NCAA Football Ncaa Fb Injuries

On Friday I sat down to do a radio show here in Nashville with my friend Chad Withrow. As we were going on the air, ESPN brought in a reporter to discuss a seismic story breaking in the college football universe on the televisions hanging above us. Tennessee was firing its strength and conditioning coach, Mark Smith.

Seriously, this was the story. We were about to go on the air in Nashville and we weren't going to lead with this story, but ESPN was. A year-round sport demands controversy, even if there's no real controversy.

If you've ever doubted how much the internet has changed college football, this was a tipping point of epic proportions.

North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates was taken down last Wednesday not by 300-pound teammates but a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Yates managed to sprain his right thumb, an injury that will require six weeks of rehabilitation. Congrats on having the most stupid sports injury of the week, T.J.

The game was actually part of an 'organized team activity'. With this coach Butch Davis has almost certainly nixed entertaining thoughts of further Frisbee-related gatherings. We suggest he kill any Nerf basketball thoughts as well, that's a killer. Underwater basket weaving's out. Perhaps even speed dating.

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

The Obvious -- The 2009 NFL Draft is now in the books and what's emerged from countless hours of coverage is a recurring theme of late: USC and SEC dominance. The Trojans had 11 players chosen in this year's draft, including a kicker and eight total defensive players from one of the better collegiate defenses of this era.

Meanwhile, 37 SEC players were chosen, topping last year's 35 and besting the second-place ACC's 33. USC also tied a draft record with four linebackers selected in a single draft. Their 11 overall selections bested last year's 10-player performance and again paced all colleges in the draft.

Outgoing LSU receiver Demetrius Byrd is hospitalized and in intensive care after an auto accident. The Associated Press says his agent David Dunn expects him to be OK while LSU officials say the accident happened Sunday near his Miami home.

We're delighted to hear he should be alright but this is obviously tough news for him and his family just days before the NFL draft. Byrd had 37 receptions for 513 yards and four touchdowns last year, his second at LSU after transferring in from a junior college. He is perhaps most famous for his beautiful corner of the end zone game winning touchdown catch as time expired against Auburn in 2007 (video after the jump) that helped preserve LSU's national title hopes.

Sooner or later, you would expect Rich Rodriguez's luck to turn around at Michigan. It looked like things were headed in that direction when Rodriguez landed a very strong recruiting class back in February, but apparently the universe has some more kicks to the crotch in store for the Wolverines' second-year coach.

According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, quarterback Nick Sheridan suffered a serious leg injury during Michigan's spring practice on Tuesday. College Fantasy Football Insider speculates that Sheridan broke a bone. The Michigan Daily seemingly corroborates that notion, saying that Sheridan was seen walking with crutches around campus, a large boot on his right leg.

UPDATE: The Free Press is reporting that Sheridan fractured a bone in his lower leg, and will miss four-to-six weeks. If that's the case, the impact of this is pretty minimal, seeing as how the season doesn't start in May.

Patrick Edwards' name might not ring a bell, but this video probably does. A loud bell. One that hurts your ears, teeth, and legs. Edwards was the freshman receiver for Houston who had an unfortunate run-in with an ill-placed golf cart behind the end zone last October, an injury some felt would be career-ending.

The incredible part of all this is that Edwards is recovering so well from it, Houston plans to have him back for spring practice.

Joe McKnight will miss spring football for the second time in as many years, but this time at least its not his fault. USC is holding its mercury-like tailback out of spring ball as he recovers from the painful-sounding dislocation of four toes on his left foot suffered early in the Rose Bowl.

He's a veteran who should be ready for fall and spring ball is a bit of a joke for established players like himself anyway, but its an odd second absence. Last spring, USC simply had no choice but to hold McKnight out of spring practices after he became academically ineligible. McKnight had dropped a class necessary to stay up and up, leading to one of Pete Carroll's classic "teachable moments".

On Friday afternoon Oklahoma wide receiver Corey Wilson was involved in a car accident that left him in critical condition. Wilson's Chevrolet Trailblazer collided with a pickup truck on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma before running off the highway and rolling over twice, flinging Wilson over 45 feet from the vehicle.

Wilson suffered head and internal injuries from the accident but while he still remains hospitalized and isn't in the clear, there is some good news this morning, as Wilson's status has been upgraded from "critical" to "serious."

Oklahoma freshman receiver Corey Wilson was in a car accident on Friday afternoon in Oklahoma while traveling on Interstate 35, and the details don't sound very encouraging.

According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the 20-year-old from Texas suffered head and internal injuries when his Chevrolet Trailblazer collided with a pickup, ran off a highway and rolled twice, throwing him about 45 feet from the vehicle. Wilson was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident, which no doubt had a lot to do with him being flung from the car.

Minnesota linebacker Sam Maresh has not had many things go his way ever since he decided to play football at Minnesota in 2007. Before Maresh was ever able to step foot on a football field as a Gopher he found out he was going to have to undergo open heart surgery, a procedure doctors told him would end his career before it started.

Maresh didn't listen, and after recovering from the surgery he was on pace to play for the Gophers this year when he was knocked down yet again by a tumor found in his left calf. Well, Sam underwent a biopsy on the tumor over the weekend and he finally got some good news on Monday morning. It's not cancerous. Hell, it's not even a tumor.