Troy’s Woods nurses foot injury

By Drew Champlin

Published: November 3, 2008

TROY — Bear Woods stuck his foot in ice the night before Troy’s loss to Louisiana-Monroe. He did the same the day of the game.
Still, it didn’t heal by gametime and he’s not sure if it will heal in time for this week’s game.

The junior linebacker, who burst onto the scene with 24 tackles in his first career start in the season opener, has missed three games with left foot injuries.

He sprained his foot against Middle Tennessee in that season opener, but was held out the next week against Alcorn State.

That healed, but he hurt his foot again against Florida International Oct. 18 and has missed the last two games.

Woods is still Troy’s second-leading tackler with 58 tackles, four of which are for loss and two sacks, but is questionable for Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game with Western Kentucky.

“It’s some kind of fluid buildup in the back of my foot,” Woods said. “I have no explosion off my foot. I can’t run or do anything the past couple of weeks. I thought it would be gone by now, but it hasn’t. It’s got everybody confused.”

Woods had it X-rayed and went to Birmingham for an MRI. He said now it was only slightly better than it was after the injury.

Troy was missing Woods in the 31-30 loss. His replacement, redshirt freshman Donnell Golden, had 10 tackles and an interception, but his youth showed at times, meaing Woods’ starting role will be there for him when he returns from the injury.

“I love ole Donnell, but hopefully he’ll assume (the job) in a couple of years,” defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell said. “I thought he played OK. He did some good stuff, but he’s a redshirt freshman. He made a couple of plays and he missed four or five tackles, which gives you extra yards and different things, but he’s coming along and he’ll be just fine.”

To make matters worse for the Trojans, who have been decimated by injuries all year, Golden is questionable for Saturday’s game. He went home to deal with a family medical situation, head coach Larry Blakeney said.

If he can’t go, Troy will turn to fifth-year senior Trinidy Thomas or walk-on true freshman Rod Winston at that spot, linebackers coach Benjy Parker said. Thomas is a special teams mainstay, while Winston played against Alcorn State and in the team’s junior varsity game. Redshirt freshman Xavier Lamb will likely stay as Boris Lee’s backup at the middle linebacker spot.

Other injury update: Wideout Jerrel Jernigan, who missed last week’s game with ULM after having his right knee scoped, could be back for the Nov. 15 game at LSU, and might be back sooner than that.

“It’s probably a stretch for him this week, but we’re not completely ruling it out,” offensive coordinator Neal Brown said. “He’s ahead of schedule on his rehab. He’s walking, he’s already jogged and he’ll do some sprinting stuff later this week.”

Quarterbacks Tanner Jones and Jamie Hampton are scheduled for knee surgery on Friday. Both tore ligaments earlier this season.

Sheffield shines: Defensive ends coach Randy Butler walked into a gold mine with the talent Troy has at that position, though it wore off when Kenny Mainor’s season ended with a knee injury against Ohio State.

Still, juniors Cameron Sheffield and Brandon Lang are dominating. The two are tied for second in the conference with 5.5 sacks each. Lang is second with 11.5 tackles for loss and Sheffield tied for third with 9.5 tackles for loss. Sheffield had 13 tackles – two for loss against ULM.

Butler, an admittedly hard grader, gave Sheffield a 91 for his performance.

“That’s as high as I’ve had anybody in 10 years,” Butler said.

Election Day: Coaches say they’ve encouraged their players to vote in today’s presidential election. Junior quarterback Levi Brown, a political science major, said he encouraged everyone to vote, but didn’t push them one way or the other. He said he sent his absentee ballot back with a vote for Republican John McCain.

“I sent mine back the day I got it,” Levi Brown said. “It’s big-time that everybody gets out for sure. If they don’t vote, I don’t want to hear them complain about it.”

Running back DuJuan Harris said he didn’t think he could vote because he’d have to go back home to Brooksville, Fla., to vote – impossible given the demands for class and practice. He said he was pulling for Democrat Barack Obama.

“Some people aren’t open with (their views), but I don’t know why,” Harris said. “I’m going for Obama. I’ve been watching the debates and I like him.”

Basketball player Delk injured: Troy junior Richard Delk is out indefinitely with a broken hand and could miss the season opener vs. UAB, head coach Don Maestri said Monday.

Delk broke his right (shooting) hand about a month ago and it has been slow to heal. Delk is projected to be Troy’s star player this year after sitting out last year as a transfer from Mississippi State.

The 6-foot-4, 180-pound Delk is a combo guard who many think could be the Sun Belt’s top newcomer. He likely won’t play in the exhibition opener vs. West Alabama next Monday.

Maestri said he had not settled on a starting five, but top candidates include center Tom Jervis, forwards Antywan Jones, Kenny Ware and Mario Telfair and guards Regis Huddleston, Michael Vogler, Brandon Hazzard and Travis Lee. Obviously, if healthy, Delk factors into that equation.