Mack Brown met with the media on Tuesday for a mid-fall report and in the midst, updated some important injuries that the team is dealing with right now.
Last week, the program made official announcements about injuries to cornerback Lejond Cavazos and offensive guard R.J. Grigsby. Both guys sustained lower-body injuries and were deemed to be out indefinitely, but Brown revealed good news on both of those guys earlier today. Both guys will be out for 4-6 weeks, which is huge after there were concerns that they could be much more severe injuries.
The bigger issue may lie with the number of injuries that the team has in the secondary. Gene Chizik revealed during his presser last Thursday that DeAndre Boykins and Antavious Lane are currently banged up, joining Will Hardy, who has been out the entirety of fall camp with a lower-body injury of his own. Brown did not specify timelines for any of the three and couldn’t guarantee that they would be available for Week 1 in Charlotte. Four defensive backs being sidelined is far from ideal at this point in camp, especially with the struggles that the team had a year ago.
Brown’s comments about these injuries raise major concerns about the state of the STAR position heading into the opener. Boykins and Lane were expected to be the top two at the position to start the year and if neither are available, it could throw a huge wrench into the plans in the defensive backfield. The scenario that probably makes the most sense would be to move Alijah Huzzie inside to that nickel spot and start Armani Chatman or Tayon Holloway on the outside. With how little Lane has been able to do on the field since coming in as a summer transfer, this might be part of the plan regardless.
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