WKU Football: Breaking Down the Hilltopper Injury List

Western is my home. So when I graduated high school, it was a no brainer for me.

Western is my home. So when I graduated high school, it was a no brainer for me.

I wanted to go to WKU. Luckily for me, my love of football and WKU allowed me to work with WKU football as a student athletic trainer. I was fortunate to work with the greatest man I have ever known in Bill Edwards. He taught me a lot about athletic training, rehab and treating those injuries.

It’s been seven years now since I finished working with the team. During my time on the Hill I saw some very nasty injuries and some not so bad ones. This is my educated experienced guess at what’s the deal with some of these injuries that are plaguing WKU this season.

Cole Spencer — OL: Knee Injury

Cole Spencer is an offensive lineman and do to his position it creates a scenario of what actually happened to his knee.

As most of you have seen while watching college or professional football games, offensive lineman wear knee braces on both knees; these aren’t the same braces that you buy at CVS or Wal-Greens, these braces are designed to support the knee from outside forces acting against the natural movement of the knee.

So when a defensive lineman slides into an unsuspecting offensive lineman’s knee from the side, without a brace, you could easily have over 600 pounds of force sliding into the knee.

Without a brace to support the knee, an offensive lineman could easily tear three ligaments: ACL (Anterior Collateral Ligament), MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament), LCL (Lateral Collateral Ligament) or it could be the patella tendon dislocating. A patella tendon dislocation is more common with female athletes than males because women can have a shallower Patellofemoral socket where the patella sits. In some crazy instances, even with knee braces, offensive lineman can still tear all three ligaments. There is also a chance that he tore his meniscus, which is the shock absorbing cartilage between the femur and the tibula/ fibula which forms the knee.

So my educated guess is that Cole Spencer has a torn meniscus. The surgery for the meniscus is usually very minor and usually requires a few weeks of rehab. Typically, it’s an arthroscopic surgery where the surgeon makes two or three incisions and inserts a camera into one and the other holes are where the tools are inserted. The meniscus is usually shaved back from where the tear is. Cole has a redshirt as well as a medical redshirt if he needs to use it. If he does return, expect him to return in November.

D’Andre Ferby — RB: Shoulder Injury

Ferby hurt his shoulder following the Louisville game. From what some sources have told me, Ferby had an X-ray immediately after the game, which tells me that the medical staff was worried that either his shoulder had dislocated or that it hadn’t gone back into the socket correctly.

Sources have also said that Ferby was wearing a sling around campus, which could be used as a preventative measure after the dislocation or it could be because he tore his labrum. A labrum tear is similar to a meniscus tear because the labrum is the cartilage of the shoulder separating the humeral head from the Glenoid cavity (where the arm pops into the shoulder socket).

Another theory is that Ferby sprained his Acromioclavicular ligament (AC Joint). My freshman year of college, myself and three friends from the WKU football support staff played back yard football. One of those occasions I got tackled and fell onto my shoulder. When I got up my shoulder was killing me, like not placing an empty backpack on that shoulder kind of pain. There is also the probability that Ferby dislocated his humerus (upper arm) and ended up tearing one or several ligaments. This would also explain the quick surgery and the uncertainty surrounding his return.

Davis Shanley — QB: Shoulder injury

By watching the game, I actually got to see Shanley hurt his shoulder. Or at least his reaction after he was hurt, so it helps narrow down the possibilities.

Some injuries that come to mind are Shoulder Tendonitis, which usually occurs because of constant use. This is similar to Tennis Elbow or even Runner’s Knee. I highly doubt that Shanley has shoulder tendonitis as this was a sudden onset.

So without boring everyone further, Shanley sprained his AC Joint. This injury can heal within a few days to a week, but for the ligament to fully heal it could take up to six weeks. After checking the injury report, Shanley has come off of it. So expect him to be wearing extra padding on his shoulder or a brace depending on the injury, but otherwise he should be good to go.

Drew Eckels — QB: Shoulder injury

This injury is harder to theorize for me. Typically when assessing an injury, you look at how someone got hit. For Eckels it was on far sideline from the cameras. The injury report today says it’s his shoulder, yesterday it was his upper body, so basically Sanford is great at being vague.

So what could possibly put Eckels out for an undetermined time? Most likely, Eckels tore a ligament in his shoulder. The reason is that Eckels had a few hits and smacks to his arm in the throwing motion. He could’ve also broken his collar bone, or torn his labrium. But the bottom line is expect Eckels to be out for a few more weeks.

Jakari Moses — RB: Knee injury

I love this kid, so talking about his injury makes this so much harder. According to WKU, Moses is listed as OUT INDEFINITELY. This is not listed as out for season, doubtful, or questionable. So for me the injury has to be either career ending or at least an injury that could take more than one season to fully heal.

So what’s the deal with Moses? What kind of knee injury could cause multiple season healing?

If Moses tore three ligaments in his knee, before you say, “NO WAY”, it has happened on the Hill and I know a few players who have dealt with this type of injury. It’s not an impossible injury to come back from but it does take time to heal. I feel confident that Moses will return to playing either in the spring or next season.

Do not take my hypothesizes to the bank. These are educated guesses and in no way do I work with the team currently or been around anyone in the program as of right now that would have knowledge of these injuries. I am simply going by my experience with players getting hurt during my tenure with the team.