Zeke is on the mend
Advertisement
COLUMBUS, Ohio - One of the biggest juggling acts of any football camp is walking the fine line of pushing your players to the edge without sustaining any major injuries. The Buckeyes have had to deal with a couple of lingering injuries to players like Braxton Miller and Jeff Heuerman due to offseason surgeries but for running back Ezekiel Elliott, his wrist injury was just one of those flukes that coaches lose sleep over.
"In 7-on-7, I went up for a jump ball and came down and landed on it funny," Elliott said.
Elliott didn't know immediately that something was wrong and admitted that he was more concerned in the short term with something else.
"I just thought that I jammed my wrist but the one thing that I was more worried about was that I got the (wind knocked out of me)," Elliott added.
Once the shock of having the wind knocked out of him started to wear off, as did the adrenaline, Elliott started to notice that something was not right.
"As practice went on I kind of felt it, I couldn't really use it as much and I couldn't squeeze my hand together so I knew something was wrong with it," Elliott said. "I went and got it X-rayed and they found a small break in one of the smaller bones in my wrist that couldn't heal on its own so they ended up going in and putting a pin in it. "
Elliott is slated to be back to practice on Thursday but he will not be thrown immediately back into the mix as the Buckeyes want to bring Zeke back in a safe manner as he needs time to heal.
"He will probably not have contact until the following week but projected to play in the first game, was doing great and he's fine," head coach Urban Meyer said.
Elliott is part of a group of talented running backs looking to step up and replace Carlos Hyde. None of the backs feel that just one player is going to be able to fill the void in the offense but know that there is no shortage of talented runners all vying to have their moment.
"We have a lot of great backs," Elliott said "(Last year) we knew that Carlos was starting going in but this year is a little bit different and there are just so many different styles of running and everyone is capable of playing."
Fellow running back Warren Ball will be coming back off of an injury as well and was seen wearing a walking boot during practice last week. In the absence of the pair the snaps have been split between Curtis Samuel, Rod Smith and Bri'onte Dunn.
[rl]