Wilber: Bad But Could Have Been Worse
Kyle Wilber has a broken left fibula. He’ll be out around six weeks, in the best estimate of a very good Deacons’ sports medicine staff. I’ll talk with football trainer Don Steelman about it this week but I’m fairly certain of what he will say. Some bodies, some bones, heal faster than others. Based on what we know about this injury, the normal recovery time is usually around six weeks. Everyone will do all we can to have Wilber healed and back on the field as soon as possible.
If Steelman tells me any different, I’ll let you know. But just in case your sole purpose for traveling to Annapolis on Oct. 24 (exactly six weeks from the injury) is to watch Wilber play against Navy, then you might not want to book a flight just yet.
The injury is a blow. Wilber, a redshirt sophomore defensive end, was probably as likely to deliver a big play as anyone on the defense, especially on the front seven. Since supplanting Anthony Davis, then a fifth-year senior, in the seventh game last year against Miami, Wilber had four sacks in his first eight starts through this year’s season-opener against Baylor. He had three tackles against Stanford before hopping off the field in the second half. He’ll be missed. Gelo Orange, a sophomore converted last month from linebacker, is listed as second-team, but it’s pretty obvious Wilber’s injury will mean more playing time for sophomore Will Wright and maybe even Tripp Russell, a junior defensive tackle from Mount Tabor High School who at 6-3, 240 pounds appears more physically suited to play outside anyway.
What will really be interesting to see is how the younger defensive ends on the roster, specifically redshirt freshmen Kevin Smith and Derricus Ellis, and possibly even freshmen Zach Thompson and John Gallagher, respond to the opportunity. Smith, who at 6-4, 230 pounds was a standout in basketball at Plano (Tex) High School, certainly looks the part. And Ellis, the brother of Chantz McClinic, the Deacons’ former linebacker, will probably get a good long look this week as well.