Linebacker Trey Lathan ruled out for the season
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s off week could not have come at a better time, as the Mountaineers are looking to recover from a physical stretch of games to start the season and heal up before traveling to play Houston next Thursday.
“We’ve had four really physical football games and we’ve got to use this to hit the refresh button mentally and physically,” head coach Neal Brown said Monday.
WVU (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) had two players carted off the field Saturday at TCU and Brown delivered good news on both Monday afternoon.
Safety Aubrey Burks, who got caught under a pile on special teams and needed to have his neck stabilized, was kept in a Fort Worth hospital for observation and had all of his tests come back negative.
“All tests were negative and for what that was, he’s in good spirits. He’s going to be okay,” Brown said. “That was scary, but we got the best possible results that all his tests were negative. He’ll go through (concussion) protocol and then be on his way.”
Linebacker Trey Lathan suffered a lower-body injury and was placed in an air cast before being carted off. He, too, was kept in a Fort Worth hospital overnight. Brown announced that Lathan will miss the remainder of the season, but received successful surgery on Sunday and is expected to make a full recovery.
“I want to praise our medical team, our trainers and our doctors,” Brown said. “I thought they did a tremendous job. I also want to give a huge thank you to TCU and their medical staff.”
Both Burks and Lathan will fly back to Morgantown and rejoin the team this week.
“We’re going to fly them back (Tuesday) and we’re looking forward to getting them back,” Brown.
Burks, a junior, is one of the leaders of WVU’s defense, especially in the secondary. He has 15 total tackles and one interception this year. While Burks will not miss significant time, Brown said they will not rush him back into action.
“His injury was the best possible scenario, but there’s some trauma in (being carted off),” Brown said. “I want to get him back and give him some time before we figure out where he’s at from a return standpoint.”
Lathan, a redshirt freshman, has started every game at middle linebacker and was third on the team with 27 total tackles.
WVU is already dealing with a major injury at both positions already. True freshman Josiah Trotter was primed to compete for the starting job at linebacker before suffering a season-ending injury in fall camp. Brown said fellow freshman Ben Cutter should slide into the starting spot for Lathan.
At safety, transfer Keyshawn Cobb has been ruled out for the year after playing just two games.
“Those are two of our positions that we’re probably the thinnest at,” Brown said. “Cutter did some good things in the game. He’s played a good number of snaps the last couple of weeks so he’s ready to do it.”
Cutter has played in all five games this season and has 12 total tackles.
Spear Hershey McLaurin also left the game Saturday but is not expected to miss any time.
“I think he could have gone back into the game on Saturday — it was kind of a coach’s decision,” Brown said. “We’ll see on him, I think he’ll be fine.”
Offensive Line
In addition to the defenders, WVU also lost a pair of offensive linemen in the game Saturday. Left tackle Wyatt Milum and left guard Tomas Rimac both left the game and did not return.
Milum was poked in the eye at the end of a play.
“He wanted to play; his eye was completely shut,” Brown said. “If it was a boxing match they would’ve stopped the fight because he couldn’t see. We just didn’t think it was in his best interest to play.”
Rimac would be questionable to play this week, but Brown is hopeful he could be back for Houston.
“Tomas I think is too early to tell,” Brown said. “It’d be a struggle if we were playing on Saturday this week. It’s not something that’s going to keep him out an extended period of time, but Houston is too early to tell.”
Greene Good to Go
Quarterback Garrett Greene made the surprise start against the Horned Frogs and even more surprising, he led the Mountaineers with 80 rushing yards.
Greene was not fully healed from an ankle injury he sustained against Pitt earlier this month, but backup Nicco Marchiol rolled his ankle during practice Wednesday and was not going to be able to play.
“Probably as strange of a game-plan week as I’ve ever had,” Brown said. “Garrett didn’t do much, didn’t look good on Tuesday in terms of moving and I didn’t want to play him until he was 100%. Then Nicco injured his ankle and we didn’t know the extent of it until he gets up Thursday and has a hard time walking.”
Marciol played all but five snaps against Pitt and made his first career start the following week against Texas Tech.
Against TCU, Greene completed 10 of 21 passes for 142 yards and carried the ball 12 times for 80 yards and two touchdowns.
“He moved around a lot better than I anticipated in the game,” Brown said. “That’s why we kind of played a little different in the second half. I really didn’t know what to expect of him being able to move around.”
Without a game this week, Brown said he expects Greene to be back to 100% by the time they go to Houston.
“He had a birthday (Sunday) and whether he stayed off his feet on his birthday or not, who knows,” Brown said. “I talked to him on the phone (Sunday) and he said he felt good. He needs some time, too, so this week will be good for him. I anticipate him being 100% when we play a week from Thursday.”
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