Injuries - Could Play a Significant Factor to Win Out

[NCDucks09]

Significant Injuries through 6 games, of which we have no definite answers on:

Darron Thomas - injured throwing shoulder in WSU game. Out for the rest of that game, said he could have played had he been needed. CK reflected those sentiments, but none of us really know the severity of the injury or if it will heal in time for the UCLA game or affect his accuracy.

Cliff Harris - injured ankle in the WSU game. This looked to be like a hyper-extension or a "rolled" ankle. Hopefully, this is a minor injury that will heal up fine in a couple of days.

Kenyon Barner - Suffered a concussion in the WSU game. Been released from the Hospital, but head injuries are severe and sensitive, he may not play for a good amount of time. My guess is probably not until the SC road game, as this gives him a solid three weeks to heal up and make sure there is nothing seriously wrong.

Does anyone have any news on these injuries, their status, and prognosis of time going forward to being "game-ready"?

What would each or all of these injuries do to our chances of winning out and going to the NC game?

[gofightingducks]

My guess is that Barner will be back for USC, Costa will start against UCLA but DT will be available if needed and Harris came back in the WSU game so he should be fine and ready to go.

[Destroyer77]

I wouldn't bet on Costa starting against UCLA. I would say 50/50 on that.

I think Barner will probably be held out until SC for extra precaution.

Harris played after he tweaked his ankle, so I have no doubt he'll be full go for UCLA.

LMJ played after he injured his hip/toe, so I have no doubt he'll be full go for UCLA.

I think UCLA is in far worse shape than we are, so if we have the chance to rest people in a home game after a bye week, we'll try to.

[PDXShogun]

Hopefully you guys are right about Barner being back by SC. I'm a little more pessimistic, though. That was as vicious a helmet-to-helmet hit I've ever seen. Most of those don't result in an ambulance ride to a hospital. James Rodgers missed 1 game but he never left the stadium. With the severity of this one, I could see the doctors and coaches holding him out longer.

[duckgrad99]

If Barner is out, will they play Seastrunk? For some reason, they don't seem to have much faith in Alston.

[NCDucks09]

If Barner is out, will they play Seastrunk? For some reason, they don't seem to have much faith in Alston.

No way they burn Seatrunk's redshirt unless James goes down. They'll play Huff or Hawkins behind Alston at RB and Harris will take over all return duties.

Dontae Williams would be activated before Seastrunk if you ask me. He's just more physically ready than Seatrunk. Also, Seastrunk is too great of a talent to burn unless our #1 playmaker goes down.

Glad Harris is okay. If Costa plays in the UCLA game, I'd be real worried about DT.

[GoDucksIn09]

I think if Costa plays against UCLA can not neccesarily read anything into it. We know Costa can beat UCLA... USC is a different animal. It is possible that since Coach Kelly obviously knows this he may go with Costa to give Thomas more time to heal. I am not saying Costa will start.. but just my thoughts on what it might mean if Costa does.

[Hoagduck]

Don't forget that Hawkins takes snaps at RB.

[Phenom]

I think Thomas will be back against UCLA.

We have to be very cautious with Barner.

[soduck]

With DT an AC (Acromian Clavicular) sprain, first degree it appears, will take up to three weeks or so to heal, but it is stable and the only concern is pain, ie if it hurts so much it effects DT's throwing accuracy and zip. Likely it will hurt some throwing, but he should be able to go into ucla and certainly with USC with tolerable effects to his throwing. Falling on it will hurt it some more if it is just the wrong way, but will only set him back a little bit more. Like tweaking a mild sprained ankle, but only it is your shoulder so it only gets irritated some when you throw, or fall wrong or get it bumped, not as bad as a mild sprained ankle that you stand, walk and run, jump and cut on it constantly, plus swelling in an ankle effects the healing time. In the shoulder just don't sleep on it wrong and it does not hurt too much, except when throwing perhaps for a second or bumping it.

The concussion KB suffered is hard to say at this point. Like someone posted previously, does he currently have symptoms? Until those stop and what if any symptoms he still has is the primary question. I guess it is possible like Javid Best it could be a season, but unlikely. It seems like he will be out until at least USC, but if he is symptom free now with no neck pain or symptoms, dizziness (vertigo), memory loss, fogginess, slowness in reaction time etc. he could be cleared in one to two weeks. People get knocked unconscious in car collisions all the time and feel fine in a week or two; some feel foggy for months, some have neck pain for months. Mild traumatic brain injury is hard to predict. Time will tell. I am assuming there is no obvious brain swelling on CT or MRI, nor neck injury. I believe Javid Best sprained his neck fairly badly, lots of neck pain, I seem to recall.

