Some injury notes from the Great Blue North

[Iamcanadian]

From GBN:

October 4, 2017 - 9:51 pm

Good news for star Houston DT; other college injury updates … Houston got some good news this week when an MRI revealed that star sophomore DT Ed Oliver, only suffered an MCL sprain in his left knee during last week’s game with Temple. There were fears that Oliver, who many consider to be the best defensive prospect in the country, although he won’t be draft-eligible until 2019, may have suffered a more serious injury that would require serious. Oliver is listed as a game-time decision for the Cougars’ game with SMU this coming weekend. Meanwhile, another top true sophomore, Oregon QB Justin Herbert, is out 4-6 weeks with a broken collarbone on his non-throwing shoulder. Through 5 games so far this season, Herbert ranks 8th in NCAA passing efficiency. Also of note at Oregon, senior RB Royce Freeman, a potential second-day pick at the 2018 draft, is listed as questionable for this weekend’s game when the Ducks host 11^th ranked Washington State. Elsewhere, Texas junior LT Connor Williams, one of the top 2-3 tackle prospects for the upcoming draft, has decided not to have surgery to repair a torn MCL and will be reevaluated in a couple of weeks to see whether it’s possible that he could play again this season. Alabama DT Da’Shawn Hand, arguably the leading 5-tech DE candidate for 2018, sprained an MCL in last Saturday’s win over Mississippi and will miss this week’s game at Texas A&M. In fact, Hand could conceivably miss as many as three games, but the Tide hopes he will be back for the LSU game on November 4^th. Michigan junior QB Wilton Speight will reportedly miss a number of weeks with an undisclosed injury that he incurred when he took a hard hit to the head and neck area in the Wolverines’ win over Purdue on September 23rd. Speight will be replaced by veteran QB John O’Korn when they play at Michigan State in a rivalry game on Saturday. Akron RB Warren Ball, who could be something of a sleeper this coming April, is out for the year after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a broken fibula. Ball, a 230pounder who started his collegiate career at Ohio State, has never been all that productive, but does have an intriguing size/speed ratio. (GBN Investigative College Football Reporter Larry Parker contributed to this report.)

[Scout]

Ball is always hurt