The CheckerBoard

I appreciate 34's tuffness, but I really hope he will just set out this game and get nice and healed up for Florida. I love his leadership and smarts, but the truth is that the guy is a really good player, and we will need him against FL.

If he can go I think you have to play him.

Players need reps to play well, and because of all the injuries he has faced he just hasn't gotten that many reps. We need him to play at a high level to reach our potential, he can't do that without getting reps.

Absolutely, it can. An AC sprain is a sprain of the AC joint and can disallow movement of the arm above the head. A "separation" is slightly different and is where the A (acromion) and the C (clavicle) separate from each other to varying degrees, causing soft tissue damage.

Any time that Lathers gets hit in the front or the top of his pads, as with tackling, there is significant risk of re-injury.

If the sprain and separation are mild, he should fully heal in 10-20 days.

I don't see the point in playing him with the risk of losing him for the year but I'm not the coach. Maybe it's not as bad as they are making it out to be?

The combination of this team's emotional dependency on the well being of Lathers and his medical history has me very nervous. I mean, what if he suffers something terrible in FL game? I think this team is better prepared than last year and what happened with Hunter, but I'm just not absolutely certain they would take something happening to him, strap up and move on without some kind of mental/emotional lapse. Somebody tell me I'm wrong. Please.