Nick KrugKansas University’s enviable depth at running back became a little thinner Monday, as red-shirt freshman Brandon Bourbon suffered an injury during practice and will be out indefinitely.
“Brandon suffered a lower-leg injury at practice,” KU coach Turner Gill confirmed Monday night. “He will have surgery (today) to repair the injury and will miss the remainder of the spring season.”
Bourbon, a 6-foot-1, 208-pound tailback from Potosi, Mo., was a candidate to earn more carries this season after red-shirting last year. However, because of Monday’s setback, his season may be in doubt.
Shortly after Monday’s practice, KU junior D.J. Beshears posted on his Twitter page that the worst part of his day was seeing one of his teammates break his leg and fracture his ankle in practice. By 8:40 p.m., the Tweet had been removed.
Though disappointing because of Bourbon’s big-time potential, running back may be one of the positions on this year’s team most equipped to handle a major injury. Even without Bourbon, the Jayhawks still have last year’s leading rusher in sophomore James Sims and four-star freshman Darrian Miller, who has delivered a sensational spring so far.
Like Miller, Bourbon was a four-star prospect out of high school. He originally committed to Stanford before changing his mind and coming to Kansas.
In addition to Sims and Miller, the Jayhawks will welcome freshmen Dreamius Smith and Anthony Pierson to the backfield this fall, and they still have the experience of junior Rell Lewis, who missed the 2010 season because of a knee injury, and sophomore Deshaun Sands, who ran for 211 yards and a touchdown on 55 carries in 10 games last season.
The Jayhawks will hit the practice field Wednesday for their third intra-squad scrimmage of the spring before taking the rest of the week off.
