UVA Football starting QB Chandler Morris left the 16-9 loss to Wake Forest on Saturday night in the second quarter after taking a cheap shot on a keeper.
Morris slid at the end of the 6-yard gain, which, once he went into the baseball slide, should have signaled the end of the play; but two Wake defenders – Davaugh Patterson and Travon West – both went for the hit on Morris, and both made contact, helmet-to-helmet.
West was assessed with a 15-yard personal-foul penalty – one or both of those guys should have been tossed, honestly.
Morris was on the turf for several minutes after the hit, and then immediately escorted back to the locker room.
Morris did not return to the game, but he was back on the sidelines in the second half in street clothes, “and he said he was feeling alright,” ‘Hoos coach Tony Elliott told reporters afterward.
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Linebacker James Jackson backed the coach up on that assessment of Morris, who was not made available to talk with reporters after the game.
“I talked to him on the sideline a little bit, and then the locker room, and I think he’s feeling a little better,” Jackson said.
Protocol for these kinds of things is, the walking wounded make their way to triage on Sundays after a Saturday game.
“We’ll know more when we get some more tests early in the week, tomorrow and Monday,” Elliott said.
I honestly wouldn’t expect much in terms of good information from Elliott at his Tuesday weekly presser.
My guess is, we’ll see Morris listed at QB1 on the depth chart on Tuesday, and we’ll see his name in the Thursday availability report either as probable or questionable, giving him on either side of being likely or not likely to play.
If pressed, I’d concede to being of the mindset that Morris should be available for Duke next weekend.
Now, if this was 20 years ago, Morris might have been sent back out there last night, but with what we know now about anything involving the head, we don’t do that now, thankfully, for Morris’ sake.
“You take that with a lot of caution, and so, being very cautious. But from what I seen out there, he seemed like he was doing OK,” Elliott said.
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Chris Graham
