No decision yet on Jake Locker, but watching him move around today at his weekly press conference, it’s hard to imagine him playing in less than a week. Locker was in a good mood dealing with reporters, but it was clear he did not have full range of motion in his neck, and when I say “did not have full range of motion” I mean he couldn’t turn his head more than a few degrees.
Locker said he’d like to play on Saturday, and that it’s “not out of the realm of possibility,” but again, it will be couple of days before we know. He was held out of practice today, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Obviously, Carl Bonnell will start Saturday against Cal if Locker can’t go.
Asked about the injury, Locker had this to say:
“That was a scary situation on Saturday for me. I’ haven’t really had anything like that happen to me. That’s part of the game. It happens. I understand that, and I think everybody who plays understands that. I don’t think you can be scared. I’m 100 percent positive, that the team physician won’t let me play if I’m not physically ready. So if they tell me I’m okay and I feel okay, then I trust them and I trust myself that I’d be ok to play.
He said that after the hit he “tried to push myself up and I kind of just rolled over on my left side and I couldn’t move my left arm, and that’s when it scared me a little bit. And I felt a little pinch in the back of my neck, so that’s when I worried a little bit. Once I was able to move my arm I felt better about it. I still had the pain in my neck. But by then I was on the stretcher and in the ambulance.”
Willingham said they “are not ruling it in or out. We will take it day-by-day, but I like the progress that I’m seeing from him.”
As for Tueday’s practice, there were seven gold jerseys awarded for play in Saturday’s game: Chris Stevens, Trenton Tuiasosopo, Anthony Russo, Jordan Reffett, Greyson Gunheim and Daniel Te’o-Nesheim.
Russo, who suffered an undisclosed injury on the final play of the game, was on the field, but seemed to be favoring his left arm, and was not catching punts when the team worked on punting drills.
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