Keith Watkins out for the year
- Thread starter TejasCat
- Start date
Wow, hadn't heard this. Seems like we may see RoCamp burn a shirt. Williams moved to safety, so Mayo and Hartage become big.
Ugh. The battle of attrition begins. Stinks for Keith, but hopefully he comes back stronger and helps balance out the classes at CB a little bit.
I know this happens with every team, but it would be nice to go into a season full strength one of these years.
I know this happens with every team, but it would be nice to go into a season full strength one of these years.
Bad news! Non contact drill is when it happened! That's why u gotta limit injuries.
Limit injuries? BAH GAWD YOU'RE A GENIUS!!!
I feel for Watkins. I think he was primed for a big year. Hopefully he can fully recover, get a medical RS and come back next year to lead our CB group. I think Hartage will probably take over but would not be surprised to see McShepard switch back and Rod Campbell play this year. This makes getting another CB in this current recruiting class even more important.
Hartage should get the first shot, but I think there's basically no chance that McShepard switches back. Mayo was getting good reviews last year and I would guess Williams flips back from safety before McShepard flips sides of the ball. Campbell could also get a shot if he's ready physically (looked VERY slim on senior film).
Not sure how this would be connected to 2016 CB recruiting, though. We've already got Watkins, Hartage, Campbell, Mayo, and Bullock (though I think he could switch to safety a la Williams) returning next year with Ruiz and Jackson joining the group. That's a decent amount of CBs in terms of pure numbers.
Glad to hear you've heard good things about Mayo. I had not heard much about him. Williams looks pretty thick to me at 5"11 200lbs. Does he have the quickness to stick at corner? If the staff thinks Campbell is ready to play, that could take the pressure off but otherwise I would not completely rule out McShepard moving back, although I agree that it would be a last resort. If Campbell ends up burning his shirt and Watkins' return from injury is uncertain, I do have concerns about the future depth chart at CB. I think Ruiz will be a good player and I also like Jackson at CB but have been told several times that Jackson is targeted for safety at NU. If that is the case, we need another CB in this class pretty badly. Elijah Hicks would sure look nice.
Unfortunate as they are, knee injuries are pretty routine and guys can typically come back at or near full-strength. As such, I don't think the NEED is there, especially because all those guys will have at least two years of eligibility after this year (assuming Watkins wants and is granted a medical year for 2016). The only guy we will lose after the 2016 season is Harris (a huge loss to be sure, but at least it's the only one), and then we will lose only Watkins after the 2017 season.
To me, a "need" means that we will stretch to take someone just to fill a slot and I don't think we are at that point. Because of the youth at corner, we can remain more selective in who we take at the position.
Harris did a pretty good job as a freshman out there, so we can hope that one of the other five corners can do a decent job to hold that side down. He may not be a guy you leave on an island but he may provide good enough coverage to free up the safeties from time to time. A shame for Watkins but talent is there.
Injuries suck! Gotta limit them! What's Fitz thinking?! It's a slap in the face of NU football!
Whoa.. you and I posted that at the exact same time. I'm getting off these boards now.
Whoever takes Watkins place will see a lot of passes coming to his side. With that challenge comes opportunity. Nobody throwing on my boy Matt Harris! Matt sure needs to stay healthy.
You got that right. Harris is going to have a boring year, unless Hank decides to put him on the No. 1 receiver every week -- something Hank hasn't done in the past.
Agree about Campbell. i saw him play twice last year in person, and although he is very talented, he looked very slim to me. I figured he would definitely have to red-shirt simply to develop his body to handle B10 physicality.
Yeah, I guess you wouldn't want two lockdown slim corners like Harris and Campbell.
Not sure how you could make that statement, as nobody here has ever seen Campbell play against BCS/P5 competition.
I hope we limit our injuries. Christian Jones went down a few years ago in non contact practice.
This is a message board. We are fans. Hyperbolic statements and uninformed comments are what we do.
Oh how good that sounds! Nice work man. gcg is a bit of a pain in the butt, but he can be depended upon to rise to the bait.
When Daniel Jones went down against Cal in 2013, it took awhile before we knew who to replace him. At least we have some time here. Jones was never the same and eventually left the game.
I guessing the ready-to-play decision/burning of a redshirt will be determined by the situation. Others would have to be injured before we burn his shirt, I'd think, unless he'd be contributing in other areas this year, such as special teams.
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