Can Harris Get Stretched Out for Stretch Run?
Josh Harris just couldn’t get loose in Tuesday’s practice. He tried, stretching his tight hamstring, walking around, stretching again, walking around some more. Meanwhile freshman Orville Reynolds kept getting his share of reps along with senior Brandon Pendergrass.
At one point Harris walked by coach Jim Grobe. I was out of earshot, but whatever Grobe said to Harris brought a grin to Harris’ face. The two shared a laugh and Harris walked on.
A week ago at the gathering to eat chicken and talk football, Grobe had once again explained his position on injuries and the players who have them.
“I’m terrible to stay on the kids and make fun of them and push them to get back on the field and what-not, but in this game, some physical stuff happens,’’ Grobe said. “The key is `How badly do you want to get back on the field and how hard to you rehab to get back?’ Because quite frankly some of our kids are more comfortable taking time off than others. While in some places we’ll actually hold kids back if we think they’ll put themselves in danger. But that’s what you want. You want to have to grab a kid’s jersey and pull him back rather than having to push him into fights. That’s just the way you want the kids to be. Let us take care of it, but you try to get back as quick as you can.
“Most of the kids, it’s not an issue. You know they want to be back and if they’re hurt, it’s probably harder on coaches than anything. We’re the ones that probably want them back quicker than even they want to get back.’‘
Grobe entered the season openly wondering if Harris, for all his unbridled ability, would be a reliable running back who could go week after week. After last season, when Harris carried the ball more than 10 times in only five of the 12 games, there was good reason for the concern.
So far this season, Harris carried 22 times against Syracuse, 23 against N.C. State, 14 against Gardner-Webb, 19 against BC and 13 against FSU before watching the Virginia Tech game while in uniform on the sidelines. Now the question lingers of whether Harris will be able to play against Duke, and if he is, how prepared will he be.
Garrick Williams, Tristan Dorty and Andrew Parker are limping on sprained ankles. All practiced Tuesday.
“My comfort zone is, you practice well, you play well,’’ Grobe said at yesterday’s gathering to eat chicken and talk football. “Thursday night, we could have a whole group of healthy players, but some of them didn’t have a lot of practice time, and that’s where you get nervous as a coach if you’re not able to practice.
“I’m not hard-headed like my old coaches were like ‘you don’t practice, you don’t play.’ But I do worry that if you don’t practice, it’s gonna be hard to play well.’‘
So say Harris does little in practice the rest of the week. As I sit here at 11 a.m., it’s raining pretty steady in Winston-Salem. It’s safe to assume it will be a wet practice, which may well make it ever harder for Harris to answer the bell this afternoon.
Wake has six games left, with Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Clemson, Maryland and Vanderbilt. The Deacons need two more wins to become bowl eligible, but with back-to-back road wins over Duke and North Carolina could head off to Clemson still very much in the Atlantic Division title picture. Grobe knows he has has one back, Pendergrass, coached up and ready. Based on what I’ve seen from Nick Knott, or rather, what I’ve not seen from Knott, I don’t think the staff is looking at him as an answer.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying I wouldn’t be one bit surprised to see Orville Reynolds take the field Saturday at Duke.
UPDATE:Just got back from practice and nothing had really changed from Tuesday. Harris was in uniform, but wasn’t participating. Trainer Don Steelman said Harris has not beeen ruled out for Saturday, and that it would likely be another game-time decision.