The highly-touted offense of University of Louisville football team has been lowered a notch with the loss of wide receiver DeVante Parker after he injured his left foot in practice Friday.
Dr. Robert Anderson, a renowned orthopedic surgeon specializing in treating foot and ankle injuries, will be treating Parker in Charlotte within a couple of days, according to a news release from UofL.
Parker is the exceptional player, with the kind of talent that can set a team apart from a good team and a great one. A player who makes the difficult catches, the tough ones in the flats or those long spirals down the field, good enough to force changes in opposing defensive game plans. Always a threat, one of his major assets was serving as a decoy, drawing attention away from other receivers while creating more options for the running game.
The 6-foot-3 wide out Louisvillian totaled 55 receptions for a team-high 885 yards and tied a school record with 12 touchdowns last season.
A key issue is how his teammates respond to the loss. Time to move on. If he returns later in the season, good, rejoining a more experienced receiving corps. The sooner the diagnosis the better. The next two or three days are going to be forever for his coaches and fans.
Hard to take the injuries at that late stage. It’s up to the “new” guys to prove themselves. I have faith that they will up their game after this news hits home.
I’ll be curious to see what/who the Miami defense keys in on after they learn that DeVante won’t be playing. Do they play the run, or do they still respect our other receivers?
In any event, this just makes the opening game that much more of an INTENSE matchup.
Go Cards.