Ryan Houston Suffers Should Injury
During Spring Game and
During Spring Game and
Will Undergo Surgery On Thursday
Sometimes life isn't fair. Ryan Houston will be undergoing shoulder surgery on Thursday to repair a fractured scapula. Even I as I write those words, I am shaking my head. I just can't contain it . . .
Last Spring, he missed Spring Practice to get his grades in order. When the season kicked off, he was sidelined by the NCAA investigative buzz saw. While he was eventually cleared, we are all aware that he decided to redshirt the season rather than play the final four or five games. This hurts.
It hurts because Rhyno has the opportunity to be the feature back behind a solid offensive line which will improve his professional draft stock. It hurts because Rhyno has worked hard to get to this point both in the classroom and in the weight room. This hurts because he is the only running back we have that has any real game day experience in Chapel Hill. This hurts because there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the extent of his injury.
More won't be known until after surgery. However, this is a blog so I will jump the gun and explore the various scenarios. Why not, it is what blogs do in our right-here-right-now society. As such, I am going to start with the worst case scenario so we can end on the best case. I am an eternal optimist, so I chose to believe that Rhyno has earned some good karma and will have the best case scenario work out for him.
First of all, it is a significant enough fracture to merit surgery . . . .
Worst Case Scenario. If it is a major fracture, it will require five to six months to be fully rehabbed and cleared for contact. I have a friend in his last year of med school and he started rattling off a lot of jargon that I processed as "the knee bone is connected to the shin bone, the shin bone is connected to the . . . ." Essentially, a major fracture of the scapula could significantly effect the shoulder socket joint. If that is the case, the surgery is very complicated, requiring stabilization of the fracture that utilizes plates and screws to hold the shoulder in place to prevent loss of motion and arthritis. As awful as that sounds, that is not the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario is that the shoulder is not responsive and never fully heals enough to sustain the kind of contact that football requires. He assures me while it is a possibility, there is only a small chance of this happening, especially in an elite athlete like Ryan Houston. Typically, athletes heal faster for various reasons. That is the worst case scenario.
Not Quite the Worst Case Scenario. See above but quit reading when you hit "[a]s awful as that sounds." To paraphrase, Rhyno is out for six months. That means that Rhyno would be back for the VTech game on Nov. 17 or, said another way, for the last two games of the season, the ACC championship game(?), and a bowl game. Yeah, not what Houston had in mind when he decided to redshirt in order to play a full season last year.
Honestly, I don't know if he would be eligible for a medical redshirt . . . .
Not Quite the Best Case Scenario. Twenty weeks. Twenty weeks will have Rhyno back at the end of August and back in time for the season opener at the earliest and ACC play at the latest. Half of that time would be for healing, half would be for rehab, so he would not be limping in unconditioned. He would have completed all of the strength and conditioning required to compete at a high level. Works for me, all things considered.
Best Case Scenario. Rhyno is out for six to eight weeks, which means he will be back by the middle of June and able to participate in Training Camp. Fingers crossed!
After we find out a more definitive timetable for Houston's return, we can speculate how this injury impacts the season. At this point, how big is it that Travis Riley enrolled early to participate in Spring Practice.
My prayers and best wishes go out to Ryan for a speedy recovery.
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