A trio of football nuggets courtesy of Rocco Gasparro's appearance on The Dave and Scott Show this morning:
1. Trent Guy is headed back to the doctor tomorrow, where he is expected to be cleared for practice.
My first reaction to this news was probably the same as yours; OH MY GOD TOMORROW IS A WEEK AND-A-HALF BEFORE THE KENTUCKY GAME. But after my blood pressure dropped from William Conrad to Rosie O'Donnell, I came to a pair of realizations: 1) Guy almost certainly won't play against Kentucky, and 2) I really don't want him to play.
The man was shot in the back six weeks ago, restricted to a bed for approximately 14 days, hasn't partaken in any extreme physical activity in a month and-a-half, and is still about 10-15 pounds lighter than he should be because of the ordeal. To throw him out onto the field against a pretty solid defense after just 12 days of practicing would be foolish and irresponsible, especially when you consider that Louisville follows the UK game with Tennessee Tech and a bye week.
We can't afford to have Guy play one half if it means jeopardizing his availability or his capability to play at full strength for the rest of the season. Not that any of this is going to keep Trent from making his case to the coaching staff.
2. Scott Long did indeed break his fifth metatarsal bone yesterday at practice, and did so while blocking during a punting drill. He'll have surgery this week, and Gasparro put the recovery time at 2-6 weeks.
I'm still having a hard time getting over this. The much anticipated - around these parts - Scott Long-2008 extravaganza has been put on hold.
There's no denying that this is a massive blow, but we won't know the full extent of the damage until we see how guys like Vaughn, Beaumont, and now Pascley, Chichester and anyone else who sees the field step up over the next month or so.
As Eric Crawford points out, U of L's leading returning receiver at the moment is Brock Bolen, a career fullback, and its second leading returning receiver is Sergio Spencer, a running back turned safety. Surely there isn't another team in Division I-A with a less established receiving corps.
Chris Vaughn, it's fight or flight time my man. You either show it now or nobody's ever going to see it.
3. Louisville will be holding a closed 4 p.m. scrimmage that will again feature the No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense.
I'll hit you with a full report right after I scoop Amelia Earhart, drop off the blueprints for the pyramids, and put the actual Lindbergh baby kidnapper in cuffs.
That was lame. Could a dinosaurs reference have saved it? No, no it couldn't have.