod at strong safety with Bibb, Kurt Stottlemyer and Dawson Halliday likely fighting it out for a starting cornerback position.
Receivers Gio Christodoulou and Peter Balsam will be back while Yale will be welcoming a freshman class which will number somewhere between 28-30 and should have former Duke defensive lineman Tevin Hood in the fold as well.
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