Maurice Clarett underwent
arthroscopic knee surgery today. While that is of course not good news, it is
nothing to freak out about. As far as knee surgeries go, this is about as minor
as it gets. Here’s what Jim Tressel had to say about Clarett’s situation.
“Maurice got nicked a little
bit in the first quarter and our trainers told us during the first quarter that
it was his knee and he could finish the game, but they were going to need to
take a good look over the weekend to see if it was going to flare up and so
forth,” Tressel said. “There was a little bit of swelling over the weekend,
enough that our physicians felt like they needed to do an MRI. They knew what
the injury was, or they thought they knew, but they needed to take a look at an
MRI. Maurice had a little bit of a meniscus tear, which, I’m not a doctor, but
it’s something that four or five of our guys had last year. Chris Vance had a
meniscus tear during the season, as did Donnie Nickey and Lydell Ross. It’s a
very normal thing. With Maurice, it’s the type of thing that was an old injury
that might have gotten further banged on. So, we decided last night to go ahead
and have that scoped. We had it scoped this morning, which is a procedure that
could have him back for (the UC) game, or could make him not be here for the
game. So, as we stand here today, Maurice would be questionable.
“The procedure went well and
the injury was a little bit old from who knows how long ago and got little bit
aggravated when he got hit in the first quarter of the ballgame. They felt that
the repair went fine and he’s already began his re-hab. The first day you
don’t want to do too much, but after that, it’s a matter of doing everything
you can to get back. So, we should have a good feel by Thursday. I’m sure he
won’t practice today, tomorrow would be iffy, but Thursday is a possibility
and we would know by the end of Thursday’s practice what his status will be
for the ballgame,” Tressel said.
Once you get over the initial
shock of hearing “Clarett” and “knee surgery” in the same sentence, the
thing that really stands out about all of this is the fact that Clarett got hurt
in the first quarter of the WSU game. That means he piled up over 200 yards on a
bum knee. That tells you how tough this kid is and makes you wonder what would
have happened to the Cougars with No. 13 at 100 percent.
As for what to expect from this
injury, I just caught a radio interview with NFL tight end Ken Dilger on the way
home from practice. Dilger has suffered a torn meniscus three times in his
career and says that it’s not a very serious injury. Dilger says he was able
to come back within two weeks each time and with a young guy like Clarett, the
recovery should be even quicker than that.
Despite those encouraging
words, I don’t think we should expect to see Clarett against the Bearcats. Why
risk it? Especially with guys like Lydell Ross, Maurice Hall and Ja Ja Riley
ready to step in. Look for Clarett to return for the Big Ten opener against
Indiana
on Sept. 28 although I’m sure he will be lobbing for playing time this
Saturday. It’s just his warrior mentality.