Liberty notes: Broken finger shouldn’t hamper Jennings

By Chris Lang
Sports writer
Published: September 9, 2008

When tailback Rashad Jennings initially broke the pinkie finger on his right hand, Liberty coach Danny Rocco had flashbacks to the fractured wrist that sidelined tailback Zach Terrell for parts of 2007.

The biggest worry was that Jennings would have to wear the same sort of bulky cast that hampered Terrell’s ability to secure the football and catch passes. But after doing some research, Rocco’s fears were alleviated.

“I tried to educate myself on what was going to happen after he had the surgery,” Rocco said. “After hearing what was said, I felt that it could be done without too much of a problem.”

Last Saturday, after LU’s 44-27 victory over Glenville State, Jennings wore a tiny cast on the injured finger. Earlier in the week, he sported a cast that covered the upper part of his hand. He’ll play Saturday at Western Carolina with minimal protection. He’ll basically have his pinkie taped to his ring finger to prevent further injury.

“To the naked eye, he’ll have two fingers taped together,” Rocco said. “That’s about the extent that you’ll see.”

With Jennings out last week, Liberty’s run offense was predictable, and Terrell struggled to find room up the middle to run. Terrell still broke the 100-yard mark, but the Flames’ outside run game was somewhat neutralized.

In other injury news:

-Starting left guard Britt Stone will miss 4-6 weeks with a fractured right leg. Alex Stadler will likely start in his place Saturday.

-Kicker Paul Young also fractured his right leg and will miss at least six weeks. He was hurt when a Glenville State defender plowed into him on a first-quarter extra-point attempt. Matt Bevins will handle kickoffs and long field goals, and Ben Shipps will handle extra points and short field goals.

-Mike linebacker Nick Hursky is expected to play Saturday after missing a week following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

“He jogged some (Monday), and we’re going to try to run him a little bit harder (Tuesday),” Rocco said. “My hope is that he’ll be ready to play. But he could fall into the category of a game-time decision.”

-Safety Chuck Duffey is expected back after missing last week with a high ankle sprain.

-Linebacker Pierre Tinsley returned last week after missing the opener and most of fall camp recuperating from a knee injury. He made one assisted tackle.

“Pierre Tinsley did not perform real well,” Rocco said. “He was physically ready, coming off the injury. I expect him to play better this week. Any time you come off a knee injury, you go through the rehabilitation, you go through practice, but going into the game is quite often a different thing.”

Upon further review

Rocco admitted he was fairly hard on his team after the fourth quarter of the Glenville State game, when the Division II Pioneers outscored the Flames 20-7.

After watching film, though, he offered some clarifications on how he and his players approached the quarter.

“You know, it’s hard for the players at times to maintain their focus and their energy when they’re kind of taken out of the game, not knowing if they’re going to go back in,” Rocco said. “And sometimes it’s different for the coach, too, because I’m looking at different things.

“When we’re up 37-7, I’m not looking for another way for us to score. My mind is thinking about other things, like who do I want to get in the game? Who’s in the game that I want to get out so I make sure he doesn’t get hurt? There’s a lot of other issues running through my mind and decisions I have to make in a game like that.”

Extra points

Big South quick hitter: Gardner-Webb lost linebacker Mario Brown to a knee injury before last week’s game against Tusculum, and the Big South’s preseason defensive player of the year will be out indefinitely. Brown hurt the knee during practice on a non-tackling drill. GWU coach Steve Patton said Brown suffered damage to his LCL. … Since joining the Big South in 2002, Liberty is 2-18 in non-conference road games, with the only wins coming at Chattanooga (2004) and Savannah State (2006). … Liberty is 1-1 against Western Carolina in Cullowhee, winning 17-10 in 1997 and losing 63-0 in 2001.