Here's the news from today's closed practice:
Clay Helton said QB JT Daniels was limited to throwing on air and light exercise Thursday and is "50-50 at best" to be cleared before Saturday's game against ASU. That rhetoric from Helton has often meant the player would be out on a given weekend.
"It's probably leaning more toward not [being cleared]," said Helton, who plans to make a final decision Friday after meeting with team doctors. A public announcement is not expected until Saturday just before kickoff.
Sources tell me optimism regarding Daniels’ availability notably shifted in the past 36 hours. The true freshman QB did not advance to the next stage of the concussion protocol following Tuesday’s tests and, after doing some light throwing early in the week, he was not permitted to participate at all in Wednesday’s workout.
Daniels passed the initial protocol stage Sunday evening and continued to progress through Monday, leading the staff to believe he would be available to start this weekend. With that no longer being the expectation, the coaches have worked to prepare Jack Sears for his college debut. I’m told it’s a development several players are in support of as well. Sears claimed all of the first-team reps in practice this week.
"Jack has had a great week of work," Helton said. "We went in and we've tried to be simple assignment and not really creating any new concepts or ideas but things our kids are good at. ... We got to do things that we think Jack can handle."
Clay Helton said QB JT Daniels was limited to throwing on air and light exercise Thursday and is "50-50 at best" to be cleared before Saturday's game against ASU. That rhetoric from Helton has often meant the player would be out on a given weekend.
"It's probably leaning more toward not [being cleared]," said Helton, who plans to make a final decision Friday after meeting with team doctors. A public announcement is not expected until Saturday just before kickoff.
Sources tell me optimism regarding Daniels’ availability notably shifted in the past 36 hours. The true freshman QB did not advance to the next stage of the concussion protocol following Tuesday’s tests and, after doing some light throwing early in the week, he was not permitted to participate at all in Wednesday’s workout.
Daniels passed the initial protocol stage Sunday evening and continued to progress through Monday, leading the staff to believe he would be available to start this weekend. With that no longer being the expectation, the coaches have worked to prepare Jack Sears for his college debut. I’m told it’s a development several players are in support of as well. Sears claimed all of the first-team reps in practice this week.
"Jack has had a great week of work," Helton said. "We went in and we've tried to be simple assignment and not really creating any new concepts or ideas but things our kids are good at. ... We got to do things that we think Jack can handle."
