Less than two weeks into spring practices, the Arizona Wildcats football team has already lost two key players within a span of five days.
Both safety Adam Hall and running back Greg Nwoko have apparent ACL tears and are not expected to play for least seven months.
“”This is a little bit of a setback,”” said head coach Mike Stoops, “”but these guys that are going through this process of the surgery will come back and they’ll be productive players at some point next year.
“”We don’t know when,”” he said, “”but it’s certainly disappointing for them individually.””
Stoops described the setback as “”a freak injury.””
Nwoko was injured during contact drills last weekend. Stoops said Nwoko was trying to avoid a tackler while making a cut. Nwoko was fulfilling the role of a larger running back complimentary to starting running back Keola Antolin’s speed. Stoops said either Daniel Jenkins or Taimi Tutogi would replace the injured Nwoko.
Hall said he sustained the injury on Wednesday while working one-on-one drills after coming down off a jump. Hall said he couldn’t describe exactly what caused the injury.
“”I was just kind of in the air and it just happened,”” he said.
In addition to Hall’s ACL injury, he also said he had a slight meniscus tear in his right knee.
Although Hall said the injury was disappointing, he was optimistic that he could be back some time this season.
“”We’re going to be proactive about it, have surgery soon. My swelling is already down,”” Hall said. “”We’ll just see how it goes through the progression in the rehab.””
In terms of Arizona’s secondary, senior Robert Golden, who started at cornerback last season, will move back to safety. He played two years of safety in his freshman and sophomore seasons for Arizona.
Cornerbacks Jonathan McKnight and Shaquille Richardson will compete for the other starting spot opposite senior Trevin Wade.
Stoops said Golden’s switch back to safety wouldn’t be a problem for the secondary.
“”I like some of our younger guys. We have three or four really starting corners,”” Stoops said. “”Just losing Adam (Hall), he was coming into his own, I just feel bad for him as a player.””
