The Bobcat Nation

Amen.


Why does this keep happening to us. At least we have a little more depth this year, but there is no doubt that this hurts.

Get well soon.

I hate to sound like a broken record, however, you can't tell me that the strength program doesn't have SOMETHING to do with this injury bug. I don't ever remember reading about so many isolated knee injuries. Cripes, I don't think you read about it that much in the NFL. Well, maybe that's because they self medicate with the juice? I don't know, but this to me is very disturbing.

Wow...that really sucks. Zack is a great kid, and will be difficult to replace. That being said, I think that we have a few options. Verlanic looked very good this spring, but may still be a little undersized (especially against Ok St.).

If I were making the decisions, I would like to see Figs (he's actually listed as a Center on the spring roster) or Birkeland move to center, Bolton inside to Guard, and then start Jensen and Hirst.

We will still have DeCock, Verlanic, Beniger, Smith...and a few others as backups. Plus it sounds like we are looking to add a drop down OL this summer. Although losing Zack stings, I think that we will be alright.

i wonder how often these guys are streaching....a good source of a knee injury would be working your ass off in the gym and not getting a good streach in.

Hell's Bells wrote:i wonder how often these guys are streaching....a good source of a knee injury would be working your ass off in the gym and not getting a good streach in.

I actually like the idea of moving Bolton inside to guard. Then moving Birkland over to center and you have Hirst/Bolton/Birkland/Figs/Jensen or Decock ..... I think that is a very SOLID interior line for us with big athletica tackles on the outside. You can then pull Bolton to either side on sweep plays etc. as well for the road grater effect.

The only good things about this are a) we have a hell of a lot more depth than we used across the O-line and b) it happened well before the season which gives the coaches more time to develop a plan B.

The article mentions that the Coaches are pretty impressed with Jim Verlanic, who has been playing backup Center - when I saw him, I thought he did well.
Another guy I noticed getting quite a bit of playing time this spring, was a guy name Michael Rogers at Guard. Looks like he's originally from Whitehall, but has been at South West Missouri Baptist State Tech Christian University Poly Northern......or some school like that, I don't remember. Anyone know anything about him?

HelenaCat95 wrote:The article mentions that the Coaches are pretty impressed with Jim Verlanic, who has been playing backup Center - when I saw him, I thought he did well.
Another guy I noticed getting quite a bit of playing time this spring, was a guy name Michael Rogers at Guard. Looks like he's originally from Whitehall, but has been at South West Missouri Baptist State Tech Christian University Poly Northern......or some school like that, I don't remember. Anyone know anything about him?

Michael Rogers is a walk on who was trying to make the team this spring. He is origionally from Whitehall, and was a full scholarship player somewhere in Missouri (SW MO State??). He ended up getting homesick and wanted to come back to Montana. Assuming he made the team, he will have to sit out this year due to NCAA regulations (moved up a division).

I talked w/ his dad a little bit at one of the scrimmages. It sounds like Michael loves being back in Montana, and is extremely impressed w/ both Kramer and McEndoo. After meeting his dad, I really focused on Michael while he was playing. From the little bit I saw, he seemed to play pretty well, and was at about the same level as Beniger and Smith.

I think what McEndoo indicated was something worth understanding. The Tackles need to also be able to play guard and the guards need to also be able to play center.

During the Spring Bolton played center for awhile. Jensen played guard.

Last year when Hirst went down, it wasn't another tackle that stepped in (even though DeCock, Brewton, and Beniger were listed as being tackles that were impressing the coaches). What happen is they looked at the 5 best remaining OL and moved people around. Fig was moved from Center to Right Guard (Where Bolton had played the previous two seasons). Bolton was moved to right tackle for Hirst and Jensen and Birkland stayed where they were. Thus the five best were put on the line and Fig who wasn't going to start became All Conference.

Many of the guys can shift around (obviously Bolton). Fig and Birkland can go to center (with Bolton), and Jensen can go to Guard. Probably only Hirst will not move, although Jensen might not unless Birkland is not totally recovered from his MCL from Spring (which should still be a concern strength wise).

During the year, when Jensen broke his leg, it wasn't DeCock that stepped in. It was Bolton that moved to left and Hirst stepped in at right.

I guess what I am saying is the Coaches may have been impressed with Jim Verlanic as backup (but he might still be a year away from starting to gain weight and strength), I think they will play the best 5 to protect Travis. They will not just move the backup for that postion in, but will shift around people.

It will have to wait until Fall to see if Jensen is fully recovered from his broken leg and Birkland is recovered from his MCL. Also Hirst still has pain in his knee (an ACl takes up to two years to totally come back from) But given these go away, the lineup should be fairly easy and still have good backups.

grizhatr wrote:I hate to sound like a broken record, however, you can't tell me that the strength program doesn't have SOMETHING to do with this injury bug. I don't ever remember reading about so many isolated knee injuries. Cripes, I don't think you read about it that much in the NFL. Well, maybe that's because they self medicate with the juice? I don't know, but this to me is very disturbing.

This has nothing to do with the strength program IMO. As the coach said, it's just bad luck. Reason I say that is because our injury situation has actually been quite favorable since Kramer arrived. Most years we remain fairly healthy, relative to other teams. I doubt the coaches made any significant changes in the strength program for this season. These knee injuries are simply luck of the draw...

Agree, the strength program doesn't really affect joints that much, unless you overlift or lift wrong and cause a problem. That doesn't seem like the problem in any of these cases. Knees are a problem for linemen. That is why Krammer went out and got quality knee braces two years ago for ALL the linemen. It doesn't do away with the problem, but does help.

You have guys are at 280 to 330 pounds that have gained a lot of weight over they normal would have been. They are playing against other huge guys in a tight area with guys falling against them from the side.

Knees are going to happen. Hirst was the only different type, where he blew it out on the basketball court. It was caused where he did something different than his body was use to with a large amount of body weight.

Sounds similar to the Griz's rash of shoulder injuries a couple years ago. People did speculate that the weights program could be part of the cause. While I don't think a weights program could be the direct cause, it could contribute. But more importantly, a good strength program should limit the amount of injuries, depending on the type and how the injury can happen. Strength and conditioning training are essential to reducing injuries, but over doing it can contribue to getting injured.

Many overuse-type injuries (eg Achilles tendinitis, shin splints, anterior knee pain, tennis elbow, rotator cuff tendinitis, etc.) are caused by too much volume of training or too much intensity.

Other factors also contribute to injuries such as not getting enough sleep at night, not enough good nutrition, not drinking enough fluids, and not stretching before and after workouts.

Also notable

The medial collateral ligament is more easily injured than the lateral collateral ligament. It is most often caused by a blow to the outer side of the knee, which often happens in contact sports like football or hockey, that stretches and tears the ligament on the inner side of the knee.