Corvin Lamb’s junior year ends much too soon

Corvin Lamb on hold again.

Ready to show what he could do. Lamb’s opportunity looked like it had arrived, the game out of reach, a chance to be the featured running back, at least for the fourth quarter with the University of Louisville ahead 49-7.

Nagging injuries behind him going into the season, Lamb had just returned a kickoff for 20 yards, carried the ball three times for nine more. Feeling good again, the pain having subsided, ready to break loose at any time.

Such a harmless looking play, colliding with two Ohio players at the line of scrimmage, getting up slowly, needing assistance getting off the field.

Charlie Strong was even surprised, declaring after the game there had been no major injuries. Faced with a new reality after x-rays were examined Tuesday revealing a torn ACL.

“It is tough, you look at Corvin and each year it has been something,” he said. “One year it was a back injury, then we had a wrist, and then we had a hand injury. When a young man has put so much into it and worked so hard, you do not want to see any injury happen just because of their hard work and what you expect. We had five running backs and now we are down to four.”

Lamb’s season is over, facing a major operation and the prospect of many more months of rehab.

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Tight end Hunter Bowles, a redshirt freshman from Glasgow who missed fall practice, will undergo neck surgery on Friday. Charlie Strong is optimistic he will return in the future.

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Lorenzo Mauldin returned to action just days after being a hit-and-run victim. The record shows he had one assisted tackle in the game.

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At one point in the recent past, Zeke Pike would have been one of the most anticipated players in the program. He was all but forgotten Sunday. The 6-foot-6, 251-pound redshirt freshman, saw limited action against Ohio.

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Beau Blankenship, Ohio’s 1,600-yards-plus runner a year ago, had precious little running room Sunday, managing only 23 yards in 12 carries. Two big reasons were UofL linebackers Preston Brown and James Burgess who were in on 17 tackles.