Ohio State Football: Injuries at Linebacker a Big Concern?
The Ohio State linebacker unit has been hit with injuries the last couple of years.
Going into spring practices, Ohio State appeared to be in great shape at linebacker with plenty of talent and depth. Then the injury bug hit the linebacker corps again, and that could be a concern going forward.
Baron Browning is out with a shoulder injury and will miss the rest of the spring practices. It was first reported by Jeremy Birmingham of Land of Ten, via twitter, and Urban Meyer has since verified the injury, saying Browning will be out for a couple of months.
Here is what the head coach had to say about Browning’s situation, as reported by Tony Gerdeman of The Ozone:
"“He reinjured his shoulder, I guess he hurt it a little bit in high school, so he’s going to have surgery I think today,” Meyer said. “He’ll be out a couple of months, and he’ll be full speed for the fall. Just a shoulder injury, I don’t want to get into too much detail. I’m not exactly sure until they get it figured out, but he’ll be 100 percent by June. He’ll be full speed by June. As of now he’ll play this fall, I mean, based on what he was doing.”"
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I would think a shoulder injury to a linebacker would give you some cause for concern. Two other linebackers are injured as well, with one injury said to be minor while the other appears to be major.
It has been widely reported that Nick Conner suffered yet another knee injury. I have heard it may be a season ending injury but I haven’t been able to find confirmation on that. I hope I heard wrong because Conner has a ton of potential but the poor kid can’t stay healthy.
Justin Hilliard strained his bicep but according to coach Meyer it’s nothing major:
"“He strained it again a little bit the other day, but he’s fine, so we just slowed him down for a couple of days,” Meyer said."
The concern there is, Hilliard was hampered by bicep injuries his first two seasons at Ohio State.
I do hope Conner can recover from his injury. You hate to see a player’s college career end before it really begins because he can’t stay healthy.
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Hopefully Browning and Hilliard will both heal fine and will be good to go for next season. They are the two players expected to compete for the backup middle linebacker spot behind Chris Worley.