[pezsez1]

If Barner is really out for the year (as the other thread implies), then I believe we will hear about it soon from CK.

CK definitely enjoys his "day to day" mantra, but he didn't waste any time last season in revealing that Thurmond and Glasper would be done for the year. I think he understands that once a player is out, there's really no benefit in hiding it... if anything, it's just an unneeded distraction for the injured player.

No way Barner will be back for UCLA, but I have a feeling he'll be back for either the USC game or the UW game.

[soduck]

If KOD has different info regarding Barner's current situation regarding symptoms of severe neck pain or significant concussion symptoms etc. Then he may very well be out for a while or the season. You would think being in class this week or not would tell us a lot, anyone have a class with him? Or see him walking around campus.

[pezsez1]

There's one other answer to Barner's status that people really aren't talking about, which is that the team really might not know when he'll be back.

If he's still a little whoozy, then he could conceivably be out anywhere from one week to one year. In some cases it's simply impossible to know until he's had a chance to improve (or not improve).

Like I said, I suspect we'll all know the answer within a few days. If we haven't heard anything by the weekend, then I think the odds are in Barner's favor that he'll return this season.

[NCDucks09]

With DT an AC (Acromian Clavicular) sprain, first degree it appears, will take up to three weeks or so to heal, but it is stable and the only concern is pain, ie if it hurts so much it effects DT's throwing accuracy and zip. Likely it will hurt some throwing, but he should be able to go into ucla and certainly with USC with tolerable effects to his throwing. Falling on it will hurt it some more if it is just the wrong way, but will only set him back a little bit more. Like tweaking a mild sprained ankle, but only it is your shoulder so it only gets irritated some when you throw, or fall wrong or get it bumped, not as bad as a mild sprained ankle that you stand, walk and run, jump and cut on it constantly, plus swelling in an ankle effects the healing time. In the shoulder just don't sleep on it wrong and it does not hurt too much, except when throwing perhaps for a second or bumping it.

The concussion KB suffered is hard to say at this point. Like someone posted previously, does he currently have symptoms? Until those stop and what if any symptoms he still has is the primary question. I guess it is possible like Javid Best it could be a season, but unlikely. It seems like he will be out until at least USC, but if he is symptom free now with no neck pain or symptoms, dizziness (vertigo), memory loss, fogginess, slowness in reaction time etc. he could be cleared in one to two weeks. People get knocked unconscious in car collisions all the time and feel fine in a week or two; some feel foggy for months, some have neck pain for months. Mild traumatic brain injury is hard to predict. Time will tell. I am assuming there is no obvious brain swelling on CT or MRI, nor neck injury. I believe Javid Best sprained his neck fairly badly, lots of neck pain, I seem to recall.

Great info!!! I've had an Acromian Bursa sack inflammation problem from overuse in weight-lifting, it took a lot of range of motion exercises and ultra-sound to get back to 100%. And that 3-4 week prognosis is right. If the inflammation is bad, it can prevent someone from applying any kind of strength to a motion that tweaks it (throwing). What's interesting though, is the inflammation can be worked through. I continued weight lifting through physical therapy and incorporated stretches inbetween sets which amazingly allowed me to continue my routines. If it's a bad inflammation, I would keep DT out of UCLA and make sure he's 100% for SC.

Problem with that is, he'll be rusty, on the road, against top tier caliber athletes and coaching upon his return.

[soduck]

The Acromion is the large bone on top and front (anterior), outer portion (lateral) part of the shoulder. The AC joint is the small joint on the lateral end of the collar bone (clavicle) it allows the minimal rotation at the collar bone when the shoulder rotates. not related to a rotator cuff strain , Acromial bursitis, or GH (Gleno Humeral) joint or a typical shoulder dislocation. It is an isolated pain and tenderness at the lateral part of the collar bone. The only question is does it hurt too much or effect his throwing a lot. Probably not a lot, for very long. They can be nagging injuries that linger sometimes, though that is unlikely. The SC (Sternal Clavicular) joint is the other end of the collar bone next to the sternum. The AC joint sprain is also called a separated shoulder, but a grade 1, mild AC sprain is usually just a matter of short term pain. When you hear the term separated shoulder and think it takes a long time, usually it is a grade 2 or worse. That is not good for a linebacker who keeps hitting with it and can take months to heal, but still is mostly a matter of how much pain. They would have already taken x-rays as a precaution and a significant 2nd degree AC separation would have shown up already.