Kansas University football coach Turner Gill said Sunday night that offensive lineman Jeremiah Hatch was probable for this week’s game against New Mexico State.
Hatch, a junior from Dallas, was injured early in the second half of Friday’s loss to Southern Miss and did not return. Gill said Friday the injury was back-related, but indicated Sunday that, after a little rest, Hatch seemed fine.
“We held him out a little bit, but he should be able to go,” Gill said. “I’d say he’s probable.”
In other injury news, Gill said Sunday night that freshman Keeston Terry, a safety from Blue Springs, Mo., would miss two to three weeks because of a leg injury. Terry appeared to be injured during the opening kickoff of the second half Friday. Though he was not in on the tackle, Terry came up hobbled and limped off the field. Like Hatch, Terry did not return.
The only other injury update from Sunday night involved junior linebacker and special-teams player Chea Peterman, who Gill said would be questionable for this week’s game.
Though he had an extra day to watch film this weekend, Gill did not need it.
Gill said Sunday night that the game film of Friday’s loss revealed many of the problems he suspected on the plane ride home.
“It was just execution in all phases of the game,” Gill said. “(Southern Miss) did a better job of executing their plays, and we didn’t.”
KU struggled in many areas Friday.
The biggest areas for concern were on special teams, where KU gave up its second blocked punt of the season, and the offensive line, which struggled to protect quarterback Jordan Webb from start to finish.
“(On the punt) a guy who was supposed to block just didn’t block him,” Gill said. (As for the offensive line) we just got beat one-on-one. We had people there, and they missed their blocks. On defense it was the same thing, we just missed some tackles.”
There was one pleasant surprise that Gill noted while watching film.
“I saw Jordan Webb maybe matured some,” Gill said of his red-shirt freshman quarterback. “He was under a lot of pressure early in the ballgame, and I saw him take off running and do some things. I also liked the way he kept his composure and his poise. I saw enough good things out of him even though, overall, he maybe didn’t play as well as you’d hoped for. I think that’s going to help us offensively.”
